Verité was pleased to have a presence at the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility’s (ICCR) multi-stakeholder roundtable, “Emerging Best Practices in Implementing Ethical Recruitment Policies across Industries,” convened on January 19, in New York City. The roundtable is part of the ICCR’s “No Fees” Initiative, which is supported by Humanity United. The event brought together leaders from the private sector, NGOs, socially responsible investors, international organizations, and government to engage on this issue. Verité is proud to be a long term partner with ICCR on labor recruitment reform and many other supply chain challenges facing the broad range of companies in which ICCR members invest.
Verité’s CEO, Shawn MacDonald, spoke on the first panel, “Challenges and Opportunities from the Ground.” He was joined by Marie Apostol, previously the head of Verité Southeast Asia and now the Founder and CEO of The Fair Hiring Initiative; Mark Taylor, Director for Strategy and Global Partnerships at Project Issara; and Charlie Fanning, Advocacy and Research Coordinator in the AFL-CIO International Department. MacDonald urged companies to consider the levers available to them throughout the supply chain to stem worker abuse occurring during the recruitment process and highlighted several of the promising practices Verité is implementing with pioneering companies. The panel also discussed the exploitative practices of recruitment agents and laid out the key components of an ethical recruiter.
The subsequent panel focused on industry perspective and featured leaders from the private sector who shared their experiences (including working with Verité) and the challenges they face when implementing ethical recruitment policies in their supply chains. The following panel examined the issue from the perspective of governments and international institutions. Representatives from U.S. government and the International Labour Organization (ILO) shared ways in which they were engaged with the issue, including specific initiatives and partnerships such as that between Verité and the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) to promote The Responsible Sourcing Tool website.
The roundtable fostered rich dialogue and supported company engagement with leaders from investors, NGOs, government, and international organizations to develop cross-sectoral strategies to improve ethical recruitment through global supply chains. Verité looks forward to continuing to support ICCR’s “No Fees” Initiative as it develops.