Virtual Summit 2023
Programme
DAY 1 – 14th November (Public session): Panel discussion: Advancing workers' rights in public buyers supply chains: the potential of the regulatory environment
Following a welcome from Executive Director Björn Claeson and Electronics Watch highlights from the last year, this session highlighted how public buyers are setting expectations and demonstrating higher standards for human rights due diligence, with a focus on the wider regulatory environment. Covering both policy and practice, speakers explored topics including international regulations and the impact of the CSDDD on European procurement, and looked at some of the compliance systems being developed for the German supply chain act. They also examined industry reactions to the Norway Transparency Act and the ways in which public buyers are trying to leverage this legislation to increase transparency and traceability, as well as modern slavery in Australia, and the reasons New South Wales decided to go beyond national legislation.
DAY 2 – 15th November (Public session) Battery supply chains: human rights violations and due diligence
Focusing on mining and battery manufacturing, the second day of the Virtual Summit explored human rights and labour rights violations in battery supply chains. Discussion included an overview of Electronics Watch monitoring in mines and our Low Emission Vehicle Programme (LEVP), as well as insights into conditions in mines across DRC and sub–Saharan Africa, and battery manufacturing facilities in Hungary. We also heard from public buyers, who shared their activities to establish human rights due diligence in their battery supply chains.
DAY 3 - 16th November (Affiliates only session) Stories of challenge and change: monitoring partners and public buyers in conversation
In a closed-doors session, Electronics Watch monitoring partners and affiliates discussed systemic issues facing workers in global electronics supply chains. Monitors shared on-the-ground insights related to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, forced labour, and challenges to achieving a living wage across the supply chain. Affiliates discussed their efforts to address these issues, including how they use evidence from worker-driven monitoring to inform their supplier dialogue. The session creates a space for sharing, exchange, learning and discussion for both affiliates and monitoring partners.