On November 6-7, 2024, Electronics Watch hosted its sixth Annual Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The conference brought together 118 participants from 75 organisations across 27 countries. Discussions explored stakeholder collaboration within the context of human rights due diligence with a focus on protecting the rights of workers. A more detailed summary of the event is forthcoming.

One of Electronics Watch's strategic goals is for workers to exercise their right to organise and access remedy. Affiliated public buyers use their leverage to promote freedom of association and collective bargaining in their supply chains. This includes enabling access for trade unions to organise and represent workers collectively, and address union busting.

In a significant step towards responsible public procurement and the protection of human rights, Tarragona City Council has become the third municipality in Catalonia to affiliate to Electronics Watch.

Electronics Watch is pleased to serve as the secretariat for three public buyer working groups collaborating to strengthen corporate accountability and promote the effective implementation of human rights due diligence (HRDD).

In the past three months, the Tulizembe artisanal mining quarry near Kolwezi has seen 17 deaths due to landslides. These incidents have renewed concerns about the safety and reputation of Congolese cobalt, as reported by Electronics Watch monitoring partner, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW).

In August 2023, Xu Xiao, a 23-year-old migrant worker, was found dead in his dormitory at the Qisda Optronic factory in Suzhou, China. Although his death was not officially classified as work-related, he had worked excessive overtime and consecutive night shifts shortly before his passing. This incident has raised critical questions about working conditions in the electronics industry. Our Impact Story explores what measures have been taken since then, and what challenges still lie ahead.

A new tool helps affiliated public buyers to assess the maturity of their current practices, identify gaps and drive incremental improvement.

The Electronics Watch Annual Report 2023 reflects on a year where collaboration has allowed us to increase our impact for workers in global supply chains. It has laid the groundwork for more mature industry dialogue and more coordinated and strategic activities that to use public buyer leverage to promote and protect workers' rights.

Find out more about our affiliate the City of Copenhagen, and their approach to responsible procurement. They talk about following up labour clauses, national and international site visits, aspirations to support workers to organise and include trade unions in remedy, and more!

The terrible fire of 24 June at the Aricell lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, is a tragic reminder of the cost workers pay to provide the world with electronic devices. At least 23 workers have been killed, and many others injured.