Photo: The OECD headquarters in Paris. Photo by MySociety.
Peace Brigades International has signed a joint letter ahead of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Inclusive Platform for Due Diligence Policy Cooperation meeting in Paris.
This meeting is taking place during the Responsible Business Conduct week (RBC week), June 29 to July 2, 2026.
The letter signed by PBI and 119 other organizations says: “We collectively call for greater ambition by OECD member states to adopt and enforce binding measures to hold multinational companies to account for individual and collective human rights violations and environmental destruction, and to ensure the provision of remedy.”
Canada is a member of the OECD along with 37 other countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Mexico and Colombia.
The letter continues: “Our message to OECD member states is that adopting measures that impose binding obligations on multinational businesses, including financial institutions, is not only long overdue but is crucial to ensure the prevention of imminent human rights and environmental abuses, as well as to ensure effective remedy for harms.”
The OECD says “senior leaders will gather at OECD headquarters in Paris to chart the future course for responsible business in a world in transition” on June 29-30 in Paris and that it will release “its inaugural Responsible Business Outlook 2026: Making Commitments Count” on June 30,
Among the speakers listed for this OECD gathering is Terrence Cowl, Global Affairs Canada, Executive Director, Responsible Business Conduct. PBI-Canada, PBI-Mexico and representatives of Espacio OSC met with Mr. Cowl in September 2025 in Ottawa when he was the Deputy Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).
CBC News reported on June 11, 2026, that the Canadian government had eliminated the CORE. After that announcement, Mongabay reported John Babcock, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, stating: “A decision has been taken to permanently streamline the CORE Ombudsperson’s work into other functions with stronger track records of effectiveness, including the National Contact Point.”
In February 2026, MiningWatch Canada commented: “Canada has had a National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (NCP) since 2000. …We have stopped using the office as its mandate, guidelines and processes are not only ineffective in addressing the harms complainants have endured, but the process itself, through its ineffectiveness and the costs it imposes on complainants, contributes to deepening the harm complainants experience.”
Earlier this month, CBC News also reported: “Advocates such as Amnesty International had urged Ottawa to go beyond the existing National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct, a mechanism developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, because activists said that body had been ineffective at pursuing corporate accountability.”
We follow this with concern.
