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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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© Hundreds of

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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© FEMNET

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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Five years after a first check, the Clean Clothes Campaign (with the participation of Public eye, the Clean Clothes campaign Austria and the German Clean Clothes Campaign) In 2019, 45 companies, including eleven German companies, were again contacted and asked about the steps they have taken to ensure that their suppliers pay a living wage.

FEMNET has obtained the results of the Company checks 2019 Take a closer look. What are the eleven German companies involved in this year's check?

Hier unsere Analyse....

© publiceye.ch

Initiated by the Swiss organization Public Eye, we want to put pressure on fashion brands with a wave of inquiries to the customer services of eight fashion companies.

Participate with your request to the customer services of C&A, CALIDA Group, H&M, Strellson, Tally Weijl, Triumph, Zalando and Zara: It's the biggest wave of requests you've ever seen. So we show the companies that concrete steps against exploitation are finally needed.

www.passt-mir-nicht.org

The declarations of intent of most fashion houses only look good on paper. This is the conclusion reached by the Clean Clothes Campaign in its "Company check 2019“, for which it examined 45 of the main European brands. Despite promises to the contrary, none of the companies analysed still ensure that their seamstresses receive a living wage in real terms.

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Fair fashion show on Bonn's Münsterplatz at the Rundum Fair. © Tam Tran

Bonn. "All-round fair" will take place on Saturday, September 28, at Münsterplatz: As part of Fair Week 2019, an alliance of initiatives and associations invites you to a public fair breakfast from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fairly traded coffee, tea, spreads and many other delicacies await visitors, as well as the presentation of fair-produced clothing at a fashion show as a highlight.

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© Initiative Supply Chain Act

The German government must legally oblige German companies to comply with human rights and environmental standards worldwide. This is called for by a broad alliance of 64 civil society organisations, including FEMNET and the CorA Corporate Responsibility Network, on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the devastating fire disaster at the Ali Enterprises textile factory in Pakistan.

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Berlin / Bonn. Today's presentation of the new ‘Green Button’ textile label by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) uses civil society in the Textile Alliance to determine a critical location. The members of the civil society alliance criticise the fact that the Green Button, like the Textile Alliance, is only a voluntary measure. However, there is an urgent need for a law that makes human rights, environmental and anti-corruption due diligence mandatory for all companies. This law must form the basis for social, ecological and economic sustainability. Voluntary measures such as the Green Button and an improved textile alliance could build on this.

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Berlin / Bonn. Today's presentation of the new ‘Green Button’ textile label by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) uses civil society in the Textile Alliance to determine a critical location. The members of the civil society alliance criticise the fact that the Green Button, like the Textile Alliance, is only a voluntary measure. However, there is an urgent need for a law that makes human rights, environmental and anti-corruption due diligence mandatory for all companies. This law must form the basis for social, ecological and economic sustainability. Voluntary measures such as the Green Button and an improved textile alliance could build on this.

Read more …

Berlin / Bonn. Today's presentation of the new ‘Green Button’ textile label by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) uses civil society in the Textile Alliance to determine a critical location. The members of the civil society alliance criticise the fact that the Green Button, like the Textile Alliance, is only a voluntary measure. However, there is an urgent need for a law that makes human rights, environmental and anti-corruption due diligence mandatory for all companies. This law must form the basis for social, ecological and economic sustainability. Voluntary measures such as the Green Button and an improved textile alliance could build on this.

Read more …

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