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.
International food supply chains provide employment for tens of millions of women and men around the world, demonstrating the potential for private sector actors to fight poverty and inequality. Yet far too many work in appalling conditions. The o...Read More
Discussion about mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) for corporations is currently on the political agenda of at least 12 European Union member states as well as EU institutions. The EU Commission has announced an HRDD law and the European P...Read More
The IGWG’s fifth session, which took place from 14 to 18 October 2019, opened with a statement from the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. She congratulated the Chair-Rapporteur on the release of the revised draft legally bi...Read More
The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017 and is accurate as of July 11, 2018. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may be revealed to the National Hotline over time. Conseq...Read More
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