Goods

This section presents good practices developed globally in each stage of the procurement process of goods, as well as specific advances in Electronics, Apparel and Medical Supplies. 

  1. Goods

Design and Selection of Suppliers

Design and Selection of Suppliers

Draft and Award of Contract

Monitoring and Evaluation

 1.1 Electronics

The industry of electronics has been linked to abuses against labour rights and decent work standards, particularly within supply chains such as excessive working hours and inadequate salaries. 

Sectoral Studies on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains: Comparative Analysis of Opportunities and Challenges for Social and Economic Upgrading. 2016

A report developed by ILO detailing case studies that show challenges of workers in global supply chains struggling to achieve Decent Work due to lack of social and economic upgrading. The section on electronics, Study 4, gives an outline of the outsourced industry to Asia and the challenges workers face particularly in lower tiers of the global supply chain, from forced labour in Malaysia to exploitation of interns in China. The report describes how social upgrading does not often follow economic upgrading, especially in countries not adhering to ILO labour standards, and therefore calls on multiple governance mechanisms, for example simultaneous public and private measures, to put pressure on companies to change this.

Public Procurement and Human Rights Due Diligence to Achieve Respect for Labour Rights Standards in Electronics Factories: A Case Study of the Swedish County Councils and the Dell Computer Corporation. February 2016

This Case Study developed by Electronics Watch provides background information on how the Swedish County Councils use their purchasing power to improve corporate respect for human rights and details the steps that Stockholm County Council took to ensure one of its IT contractors was taking adequate steps to investigate and address labour rights violations in its supply chain.

Purchasers Guide for Addressing Labour and Human Rights Impacts in IT Procurements. 2016

This guide developed by Green Electronics Council enlightens procurement practitioners in their IT purchase from companies that are improving the social responsibility of their supply chains. It provides questions, supporting documentation examples and other resources to better understand IT sector’s capacity to address labour and human rights impacts; introduce labour and human rights related performance criteria in technical specifications, supplier selection and procurement award criteria as well as in contract performance clauses. Moreover, it guides on monitoring and evaluating results of procurement and provides purchasers with supplier labour and human rights performance data to confirm that purchasers are meeting their international sourcing and sustainable procurement goals.

Servants of servers. Rights violations and forced labour in the supply chain of ICT equipment in European universities. October 2015

Danwatch has investigated the supply chain of servers bought by European universities and found that whilst young European students enjoy a break in their studies during the summer, tens of thousands of Chinese students are sent by their schools - many of them forced, on irrelevant internships to the assembly lines of electronic factories to produce servers and other ICT equipment for the world’s biggest brands. Interns work 10-12 hours a day, six days a week for 3-5 months producing equipment that later will end in universities across Europe.

BHRE Policy Paper: Promoting Responsible Electronics Supply Chains Through Public Procurement. January 2015

This policy paper developed by the University of Greenwich focuses on the potential for public procurement contracts to be used to improve working conditions in the global electronics supply chain. It provides an in-depth analysis of the past and newly adopted EU Directives on procurement, discusses different approaches to influence supply chain conditions through public procurement, and makes suggestions on how these approaches can be realized in practice.

Winds of Change. 2014

This report developed by Electronics Watch provides an insight of labour issues in the ICT industry, focusing on occupational health and safety issues and freedom of association, compounded by cases from South Korea and China. There are many ways to address these issues – informing and organising among workers, governments of production countries implementing their labour laws, etc. Social responsible public procurement is a new, untried way for institutional consumers on the buying end of the supply chain to exercise influence by using their purchasing power.

The ICT sector in the spotlight: Leverage of Public Procurement Decisions on Working Conditions in the Supply Chain. 2014

This report developed by Electronics Watch examines the complex production system of the ICT sector, maps extensively its key stakeholders and producer countries, and analyses the leverage of public buyers to change the abusive labour conditions in the industry.

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IT workers still pay the price for cheap computers. 2013

Four factories in the provinces Guangdong and Jiangsu were investigated on their working conditions. The findings of the investigation are harsh: Forced overtime, strenuous shifts during peak periods, few days off each month, wages lower than a living wage, and militant management.

 1.1.1 Relevant related blogs 

 1.1.2 Electronics Leader Bio

OLGA MARTIN-ORTEGA
Reader of International Law, School of Law, University of Greenwich 

Dr. Olga Martin-Ortega is a Reader in Public International Law at the School of Law, University of Greenwich, where she leads the Business, Human Rights and the Environment Research Group. She has been researching business and human rights for over ten years. Prior to joining the University of Greenwich Olga was Senior Research Fellow and member of the Management Team of the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict at the University of East London. She has a PhD in International Law from the University of Jaen and a Law degree from the University of Sevilla (Spain). Olga is a member of the Board of Trustees of Electronics Watch and a member of the Board of Directors of the London Universities Purchasing Consortium. She is a founding member and coordinated the European Society of International Law Interest Group on Business and Human Rights until September 2015. She is a founding member and member of the Advisory Board of the Business, Conflict and Human Rights network and member of the executive committee of the London Transitional Justice Network. She has published extensively on the issues of business and human rights, corporate human rights due diligence and public procurement and supply chain responsibility.


