Typically at the end of a year, we at Verité ask ourselves two questions: 1) What did we do to further our vision of a world where people work under safe, fair, and legal conditions?, and 2) How did we fulfil our mission to provide the knowledge and tools to eliminate the most serious labor and human rights abuses in global supply chains? This year, we answer these questions considering both how we have met the issues the pandemic presents and how we have fulfilled our mission despite the pandemic. Please join us in a review of selected notable projects from 2020.
In previous Vision pieces, we have pointed out that Executive Order 13627 on “Strengthening Protections against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts” is designed to bolster the U.S. government’s zero-tolerance approach to trafficking in persons in federal contracts. On January 29, 2015, the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) Council released the much awaited “final rule” designed to implement the Executive Order signed by President Obama in September 2012, and Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013 (“Ending Trafficking in Government Contracting”)—both of which will require federal contractors and subcontractors to take specific proactive preventive measures to detect and eliminate human trafficking and forced labor in their supply chains.
London was awarded the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games based in some part on the bid’s broad commitment to setting the benchmark for sustainable events management. But because the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was a temporary organization, it did not have the luxury of nurturing supplier performance improvement on labor conditions over time. Their commitment translated to managing social and environmental risk in 10,000 product lines from 600 direct suppliers and 60 licensees—almost entirely at the start of the business relationship.
