27 June, 2013IndustriALL and UNI welcome the decision of the OECD National Contact Points for OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises to support the Accord on Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety as a robust and credible program which commits the brands to work with local stakeholders to guarantee the safety of workers.
This is the first time that these 45 representatives of national governments have issued any joint statement. The Guidelines were modified in 2011 to include the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which require that businesses take responsibility and use “due diligence” to identify and address supply chain problems.
The NCP’s joint statement builds upon Secretary General Gurria’s previous public statement in support of the Accord. Secretary Gurria said, “This event is a dramatic wake up call for the international textile industry, governments and other stakeholders to address the risks before they result in tragedies such as this.”
At yesterday’s OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dipu Moni, underlined how urgent the situation is and called for higher and transparent pricing, and for buyers to contribute to the long term capacity for producers. She also asserted that brands must conform to global standards because they have so far failed to deliver on their promises.