7 January 2015, The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 07 /CSRwire/ – The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), a nonprofit coalition of leading electronics companies dedicated to supply chain responsibility, today announced that it will conduct shadow audits and increase its industry and government engagement in Malaysia to further combat forced labor.
The EICC has been working for more than a decade to support the rights and wellbeing of workers and communities worldwide affected by the global electronics supply chain. While the EICC Code of Conduct explicitly bans trafficked and forced labor, completely eradicating it in the global electronics industry supply chain remains a challenge for everyone – including EICC members.
Some of the ongoing challenges faced by government and industry in trying to protect workers were highlighted recently by international nonprofit Verité in a new report on forced labor among foreign migrant workers in Malaysia’s electronics industry. The EICC has since published a position paper that outlines how it has been proactively working to address these issues and next steps, including:
- The shadowing of audit firms operating in Malaysia over the next few weeks to confirm that EICC audit protocols are being strictly followed
- Continued collaboration with foreign and U.S. government officials, industry, non-government organizations and other stakeholders
- The establishment of a traffic and bonded taskforce to continue to draw attention to this important challenge facing its membership.