Why Traditional Audits are not Sufficient for Human Rights Due Diligence
In today’s complex global marketplace, many companies operate without a clear understanding of the human rights risks lurking within their supply chains. To better grasp the risks, companies often make use of traditional compliance audits – a process that is too often a simple checkbox (or tick-box) exercise. True risk management requires moving beyond traditional models to develop a concrete, nuanced understanding of how labor violations can emerge at every tier of production—from raw material extraction to final assembly.
Coalition Corner – The Latest on Advocacy Advancements
Working through coalitions is an indispensable part of Verité’s advocacy efforts to influence policy changes that uplift and safeguard the rights and well-being of workers worldwide. Today, Verité’s coalition work involves bringing expertise and knowledge on supply chains and labor rights to the policy arena so that public policy is informed and ultimately enforceable. The following resources and news highlight the latest advancements with our coalition partners.
Message from Our CEO, Shawn MacDonald: Standing Firm in Challenging Times
We find ourselves in increasingly volatile and challenging times for human rights and labor rights globally, with hard-won protections facing new challenges every day. Now, we face a critical and systematic dismantling of worker protections: the elimination of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) programs through deliberate, far-reaching cuts. This devastating action destroys decades of progress by gutting 69 essential programs—representing more than $500 million—that fought child labor, forced labor, and other labor abuses across 40 countries.
Mexico: LOCAL Initiative Promotes Collaborative Impact Approach among Municipal Stakeholders
This year, Verité launched the four-year Liderazgo, Organización y Colaboración para la Acción Colectiva en Temas Laborales (LOCAL) program, an initiative designed to foster locally-led collaborative strategies to address child and forced labor risks in Mexico’s agricultural sector.
India and Bangladesh: Evidence-Driven Ethical Recruitment to Combat Debt Bondage
Leveraging innovative digital tools, the project promotes worker-centric data that grassroots CSOs can use to drive evidence-based advocacy efforts. Local partner organizations in India and Bangladesh received specialized training in digital data collection, allowing them to systematically document recruitment costs that workers should not have to pay. The project’s impact was significant, with 95% of participants reporting increased confidence in using data to engage with key decision-makers and advocates on debt bondage issues.
Asia: Mapping Migrant Worker Finances and Uncovering Hidden Burdens
In the complex landscape of global labor rights, meaningful change requires looking deeper than surface-level compliance. Verité’s workplace assessments are grounded in a worker-centered approach, enabling us to uncover systemic labor challenges and expose their root causes.
Throughout Asia, Verité’s comprehensive Foreign Migrant Worker Assessments employ rigorous, triangulated methodologies that translate into tangible worker protections. By employing forensic, investigative techniques our team uncovers complex, financial exploitation associated with migrant workers’ recruitment experiences.
Engaging Driver Unions through Cross-Border Collaboration in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
Building on the 2016 joint declaration between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to combat human trafficking and child labor, Verité’s Forced Labor Indicators Project (FLIP) is strengthening collaboration between these two West African nations.
Since 2018 in Ghana, and 2021 in Côte d’Ivoire, Verité has fostered coalition-building through Technical Working Groups (TWGs), uniting diverse stakeholders to raise awareness of forced labor and human trafficking, influence policies, and drive national-level change through collaborative expertise.
Dear Sustainability Director
Andrea Galvez, Verité’s First Mile Due Diligence Lead on why brands need to take supplier engagement seriously.
In today’s rapidly evolving global business landscape, due diligence is no longer just a buzzword it’s a critical component of sustainable and ethical business practices. As directors of Sustainability, CSR, or Supply Chain Management for multinational brands, you’re likely grappling with a significant shift: the transition from voluntary to mandatory due diligence.
What Does It Mean to Embed Human Rights in Business Management Systems?
Embedding human rights means integrating them into your company’s DNA, its culture, strategy, and daily operations. It’s about placing human rights on par with other core business priorities like efficiency, quality, cost, and environmental sustainability. This requires a fundamental shift in how businesses perceive their role and responsibilities in the global economy, moving beyond mere compliance to proactive engagement with human rights issues.
Webinar: Launch of Verité’s Farm Labor Due Diligence Toolkit – Demystifying Human Rights Due Diligence for Companies, Suppliers, and Traders Sourcing Agricultural Commodities
This webinar is for companies, suppliers, and traders seeking to understand and implement human rights due diligence in agricultural supply chains. Join Verité for the launch our new Farm Labor Due Diligence Toolkit, a groundbreaking, free resource to help companies tackle challenging human rights issues – including on farms and in the “first mile.”
