4 4.9   Rights. 632 Good practice guidance specifically for the ICT sector is available (see section D). Make online grievance mechanisms secure: Considering the large number of potentially impacted rights holders in the ICT sector, an online grievance mechanism or reporting system accessible in the local language may be the best channel. Due to the potential vulnerability of impacted stakeholders wanting to report a violation to the company, it is important that any online grievance mechanism receives and transmits information securely. In order to build and maintain trust, companies should commit adequate resources to receiving, evaluating and responding to complaints submitted through a grievance mechanism. Access to other mechanisms: Operational-level grievance mechanisms should not impede access to other remedies, judicial or non-judicial. Additional remedy options are expected to continue to evolve in Myanmar, given the focus by the Government and donors on improving the rule of law in the country. Table 41: Grievance Mechanisms for the ICT Sector Existing grievance mechanisms in the ICT sector are predominantly internal corporate mechanisms, such as ‘whistleblowing’ systems aimed at remedying issues of labour violations, or issues arising in the supply chain, such as the use of conflict minerals. Corporate grievance mechanisms addressing violations of freedom of expression or privacy are underdeveloped, if they exist at all. Some industry initiatives, such as the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue, are reportedly still in the stages of examining options for implementing relevant grievance mechanisms. 633 In the past decade, access to remedy for negative impacts involving ICT companies has usually been judicial rather than non-judicial. There have been court cases involving Yahoo! in China, IBM in South Africa, Cisco in China and AT&T in the USA. The Yahoo! case, which centred on the company handing over details of users who had posted prodemocracy material and were subsequently arrested and jailed, was one of the catalysts for the establishment of the Global Network Initiative (GNI). The events of the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ and the 2013 revelations of mass surveillance by secret services worldwide changed the landscape of legal cases brought against ICT companies for human rights abuses, now focused more in recent years on the sale of surveillance technology and associated negative impacts on human rights. There is currently one case being considered by French courts over the sale of surveillance technology to Libya, where the company is accused of complicity in torture. 634 A verdict which goes against the company could result in the company being blacklisted or ordered to pay substantial fines. Privacy groups have utilised other avenues to raise complaints associated with the sale or use of surveillance technology, such as the OECD National Contact Points. 635 632 See OHCHR, “UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” (2011), Principle 31. See Telecommunications Industry Dialogue Guiding Principles in English and Burmese 634 FIDH, “The Amesys Case: the victims anxious to see tangible progress” (11 February 2015). 635 See the complaints brought by Privacy International regarding the sale of surveillance technology to Bahrain: OECD Watch, “Privacy International et al. vs. Gamma International” (last accessed September 2015). See also the involvement of 6 telecommunication companies associated with the Tempora programme (where UK secret services allegedly tapped undersea fiber optic cables coming into the UK with the permission of the companies that owned them): OECD Watch, “Issue: HR violations facilitated by 6 UK telecom companies” (last accessed September 2015). 633 252 PAGE CHAPTER 4.9: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & GRIEVANCE MECHANISMS