Electronics Watch is very happy to welcome Federal Public Service Policy & Support (BOSA) from Belgium and ITG Informationstechnik Graz GmbH (ITG Graz) from Austria as new affiliates!

The tin supply chain benefits from Bolivian cooperative production at the expense of miners´ health and safety.

An impressive community of practice gathered for the Australian Government's Modern Slavery Conference, June 27-29 in Melbourne. According to the latest estimates, nearly 50 million people live in conditions of modern slavery, with half of them facing daily realities of forced labour.

A new Report by the ILO about the ongoing forced labour in Malaysia's rubber glove supply chain provides some critical recommendations for governments, manufacturers, buyers, and recruiters as well as workers' organisations and unions.

Two new communications colleagues joined us at Electronics Watch earlier this month: Harriet Edwards, Communications and Events Manager, and Anthony Silkoff, Communications Consultant. They bring vital skills to the team, which will help us continue to increase and improve communications with our stakeholders.

Electronics Watch has recently joined the Circular & Fair ICT Pact (CFIT), an initiative under the Sustainable Public Procurement Programme of the UN One Planet Network.

As our recently released Annual Report shows, growth was the theme for 2022. Our team expanded from seven to seventeen with the support of affiliates and new funders. And our capacity to help public sector organisations protect the rights of workers in their electronics supply chains increased substantially.

Electronics Watch is now able to publicly release another of its impact stories. This time from a Foxconn factory in Czechia, which supplies HPE servers to many of our affiliates. There were substantial improvements in core labour rights areas in this case – the result of meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the remediation process.

The Clean Electronics Production Network (CEPN) has released Joint Chemical Safety Committee Guidance covering the key elements for developing and running joint worker-management committees to address chemical safety concerns in electronics factories. The Guidance was developed with the active participation of Electronics Watch and fellow CEPN member organisations and expert advisors. Extensive consultation focused on active worker participation and management of the Committees.

In May we gave a warm welcome to our two newest colleagues: Marisol Bernal, Affiliate Engagement Manager, and Simon Gray, IT Manager. Both are based in the UK.