Public Procurement as a Tool for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights: a Study of Collaboration, Due Diligence and Leverage in the Electronics Industry

• Published in: Business and human rights journal 2018-01, Vol.3 (1), p.75-95
• Main Author: MARTIN-ORTEGA, Olga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collaboration; Consumers; Corporate governance; Corporate image; Corporate strategies; Developing countries; Due diligence; Electronics industry; GDP; Government purchasing; Gross Domestic Product; Human rights; Jurisdiction; LDCs; Leverage; Manufacturing; Power; Principles; Purchasing; Regulation; Scholarly Article; Slavery; Social responsibility; Social responsibility of business; Supply; Supply chains; Working conditions; World Trade Organization
• ISSN: 2057-0198; 2057-0201; 2057-0201
• DOI: 10.1017/bhj.2017.35

This article explores the innovative use of public procurement as a tool to respect, protect and promote human rights by capitalizing on the significant leverage that public buyers have over corporate practices in their supply chain. It provides an analysis of Electronics Watch, an organization that focuses on the role of states’ own procurement practices as central to the state duty to protect the human rights of those who are affected by its activities as an economic actor. Through the assessment of the Electronics Watch model this article argues that by bringing together the economic leverage of public buyers and corporate human rights due diligence, one can create transformative tools for the improvement of working conditions in global supply chains.