A presentation about recent developments in GVCs, especially about development in Germany

1. Trading for Development in the
Age of Global Value Chains
Digital Artifact:
How have GVCs changed and
are changing the international
trade and what policies
supports my country
government to broaden
participation in GVCs
https://de.freepik.com/vektoren-kostenlos/sketchy-globus-
zeichnung_764979.htm#page=1&query=globus&position=2

2. • ILO estimates that worldwide more than 450 million
people participate in GVCs.
• The World Bank estimates that up to 80% of global /
transnational economic interaction is now taking
place within GVCs.
• The manufacturing of a simple shirt or blouse
contains up to 140 manufacturing steps in different
countries.
•  new challenges, e.g. to protect workers‘ rights

3. There are already several regulations to
protect the rights of workers in GVCs:
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR)
• ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work

4. They are recommendations providing principles and standards for
responsible business conduct for multinational corporations
operating in or from countries adhering to the Declaration.
The Guidelines are legally nonbinding, but the OECD Investment
Committee and its Working Party on Responsible Business
Conduct encourage implementation among adherents
The OECD Guidelines
for Multinational
Enterprises are an
annex to the OECD
Declaration on
International Investment
and Multinational
Enterprises.

5. The United Nations
Guiding Principles on
Business and Human
Rights (UNGPs) is an
instrument consisting of
31 principles
implementing the United
Nations' (UN) "Protect,
Respect and Remedy"
framework on the issue of
human rights and
transnational corporations
and other business
enterprises.

6. • Developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General (SRSG) John Ruggie, these Guiding Principles
provided the first global standard for preventing and
addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights
linked to business activity, and continue to provide the
internationally accepted framework for enhancing standards
and practice regarding business and human rights.
• On June 16, 2011, the United Nations Human Rights
Council unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles for
Business and Human Rights, making the framework the first
corporate human rights responsibility initiative to be
endorsed by the UN.

7. • The UNGPs encompass three pillars outlining how states and
businesses should implement the framework:
The state duty to protect human rights
The corporate responsibility to respect human rights
Access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses
• The UNGPs have received wide support from states, civil
society organizations, and even the private sector, this has
further solidified their status as the key global foundation for
business and human rights.
• The UNGP are informally known as the "Ruggie Principles"
or the "Ruggie Framework" due to their authorship by Ruggie,
who conceived them and led the process for their consultation
and implementation.

8. Several states have passed national legislation on GVCs:

10. Development in Germany:
1. National Action Plan
for Business and Human
Rights

12. • By stipulating homogeneous and verifiable global standards, the
National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights lays down
German companies’ responsibilities to uphold human rights in a
fixed framework.
• It lays down German companies’ responsibility to respect human
rights in a fixed framework for the first time. In this way, the
German Government has expressed its expectation that companies
adhere to their human rights obligations and respect human rights
along supply and value chains.

13. Development in Germany:
2. Monitoring the
National Action Plan for
Business and Human
Rights

14. • Within the scope of a monitoring process being carried out
between 2018 and 2020, the Federal Government is reviewing to
what extent companies based in Germany are meeting their due
diligence obligations enshrined in the National Action Plan for
Business and Human Rights (NAP).
• main finding: at the time the 2020 survey was conducted,
significantly less than 50 percent of enterprises based in Germany
with over 500 employees had incorporated the core elements of
human rights due diligence described in the NAP into their
business processes

15. Development in Germany:
3. Heated and ongoing discussion about national legislation
and/or legislation on EU level