Read the Initial Assessment published 17 July 2023: English
Read the Final Statement published 20 February 2024: English

On 5 April 2023, IUF, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, submitted a specific instance to the Swiss NCP alleging that Lombard Odier, an independent Swiss banking group, had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Employment and Industrial Relations (Chapter V) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues related to Lombard Odier’s alleged investment in NagaCorp Ltd., an investment holding company operating hotels and investment complexes in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, under the name Nagaworld. The submitters allege that Nagaworld violated rights related to trade unions, including in the context of dismissals, imprisonment of strikers, violence and threats, and transfer of strikers. The submitting parties considered that, by not conducting adequate due diligence relating to their investments, Lombard Odier had not observed the Guidelines.

On 17 July 2023, the NCP published an initial assessment deciding to accept the case for further examination. The NCP made an offer of good offices to the parties, which they both accepted.

On 20 February 2024, the NCP published a final statement concluding the specific instance with agreement between the parties. Following mediation in January 2024, the parties agreed on a joint commitment on human rights, confirming their alignment on fundamental principles such as: forbidding abuses; ensuring freedom of association, collective bargaining, and striking; and emphasising the role of the investment community in such issues. Recognising that a collaborative collective approach where investors pool their leverage is likely to yield better outcomes for compliance with the Guidelines, the Parties decided that Lombard Odier would use its role as a leader in sustainability to participate in a proposal to bring together other institutional investors in a collaborative collective engagement, together with the IUF, in a forum to be co-facilitated by the Swiss NCP with a view to seeking NagaCorp’s full compliance with the Guidelines as it relates to labour rights.

Three months following the mediation, the parties and the Swiss NCP considered the difficulties faced by Lombard Odier to raise interest of other investment companies in a forum, and to seek NagaCorp’s full compliance with the Guidelines as they relate to labour rights. The parties agreed that Lombard Odier would reiterate efforts and that IUF would use its connections to support.

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