(RSPO) and complaint resolution - Forest Peoples Programme

IntroductionThe Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a not-for-profit associationformed in 2004 in response to the urgent and pressing global call forsustainably produced palm oil. The objective of this association is to promotethe growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credibleglobal standards and the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders.The RSPO brings together stakeholders from seven sectors of the palmoil industry: oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumergoods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or natureconservation NGOs and social or development NGOs.This booklet is produced by the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), anindependent human rights organisation, that has been closely involved inthe RSPO’s standard setting and public review processes, although it is not amember of the RSPO. Over the past decade, Forest Peoples Programme andits grassroots, national and international partners in Africa and SoutheastAsia have sought to ensure that the RSPO both adopts and upholdsstandards consistent with international human rights law and respect for therights of local communities and indigenous peoples.This document sets out the RSPO’s system for resolving disputes. It providesbasic information and guidance to civil society organisations and affectedlocal communities on how the RSPO complaint process works and thevarious steps involved in submitting a complaint. In separate documents wehave sought to summarise our own experiences with the effectiveness ofthis system. In our view, there remains a wide gap between how the RSPOComplaints System ought to function and what it is actually able to achieve.We have been encouraging the RSPO to upgrade its process and in themeantime offer this guide in the belief that having access to an imperfectsystem is better than none. This document is based largely on informationfrom the RSPO website, but has been produced independently. Readers arerecommended to consult www.rspo.org for further details.3