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 year’s Trafficking in Persons Report highlights some of the elements of an effective community-based approach, the challenges in implementing such initiatives, and the opportunities national governments have to facilitate coordination, coopera...Read More
The present report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Tomoya Obokata, is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 42/10. The report is focused on contemporary forms of ...Read More
Bangladeshi victims of trafficking in persons are identified in many countries across the world, as well as in Bangladesh itself. The country’s geographic location contributes to it not only being a significant origin country of victims regionally...Read More
This is a summary of the report: The Modern Slavery CoreOutcome Set , a research project funded by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), which is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research ...Read More
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