Cividep and UNDP India Collaborate To Demystify Business & Human Rights

Read Our Comprehensive Resource For Worker Collectives and Grassroots Organisations In India

How can Business & Human Rights (BHR) standards help a worker employed at a factory that makes jeans for an international brand? How can ILO conventions help worker collectives to push for Freedom of Association at the workplace?? ? Cividep along with UNDP B+HR and UNDP in India have just?launched a new handbook?that tries to answer some of these questions.?This resource aims to demystify the complex discourse on BHR and explains how it can help push for labour standards. By equipping workers and labour campaigners?with this knowledge, we can collectively push for a future where decent work and human rights are a reality for all within global supply chains. Here's what the handbook offers:

• It simplifies complex?jargon, making BHR standards more accessible.
• It explains how BHR standards could?contribute to upholding worker's rights.
• Case studies showcase successful? campaigns by labour rights groups that have leveraged BHR standards.
• ?Key concepts, definitions, and additional resources are compiled for easy reference.
• An outline of the roles and responsibilities of governments and businesses under BHR standards related to labour rights

Download your free copy of the handbook today.

FIELD DIARY?

Justice For Expolited Workers: Venu and Maithri (name changed),?two young women from Jharkhand,?came seeking work at an apparel knitting mill in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. They were however abandoned by their job contractor, who took them to their workplace in November 2023 . Consequently, the mill restricted their movement, denied them leave, proper rest, and withheld wages. Thankfully, the women reached out to the Chennai State Facilitation Center (SFC) of the India Labour Line, run by a Cividep team. Post their inquiry with the mill's recruting agents and HR staff, the team?were?able to secure their release.?Read the whole story here.? ?

Unending Audits: What is the impact of endless social audits on garment factories??During a visit to a garment factory in Tamil Nadu supplying an international brand, a Cividep team found that factory officials were disillusioned. “There is no incentive to get a good grade in social audits,” said an official. Add to this the significant cost burden (Rs. 3-4 lakhs per audit) borne by suppliers. A?Cividep team visited the factory as part of a collaborative health study (in pic above) with the brand. The study aims to understand the health challenges faced by female garment workers.?Many workers? reported participating in as many as 30 audits a year. Read more.

UPDATES

Data for Change: ?Cividep India, in partnership with the UNDP B+HR programme at UNDP in India, recently?concluded a 3-day workshop in Bengaluru (in pic above).This immersive programme used a hands-on approach to familiarise civil society workers on SEBI’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) questionnaire and how to extract and analyse data from the BRSR disclosures of the top 1000 listed companies. Sessions were held by key labour academics and experts including Dev Nathan, Rahul S, Vasanthi Srinivasan, Rajesh Joseph, Jhumki Dutta, and was moderated by Rashmi Venkatesan. ?

A Gender-First Approach To Health:?A set of formal guidelines for gender-sensitive health and safety protocols are being developed under the Multi-Actor Partnership (MAP) project on Gender and Health. These guidelines are to be implemented on a pilot basis in various garment factories of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, in collaboration with international brands. This project is a partnership between Femnet E.V. (Germany), Südwind-Institut (Germany), Trade Union Rights Centre (TURC, Indonesia), and Cividep (India) and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (BMZ).