The UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs) establish companies’ responsibility to respect human rights and to remedy the impacts of their business practices. The UNGPs lay out how companies should meet these responsibilities through a policy statement, conducting human rights due diligence, and remediation of any negative impacts.

This document evaluates how Ahold Delhaize’s Standards of Engagement and Speak-Up Line – as applied in the dairy supply chain of Hannaford Supermarkets’ private label milk – has provided access to remedy for workers in its supply chain through an in-depth analysis of whether this mechanism meets the UNGP’s Effectiveness Criteria for Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms (Principle 31).1

“In order to ensure their effectiveness, non-judicial grievance mechanisms, both State-based and non-State-based, should be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, a source of continuous learning, and based on engagement and dialogue.”

The analysis further compares this performance with that of Milk with Dignity, a Worker-driven Social Responsibility program.

The analysis concludes that the Speak-Up Line has failed to respect and remedy the human rights of workers in Hannaford’s dairy supply chain and that the Milk with Dignity Program more adequately meets the criteria of UNGP’s Principle 31.

This analysis is timely and relevant as legislative action moves to enshrine due diligence requirements for corporations into law, and there is a growing consensus that companies have a responsibility for the consequences of their buying practices.