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FEMNET has been a member of the Alliance for Legal Security for Political Will-Making since 2019. The long-term goal of this alliance is a modern non-profit right, because those who deal with political education and make political demands are in danger of losing their non-profit status.

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The Alliance for Sustainable Textiles makes gender-based violence in the workplace the new annual theme for 2020. FEMNET has made itself strong for this, because an evaluation of the existing roadmaps (annual plans) of the member companies had shown that not a single manufacturer has taken explicit measures against women discrimination in its supply chain.

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On November 24, 2012, a fire broke out in the Tazreen factory in Bangladesh at 6.30 p.m. Of the more than 1000 workers, 600 were still in the factory. There were no escape exits into the open and the windows were barred. Some workers were able to rip the fans out of the window and jump through the gap from a great height into the depths. 125 workers died in the fire, during the jump from above and later as a result, 150 were injured, some seriously.

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Every year since 1991, women's rights organisations have called for a 16-day campaign against violence against women on 25 November. From the International Day Against Violence against Women to the 10th. In December, International Human Rights Day, the campaign draws attention to violence against women as one of the most widespread human rights violations.

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On November 15, 2019, Amazon published names, addresses, and more details of over 1,000 suppliers on its website. The fact that the world's largest online retailer is taking this important first step clearly shows that the International transparency campaign effect shows. However, the published list is so far difficult to find, not filterable and still too inaccurate to find out which types of products are produced in the listed plants. Included are producers of clothing, electrical appliances and household goods of the Amazon own brand.

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A response from the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) to Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M.

Recently, Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M, warned in an interview Terrible social consequences. when consumers turn their backs on fast fashion in the face of the climate crisis[i]. In his distorted logic This leads to more poverty, as it puts economic growth and jobs at risk. Persson's claim that reducing consumption threatens the eradication of poverty must be contradicted. His claims are at best misguided and at worst fraudulentThey do not recognise the enormous social and environmental consequences of the global apparel industry.

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Social audits are designed to monitor and ensure compliance with human rights at work. However, as a control tool, this approach has failed. This is documented in the report ‘FIG LEAF FOR FASHION - How social auditing protects brands and fails workers’ of the Clean Clothes Campaign: The multi-billion-dollar, private-sector certification and audit industry systematically protects the reputation and profits of the contracting companies instead of the rights of workers.

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Factory in Bangalore/India 2019 © FEMNET

The Textile Alliance, the Green Button... What do such voluntary measures do? How can they complement each other? How does FEMNET assess their implementation? And why is there an urgent need for a legal basis to sustainably improve working conditions in global value chains?

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In Tunisia, these activists are fighting for decent work. As part of the Fair Weeks, Amani Allagui from FTDES (Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights) and Houda El Fadhel, a former textile worker, reported on her work in the factories and with the women in the Tunisian textile industry in Germany. Her appeal was addressed to European companies and local procurers: Pay more attention to human rights when shopping!

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With regard to the textile industry, hardly any topic has caused as much turmoil in recent weeks as the Green button – ‘What does the Green Button bring?’, ‘What is the first state seal for sustainable textiles?’, ‘The Green Button – a first step in the right direction?’ are just a few titles of the numerous media reports devoted to the question of the content and effectiveness of the state metaseal of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

FEMNET has also addressed this question – as part of a symposium for teachers from universities and colleges, we were able to invite four experts to discuss different perspectives on the Green Button on 11 October 2019.

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