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REPORT ON THE
CENTRAL AMERICA REGIONAL WORKSHOP:
"ETHICAL TRADING AND CODES OF CONDUCT"
3 - 5 May 1999, Las Mercedes Hotel, Managua, Nicaragua.
- Introduction
- Overview of the Central America project
reports
- Message from Simy Gulzar of 7 the
Women Workers Organisation in Pakistan
- Report back from the Asian Workshop
- Country Reports
- Educational Activities
- Monitoring and Verification
- Proposals for future work
- Activities outside the workshop
- Appendices
The codes of conduct project in Central America has been financed
by DFID (British Government Department for International Development)
and by CAFOD, OXFAM, UNISON and the Barings Foundation.
Translation by Stephanie Henthorne
Introduction
The Central America Women's Network co-ordinated a regional workshop
in Nicaragua as part of an education and consultation project for
women workers about company codes of conduct. The regional workshop
followed a series of training and consultation workshops carried
out with women workers in six countries: Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Participating
in the project were women's organisations and trade unions, all
with a recognised history of defending the rights of women workers
in the export processing zones. The aims of the project were to
(i) increase workers awareness of codes (ii) consult them about
their potential value (iii)facilitate workers involvement in systems
of implementation and monitoring.
The "Maria Elena Cuadra" Women's Movement in Nicaragua
hosted and organised the regional workshop in Managua. Women Working
Worldwide carried out a similar project in Asia and commissioned
CAWN to co-ordinate the project in Central America.
Representatives from four Northern organisations attended the workshop:
Women Working Worldwide, the Central America Women's Network, the
Maquila Solidarity Network, Canada and OXFAM UK.
One of the general aims of the project is to feed women worker's
views into the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) a group of NGOs,
trade unions and UK companies, which are working together to promote
good practice in the implementation and monitoring of company codes
of conduct. (see appendix III)
Specific objectives of the Nicaraguan workshop:
- To find out what women workers think of codes of conduct
- To share results of the project in Central America and Asia
- To evaluate the education material used in the national consultations
- To put forward proposals for future work
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