On the heels of their benchmark report for the apparel and footwear sector, KnowTheChain has released a Resource and Action Guide for Apparel and Footwear Companies to assist them in delving deeper into their supply chains where there are the greatest risks of forced labor. This action guide highlights guidance on addressing risks and encourages companies to adopt new tools and unique approaches. A project of Humanity United and maintained in partnership with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), Sustainalytics, and Verité, KnowTheChain released benchmarks for the Information and Communications Technology sector, the Food and Beverage sector, and the Apparel and Footwear sector in 2016. Verité’s role in this collaboration is to provide advice and resources for companies to improve their policies and practices in combating forced labor and human trafficking across a range of key areas and sectors.
Verité has worked in Turkey since 1999 and is currently focused on assessments and training in the apparel sector. Turkey is the third largest apparel supplier to the European Union after China and Bangladesh. Its proximity to Europe, strong production infrastructure, and entrepreneurial climate make it a top destination for global apparel and footwear brands. For the last several years, Verité has collaborated on work in Turkey with Senior Consultant Pauline Tiffen and her team on-the-ground. She is the founder of Tiffen & Associates, and prior to that she founded two leading fair trade companies: Cafedirect and The Divine Chocolate Company. Ms. Tiffen leads Verité’s work in Turkey utilizing her expertise for rapid appraisals on issues of forced labor, designed for the specific risks of labor abuse currently present in the country. As Ms. Tiffen shares with Vision, the informal nature of Turkey’s garment sector, influx of millions of Syrian refugees, and lack of transparency in apparel supply chains, has resulted in a widely unregulated environment rife with labor rights risks.
Despite a weakening of conflict minerals due diligence requirements in the U.S., legislation continues to advance in other countries. Leading brands are committed to working towards eliminating minerals and metals linked to conflict, criminality, environmental degradation, and human trafficking and other labor abuses from their supply chains.
Our friends at .eco are very close to an important milestone: the launch of a new web address ending for the environmental movement, which has potential for better alignment between groups like Verité that promote the human elements of sustainability with those addressing challenges to the natural world. Founded by two environmentalists and former United Nations Environment Programme staffers, .eco is a new domain name ending—also known as a top-level domain (TLD)—for those committed to positive change for the planet. The .eco ending is only available to companies, governments, organizations, or individuals working toward a sustainable future. To secure a domain, registrants pledge their commitment to .eco’s principles and purpose, as well as continuously affirm this pledge by sharing information on their environmentally-friendly actions.
Verité, in partnership with Winrock and Lawyers without Borders, is helping to implement CLEAR II, a project to reduce the prevalence of child labor in eight countries. This four-year project which began in 2014, is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and addresses the circumstances that contribute to child labor and builds on the CLEAR I project, which is being implemented by the ILO. Verité’s role in this partnership includes providing technical support to public officials and private companies to reduce child labor. Eight countries are involved in this project including Nepal, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Honduras, Panama, and Belize, with two others still to be named.
