Amnesty International has published a report today with the lengthy title “Obstacle Course: How the UK’s National Contact Point handles human rights complaints under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises“.

It claims that some UK companies may be getting away with human rights abuses in other countries, and it suggests that G4S and BT may be implicated amongst others. The problem lies with the UK’s National Contact Point, based in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is supposed to hold companies to account on a range of matters including human rights, the environment and corruption.

It seems that in the last five years 60% of all the human rights complaints to the National Contact Point have been rejected without investigation. A further 12% have been referred to National Contact Points in other countries.

Amnesty International highlights a few cases:

BT providing communications and surveillance services to a military base in Dijbouti from which armed US drones carry out lethal missions over Yemen

G4S providing ‘janoritorial services’ at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where unlawful practices are taking place such as the indefinite detention of prisoners without trial and force feeding by the US army

Vodafone, BT and others allowing GCHQ access to its networks for the mass interception of data such as Facebook posts, emails and phone calls, under the UK government’s Tempora program which it then shared with the US authorities

Tom Brake, our Foreign Affairs spokesperson, has said:

Strict monitoring of the human rights impact of UK companies’ activities abroad is essential for company and UK plc credibility.

This scrutiny cannot be left to unqualified civil servants. The National Contact Points must now rethink who conducts its investigations and switch to using staff experienced in handling human rights issues.

And Tim Farron added:

This report shows that the current system is not fit for purpose. Some of the biggest businesses in the UK are putting their bottom line above the misery of others. All the businesses involved should be named and shamed.

These businesses should look at what they are doing and drop some of these contracts urgently. G4S providing janitorial services at Guantanamo Bay is the most blatant example of a business putting profit before human rights I’ve heard about in years. G4S should have walked away from that business.

“We should be a world leader in defending human rights and not burying valid concerns under mountains of red tape. The Liberal Democrats will be raising this issue in Parliament as soon as possible.

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.