“Roundtable: do we need a binding convention on decent work in global supply chains?” 27 Jun 2016

In our first question, respondents debate whether a binding international convention is necessary to ensure labour standards in global supply chains…[For most], …traditional legal frameworks have proved insufficient to hold [multinational corporations] to account for the abuses taking place in their own supply chains…A binding international convention on corporate responsibility for labour standards in global supply chains is desperately needed…[It] should not only create positive duties for parties within supply chains who may be contractually far removed from workers, but it should also provide a means of bringing claims against supply chain parties such as financiers and buyers… [For others,] States are already bound to enforce international labour standards and to protect the rights of their citizens. And treaties and conventions only apply to states...[W]e need new, ambitious ways of thinking about governance in the supply chain that provide for more rigorous, consistent application of standards to companies...