Collaboration, Due Diligence and Leverage in the Electronics Industry- New article in the Business and Human Rights Journal

Our new article is now out! "Public Procurement as a Tool for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: a Study of Collaboration, Due Diligence and Leverage in the Electronics Industry" by Olga Martin-Ortega has been published by the Business and Human Rights Journal.

This article explores the innovative use of public procurement as a tool to respect, protect and promote human rights by capitalizing on the significant leverage that public buyers have over corporate practices in their supply chain. It provides an analysis of Electronics Watch, an organization that focuses on the role of states’ own procurement practices as central to the state duty to protect the human rights of those who are affected by its activities as an economic actor. Through the assessment of the Electronics Watch model this article argues that by bringing together the economic leverage of public buyers and corporate human rights due diligence, one can create transformative tools for the improvement of working conditions in global supply chains.

Many thanks to all our colleagues at Electronics Watch for their help and amazing work they do! 

The article is now available as First View at the Business and Human Rights Journal. 

Advancing Respect for Labour Rights Globally through Public Procurement

Our latest article on public procurement "Advancing Respect for Labour Rights Globally through Public Procurement" has been published on Cogitatio Press.

In this article, the authors Olga Martin-Ortega and Claire Methven O'Brien explore that governments are mega-consumers of many manufactured products and services. As such they should in principle be able to influence workers’ rights abroad via the terms of purchase contracts. Yet to date little attention has been paid to the potential of public procurement to promote respect for labour rights globally besides the international trade law framework. Building on a limited emerging scholarship and policy developments, this article addresses this gap. Section 2 considers legal definitions of public procurement and distinguishes primary and secondary aims of procurement under key international and regional procurement regimes. This highlights that, although historically used to advance labour rights domestically, these regimes have restricted public buyers’ scope to advance labour rights beyond national borders. Section 3 explores new international policy frameworks on responsible global value chains and supply chains which by contrast appear to augur the greater use of public procurement to promote labour rights globally in future. Section 4 argues, supported by analysis of the limited examples available, that public buying has the potential to positively influence enjoyment of labour rights in practice. Concluding, Section 5 reflects on what the more specific impacts of public procurement in this context may be, and how public buying should complement other mechanisms for improving labour conditions across supply chains, such as social clauses in trade agreements. Finally, we outline issues for further research and the future policy agenda.

The full article is available here and is free to download.

Dr. Daniel Aguirre joins the BHRE as Associate Member

Dr. Aguirre interviewed by Al Jazzera ABOUT THE human rights violations that have led to the humanitarian crisis and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

The BHRE is excited to welcome Dr. Daniel Aguirre as an Associate member. Daniel is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Greenwich and teaches Tort law and the Legal Advocacy and Ethics courses. His research interests include investment law, business and human rights, transitional justice and human rights in developing states and South-East Asia. 

Dr Aguirre was an international legal advisor for the International Commission of Jurists based in Yangon, Myanmar, working on business and human rights, the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and access to remedy for violations of human rights. He has experience working with non-governmental organisations and universities in North America, Europe, and Asia. 

For more information on his profile see Our Team.