{"id":3326,"date":"2019-06-28T21:38:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T21:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danwatch.dk\/what-are-the-responsibilities-of-the-international-electronics-brands\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T12:53:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T12:53:26","slug":"what-are-the-responsibilities-of-the-international-electronics-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danwatch.dk\/en\/what-are-the-responsibilities-of-the-international-electronics-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the responsibilities of the international electronics brands?"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Danwatch investigation<\/h6>\n

Streets of Kuala Lumpur seen from one of its tower blocks.<\/p>\n

Throughout the investigation on labour rights abuses in Malaysia, Danwatch detected a number of breaches of Malaysian national law. For example, the Malaysian government already passed the Passport Act<\/a> in 1966, which prohibits the confiscation of passports.<\/p>\n

But even though the working conditions are the responsibility of the Malaysian employers and covered by Malaysian law, a number of international instructions also point to the responsibility of the foreign companies that are buying products and components from the local factories.<\/p>\n

About the investigation<\/h2>\n

Danwatch has been to Malaysia to meet some of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers that play a vital part in the country\u2019s electronics industry.<\/p>\n

In Malaysia, we interviewed 12 workers from three different factories and have since conducted a number of interviews with workers via video calls.<\/p>\n

The investigation was supported by the EU-funded project Make ICT Fair and published in collaboration with Setem.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

The UN and OECD both have guidelines for companies and their obligations to assess potential human rights violations, and both state that corporations have a responsibility to counteract breaches of human rights throughout their supply chain.<\/p>\n

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require companies to do so-called human rights due diligence. This in order to prevent, mitigate and account for how the company plans to address their impacts on human rights, explains Andreas Rasche, Professor in Business on Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at Copenhagen Business School.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen done correctly and comprehensively, the brand name company should identify relevant risks in their supply chain\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

This is no matter how far-reaching the due diligence of other companies in the supply chain is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in your case with electronic brands sourcing from Malaysia, there is a responsibility as long as the work of the suppliers directly relates to products, services or operations of the brand name company\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neglect regulations<\/h4>\n

The OECD has a similar approach, which requires its members to build systems to assess and identify risks. They recommend that companies flag enterprises or activities that operate in high-risk regions or sectors.<\/p>\n

The UNGP<\/h2>\n

According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights<\/a>, the state should protect human rights while businesses should respect them – also when the state fails.<\/p>\n

The UNGP requires corporations to take responsibility for their potential negative impacts on human rights throughout their supply chains.<\/p>\n

More specifically, companies are expected to have:<\/p>\n