 
 

 1.2 Apparel

The apparel industry has been linked to modern slavery and other related labour rights abuses, particularly within developed countries’ supply chains. Moreover, gender differentiated impacts have also been identified related to sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

1.2.1 Relevant advances globally in the procurement of apparel

  • Who made our Uniforms. September 2018

    This report developed by CORE and ICAR reveals that that a third of companies that have supplied uniforms for UK public sector workers, including the armed forces and prison officers, have not reported on what they are doing to tackle slavery in their supply chains. Also it shows that a few contractors supplying uniforms and specialist safety clothing to the UK public sector are transparent about their ethical standards and international suppliers. This report sets recommendations to the government that include improvement of transparency in supply chains, mitigation of risks of labour rights abuses and adherence to international labour standards. It also recommends to create an online database with information about supplier’s human rights practices and to invest in human rights capacity building for public buyers.

    Uk Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Human Rights and Business: Written Evidence Submitted by the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable on Human Rights and UK Public Procurement of Apparel.

    The UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights conducted an inquiry on human rights and business. In response to a call for written evidence, ICAR wrote a submission on the topic of human rights and public procurement of apparel in the U.K. The submission highlights the human rights risks in global apparel supply chains, provides examples of human rights abuses linked to government purchasing, and provides recommendations on how the U.K. government can bring its apparel purchasing practices into better alignment with its duty to protect, and with UNGP 6 in particular.

  • Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly: How Apparel Brand Purchasing Practices Drive Labour Abuses. 2019

    This report developed by Human Rights Watch presents apparel industry-wide problems that impact labour and social compliance by factories. It includes key features to effective human rights due diligence on purchasing practices, mainly of companies. It can serve to public buyers when conducting impact assessments on human rights risks when procuring apparel goods. Ensuring that all public procurement integrates mandatory human rights due diligence measures including sourcing and purchasing practices is set within the report’s recommendations.

1.2.2 Relevant related blogs

1.2.3 Apparel Leader Bios

AMOL MEHRA
Director, International Corporate Accountability Roundtable

Amol Mehra, Esq. is the Director of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable, a coalition of leading human rights, development, labor and environmental organizations working to ensure businesses respect human rights in their global operations. Amol is an international human rights lawyer by training, focusing on business and human rights and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Amol has worked to build accountability frameworks in both domestic and international arenas, including over private military and security companies and around supply chains and extractives industries, among others. Amol leads ICAR’s work on public procurement and human rights. In addition to his work as Director of ICAR, Amol is an advisor for several other organizations. For example, he serves on the Advisory Council for the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights and as a Coordinating Member and Thematic Specialist for Amnesty International USA. Amol holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and a Juris Doctor (JD) degree with a Honors in International Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law.



ROBERT STUMBERG
Professor of Law and Director of the Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Robert Stumberg is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he also directs the Harrison Institute for Public Law. The Institute is a teaching and service program that works with public officials and nonprofit organizations. He is a coauthor of Turning a Blind Eye: Respecting Human Rights in Government Purchasing (ICAR 2014). In addition to work on procurement reform, he also contributes to projects that help governments cope with the impact of trade agreements on governing, adapt to climate change, and develop community food systems. His education includes: BA, Macalester College; JD, Georgetown University; LLM Georgetown University.







1.3.1 Relevant advances globally in the procurement of medical supplies

  • Risk-assessments for products within five categories: Medical Supplies. 2017

    Swedwatch has carried out risk-assessments on thirty-four products within five product categories on behalf of Direktoratet for forvaltning og IKT (DIFI). The risk-assessment reports aim to provide information on potential adverse impacts on labour rights and human rights in the supply chains of the selected products. The reports will guide contracting authorities on the importance of social considerations in their purchasing practices and when such criteria should be applied. The risk- assessments will also improve the readers’ understanding of what to look for when monitoring supplier compliance.

  • Report of the Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises. June 2020

    See particular section C. Coronavirus disease pandemic regarding corruption rising from public institutions in the procurement of medicines and supplies for health systems which is vulnerable to corruption.

  • Sustainable Health Procurement Guidance Note. 2020

    This UNDP report presents the social and environmental impacts of global health procurement stressing that the health sector alongside electronics, apparel, agriculture and infrastructure has a human rights ‘high risk’ particularly to decent work and women’s rights because of its nature, geographical location of production and lack of transparency in supply chains