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 Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) Issue Brief explains the role of public procurement in preventing trafficking for forced labour. It outlines the international and national policy framework; elaborates on va...Read More
The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018 and is accurate as of July 25, 2019. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may revealed to the National Hotline over time. Consequen...Read More
By Sandra COSSART, Jérôme and Tiphaine BEAU DE LOMENIE INTRODUCTION The difficult journey of the French Bill on the duty of care of parent and subcontracting companies came to an end on 23 March 2017, when the French Constitutional Council (Counc...Read More
This report seeks to inform the discussions at the Summit of the Americas in June 2022 by providing background on migration on the continent and in particular recent dynamics pending data availability. The Global Compact of Migration recognized in t...Read More
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