Report of the seminar organised by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) International Legal Working Group and International Restructuring Education Network Europe (IRENE)

Evangelic Academy, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany 26 - 28 June 2002

Report written by Julie Smith

100kb) The report

BACKGROUND
This seminar explored the legal possibilities for holding multinational corporations (MNCs) responsible for labour rights in their operations outside their home countries. It followed up from discussions held at two previous seminars organised by IRENE which brought NGOs, trade unions, academics and lawyers together to discuss these issues.

• The first seminar was held in Warwick, UK 20 - 21 March 2000 - Controlling corporate wrongs: the liability of transnational corporations (see News from IRENE no.31 or contact IRENE for the report).
• The second seminar took place in Bad Boll, Germany 3 - 4 December 2001 - Global governance: international law on human rights and the liability of transnational corporations (see News from IRENE no. 32 or contact IRENE for the report). This second seminar looked at specific legal cases and discussed what is needed to effect corporate liability of MNCs under national and international law.

This third step in the process brought those with a legal background together with NGOs and trade unions involved in campaigning on labour rights in MNC supply chains. About 33 people attended from several West European, East European and Asian countries and the US.

The seminar was held as a roundtable using short presentations and discussions which focussed on:

1. tools that can be used to achieve compliance on basic labour standards
2. the usefulness of litigation
3. the value of lobbying in relation to the development and enforcement of binding legislation that guarantees workers' rights
4. the role of campaigning to support strategies (2) and (3)

It aimed to resolve two key questions:

1. Which groups are interested in exploring possibilities for starting a lawsuit and how do we exchange information and strategic issues ?
2. what role can we play together, and more specifically, what is the role of the CCC International Legal Working Group?

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