INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PAGES
ing sessions offered to all workers to
raise awareness of the harmful effects
of violence and harassment. For work-
ers at lower levels of the hierarchy,
these sessions allowed them to iden-
tify situations of violence and harass-
ment and protect themselves better.
For managers and supervisors, in par-
ticular at the factory-level, training ses-
sions have helped identify, prevent and
manage cases of violence and harass-
ment.
The Better Work programme, covering
1,800 garment factories and 2 million
workers in 8 countries, has launched
its new Gender Strategy in 2018, which
is designed to tackle gender-based vi-
olence and discrimination, among oth-
er objectives. The BW’s sexual harass-
ment prevention work has had a dem-
onstrated impact in reducing worker
concerns on the issue (for example,
lowering them by 18 percentage points
in Jordan) and increasing workers’
voice in discussing their concerns with
trade unions and factory managers.
Data from the programme show a clear
link between an increase in workers’
productivity and overall factory profit-
ability and a reduction in verbal abuse
and sexual harassment.
International NGOs such as Human
Rights Watch are taking efforts towards
tackling violence and harassment
through knowledge dissemination and
the documentation of the numerous
occurrences in factories based in In-
dia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the
same vein, the Fair Wear Foundation
is using social dialogue as a tool to
promote freedom of association and
tackle the issue of violence and ha-
rassment through the establishment of
workplace committees along with work-
er helplines.
What are the remaining challenges/
gaps?
Holding the various stakeholders along
the value chain accountable remains
a challenge due to several barriers,
such as unauthorized subcontracting,
denial of freedom of association and
all other fundamental principles and
rights at work, and a lack of indepen-dent monitoring. Research also indicates that many victims of violence and
harassment are unaware of their rights and of the various steps they could take
in order to access protection and find remedies. Addressing this issue requires
concerted action from all key stakeholders.
A consultative supply chain assessment to es-
tablish a common understanding of key due dili-
gence risks in Indian garment and textile supply
chains: OECD Report expected in June 2020
OECD to conduct the study “Apparel Supply Chain Assessment In India.”
In 2018 the OECD facilitated the creation of a platform between Indian garment
and textile industry, represented by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),
and global apparel brands to share information and build capacity within the
sector to meet international labour and environmental standards and industry
best practices as laid out in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible
Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector.
Activities of the platform include:
July 2018: CII-OECD industry roundtable in New Delhi
December 2018: CII-OECD South India industry roundtable in Coimbatore
February 2019: the CII released a report called Vision 2030 : Weaving a New
Textile Sector for India, which identified 5 key pillars of activity to support
sustainable growth in the sector to double the sector’s turnover and create
millions of jobs by 2030, including i) a transparency framework, and ii) wide-
spread adoption of due diligence for a responsible sector. The report featured
case studies of good practices, and future perspectives from business leaders
in the sector.
As a key outcome from the roundtables held in 2018 there was broad agree-
ment on the need to establish a mutual understanding and a ‘baseline’for the
current context on due diligence impacts in Indian textile and apparel supply
chains. From this it would be possible to understand what is needed to estab-
lish tools and approaches to achieve sustainable growth based on principles of
transparency, accountability and responsible business practice that leaves no
worker or impacted community behind. This baseline would be established via
an independent study of the key labour, human rights and environmental due
diligence risks and drivers across the whole supply chain of the Indian garment
and textile sector, which brings together different stakeholders and builds con-
sensus around the study’s key findings.
The relevance of OECD due diligence guidance extends beyond OECD mem-
ber countries and Adherents to producing economies. For example, key end
markets for the Indian T&A sector have seen an increase in legislation related
to labour and environmental due diligence in the last 5 years. Such legislation
holds companies operating in or from their territories accountable to labour and
environmental risks/impacts not only in their own operations but also in their
supply chains. Furthermore, investors in key end markets for the Indian T&A
sector are increasingly being held accountable for their investment portfolios
and therefore are taking more stringent measures in ensuring that labour and
environmental risks are being adequately addressed in their supply chains. The
OECD guidance provides a tool, therefore, which is applicable for companies
operating across global supply chains to meet emerging government, company
& investor expectations on labour, human rights & environmental due diligence.
NCM-MARCH 2020
62