Follow-up to the resolution concerning decent work in supply chains (2016): Report of the tripartite working group on options for ensuring decent work in supply chains - ILO[...]

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Follow-up to the resolution concerning decent work in supply chains (2016): Report of the tripartite working group on options for ensuring decent work in supply chains - ILO Governing Body, 346th session

11.01.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in Geneva

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Albania*, the Republic of North Macedonia*, Montenegro* Serbia*, and Türkiye as well as the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

1. We thank the Office for the document that summarizes and comments on the output of the recent meeting of the tripartite working group on achieving decent work in global supply chains, in addition to the outputs from two previous meetings on Export Processing Zones and cross-border social dialogue.
2. Supply chains are a cornerstone of economic life and they can be an engine of job creation and economic development for developed and developing countries.
3. The EU and its Member States are highly committed to promote decent work in global supply chains as pointed out in the 2020 Council Conclusions on Human Rights and Decent Work in Global Supply Chains. In line with its 2022 Communication on decent work worldwide the European Commission has presented its proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive which is currently under discussion within the EU.
4. Because of their importance and potential, the apparent failures to secure decent work in supply chains, as well as their recent fragilities due to human and natural disasters such as armed conflicts or the Covid pandemic, have become a central policy issue on the national and international stage. We are glad that there is consensus within the ILO that the adverse impact on labour rights in global supply chains must be addressed systematically.
5. The ILO is uniquely positioned to take on this task at global level and should take a leadership role based on "a fully coordinated, ambitious, holistic, comprehensive ILO strategy that reflects a smart mix of national and international mandatory and voluntary measures".
6. One important element of this smart mix is, as mentioned in the document, a stronger link between the ILO's supervisory mechanisms, technical assistance and research work and practical tools.
7. We welcome a strengthening of the ILO Helpdesk, in order to assist companies, workers and employers' organizations with regard to human rights due diligence processes and to develop practical tools to strengthen the means of labour inspection in supply chains.
8. We also adhere to the call to strengthen development cooperation on promoting decent work in all tiers of global supply chains, especially assistance to support state actors and social partners, in particular in production countries. We strongly encourage active engagement with private sector, including multi-national companies operating cross-border.
9. We are looking forward to the presentation of a finalized version of such a strategy at the next session of the Governing Body - as envisaged in the draft decision - and we believe that the building blocks adopted by the tripartite working group represent a very good basis for this strategy. In this sense, the Office document underlines that the building blocks envision an analysis of the growing regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives addressing decent work deficits in supply chains as described in the gap analyses
10. We welcome that - by basing the ILO strategy on decent work in supply chains on the building blocks the Office commits to learn from these important and dynamic impulses to inform the development of initiatives to complement the body of international labour standards. It is the EU's position that this exercise is critical to ensure a level playing field and should, therefore, lead to discussions within the ILO in addressing the normative and/or non-normative gaps in a coherent manner.
11. We also very much welcome the fact that one of the five action programmes announced in the Programme and Budget proposal for 2024-2025 will be dedicated to the issue of decent work in supply chains, investment and trade.
12. We are therefore confident that the design and scope of the ILO's strategy on decent work in supply chains will yield tangible non-normative and normative results as appropriate and thus match the challenge.
13. Chair, based on the above comments, we support the decision point.

Thank you, Chair.

*Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.