Under the regime of private company or multi-stakeholder voluntary codes of conduct and industry social auditing, workers have absorbed low wages and unsafe and abusive conditions; labour leaders and union members have become the targets of both government and factory harassment and violence; and trade union power has waned. Nowhere have these private systems of codes and audits so clearly failed to protect workers as in Bangladesh’s apparel industry. However, international labour groups and Bangladeshi unions have succeeded in mounting a challenge to voluntarism in the global economy, persuading more than 180 companies to make a binding and enforceable commitment to workers’ safety in an agreement with 12 unions.
The extent to which this Bangladesh Accord will be able to influence the entrenched global regime of voluntary codes and weak trade unions remains an open question. But if the Accord can make progress in Bangladesh, it can help to inspire similar efforts in other countries and in other industries.
This ASSESSMENT MATRIX explains how to measure evidence of national legislative and policy responses to sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism as identified in the legal checklist. Measurable indicators for each of the ...Read More
This short paper is intended as a general overview of the development of different legislations and frameworks that apply in the area of finance and human rights, underlining key aspects. It comprises EU regulation (in force and upcoming), national ...Read More
On October 28th, 2019, the OECD launched new guidance on Due Diligence for Responsible Corporate Lending and Securities Underwriting (hereinafter “the guidance”). The guidance is based and elaborates on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Ente...Read More
ECPAT International is a global network of civil society organisations working together to end the sexual exploitation of children (SEC). ECPAT comprises member organisations in over 100 countries who generate knowledge, raise awareness, and advocat...Read More
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