Report of the conference on “Global standards in focus”

13-15. October 2000,

Please download the entire report from our site (pdf 2640kb)

Even at the beginning of the 21 st century, there are no enforceable global standards in the context of social and ecological regulations. Expanded new markets, global engagement of multi-national corporations and their compe-tition for cost-effective production are jeopardizing the social system of coun-tries in the North and in the South.

But can regulations on social standards help to improve working conditions?

And to what extent can we ensure the implementation of those standards?

The conference on “Global standards in focus” was organized by Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft, the Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB) and its North-South- Network and the “Clean-Clothes- Campaign”. They gave repre-sentatives of companies, associations, unions, works councils, governments and NGOs the opportunity to discuss this issue and to find answers to these questions.

Experts from North and South exchanged their experiences with existing codes of conduct and social labeling and examples of initiatives and pilot projects from Africa, Asia and Latin America were presented.

Transnational corporations adopting voluntary codes of conduct to promote social standards – often in reaction to public pressure – are key to sustainable development.

The past years have shown that enhanced corporate social responsi-bility has gone along with improved productivity and product quality, thus leading to benefits for both workers and entrepreneurs.

We learned from this conference that people living in countries of the South often don’t even know their rights, which opens up new perspectives for future cooperation between Carl Duis-berg Gesellschaft und the DGB Bildungswerk.

Training programs on labour and human rights with the aim to put workers in the position to safeguard their interests are seen as basic condi-tion for the social dimension.

This documentation includes “best practices” presented during the confer-ence as well as views and perspectives put forward by numerous group-repre-sentatives. They can raise further awareness and stimulate discussion of possible global regulations.