With funding from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (USDOL-ILAB), Verité is launching the three-year Cooperation On Fair, Free, Equitable Employment (COFFEE) Project. The project involves the creation of a robust compliance system and toolkit on improving labor conditions in the coffee sector, as well as trainings and guidance on implementation of the toolkit.
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Verité conducted desk and field research to map out how jobseekers in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Lao PDR learn about jobs in Thailand, weigh risk factors and choose among the routes open to them, as well as what those routes – formal or informal – entail. Through 168 interviews with people on or connected with this journey, a picture emerged of a highly complex and dynamic arena in which the needs of jobseekers, job-finders, employers, regulators, facilitators and profiteers meet.
Created with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Verité has published a new set of free online tools designed to help food and beverage companies better identify, prevent, and address human trafficking or trafficking-related practices in their global supply chains. The suite of tools also provides implementation guidance for the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) “Ending Trafficking in Persons,” which requires U.S. federal contractors to take concrete steps to address and prevent human trafficking in their supply chains.
You see the headlines about the US-Mexico border on a daily basis: Asylum seekers, guest workers, and other international migrants are seeking safety and a chance to break out of a cycle of poverty by coming to the United States. Yet for all the exposure these stories receive, there is little explanation of who these people are and why they take their risky journeys. This story offers supply chain professionals a clear context and understanding of how promoting compliance with national laws and corporate supply chain standards can directly impact the lives of these vulnerable populations.