Twenty one public sector organisations and seven civil society monitoring organisations from 13 countries convened in Barcelona, Spain from 17 – 18 November for the Electronics Watch event, Affiliate Exchange for Impact. By facilitating learning and exchange, this event increased awareness about public buyers' collective leverage and how it is – and can further be – exercised to protect the rights of workers in global supply chains.

Our Regional Risk Assessment on the ICT and battery value chains in Hungary has identified risks for workers in nine thematic areas of the Electronics Watch code. A collaboration between Electronics Watch, Periféria Policy and Research Center (Hungary), and University of Bristol (UK), the report explores each of these risks in detail, and provides recommendations on key actions to mitigate them.

Since our last newsletter seven public buyers from five countries have affiliated to Electronics Watch: la Direction des Achats de l'État in France, KU Leuven in Belgium, ITDZ Berlin and Ludwigsburg City Council in Germany, Cardiff Metropolitan University and North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium in the UK, and Monash University in Australia.

The Purchasing Directorate of the French State (Direction des Achats de l’État, DAE) has affiliated to Electronics Watch. It is the first public buyer in France to join Electronics Watch's affiliate network.  DAE was created by the Decree of 3 March 2016 and is situated within the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts, where it replaced the State Purchasing Service (Service des Achats de l'État, SAE).

The Regional Chamber of Social and Solidarity Economy in Provence Alpes Côtes d'Azur (CRESS PACA) is organising the fifth edition of the ESS Sud event "the Fair of the Economy of the Future,” which will be held on Thursday, 3 November at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille. The fair is a major meeting of public, private and non-profit sector stakeholders from Region Sud, the Southern Region of France.

A grant from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ - the German Agency for International Cooperation) will support Electronics Watch to increase workers' access to remedy. The programme will focus on Vietnam, Malaysia and China. As a federally owned enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.

Electronics Watch has incorporated three new full time staff members this summer. Cindy Berman began as Director of Impact and Innovation in July, along with Stefania Ricci in the role of Communications and Administrative Assistant. Isabel Menéndez became the new Finance Manager in September. The team of nine met in person for a staff retreat in Sweden in August.

A group of seven pioneering public buyers have joined forces with Electronics Watch to expand our successful impact model to protect the rights of workers in the automotive supply chain, from mines to battery assembly. The EU Clean Vehicles Directive coupled with citizen demand are increasing public buyer focus on this sector. The recently launched Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) programme will develop tools and resources for public buyers to push for measurable improvements in the sector and its supply chains.

In 2021 the pandemic continued to bring hardships to workers in the electronics industry. Our monitoring partners strengthened remote monitoring methods and focused their support on the most vulnerable. We planned and built capacity for future challenges, adopting a new three-year strategic plan. We organised a series of activities about the most fundamental of labour rights – freedom of association. We strengthened our industry engagement model by negotiating terms of engagement with the Responsible Business Alliance. To find out more, take a look at our Annual Report 2021.

In 2021, Electronics Watch launched a monitoring pilot of mining operations linked to global electronics supply chains. Since then, Electronics Watch has been working with its monitoring partner, Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) and their partner, Friends of the Earth Japan (FoE Japan), on nickel mining in the Philippines. Rio Tuba nickel mine on the island of Palawan in the Philippines is a source of nickel for prominent electric vehicle manufacturers and battery suppliers. Large scale mining of nickel has caused severe human rights and environmental impacts in the Philippines. Read the full report.