Electronics Watch celebrates its 10 year anniversary!!

Electronics Watch is 10 this year! Founded on 19 February 2015, Electronics Watch emerged from a three-year EU funded initiative, uniting seven NGOs with a shared vision: to harness the power of public procurement to protect workers' rights.

A decade on, that vision has grown into a global movement. From its beginnings with seven monitoring partners and 15 founding affiliates, it has flourished into a network that now stands stronger than ever:

• 1518 public sector affiliates in 13 countries plus one international organisation, using their leverage to promote and protect workers' rights.

• 18 monitoring partners in production and mining regions, working year-round within workers' communities, guided by their rights and priorities.

• 10 public sector participants from six countries in our Low Emission Vehicle Programme, expanding our impact into the automotive sector.

• Six public authorities engaged in the Knowledge Building Series of our Innovation Pilot, learning how they can protect workers across all high-risk purchasing categories.

• Regular dialogue with 25 trade unions in production regions, essential partners in the worker-driven remediation processes that we facilitate.

Thanks to all of you for your diligent, committed, and heartfelt work, often in challenging circumstances. This collaboration has allowed us to increase our impact for workers in global supply chains. Together, we are realising the potential of public procurement for workers' rights.

As its looks ahead the next 10 years, Electronics Watch remains committed to standing against global threats to human rights, climate, and democracy, and to seizing every opportunity to make a difference.

Check the celebration video here

The International Working Group for Ethical Public Procurement writes to MEPs

The International Working Group on Ethical Public Procurement (IWGEPP) has written to EU Members of Parliament in the context of the reform of the EU Public Procurement Directives, calling for the Parliament to support the strengthening of labour standards and sustainable development in this process.

The EU spends approximately €2 trillion annually (15% of GDP) on public procurement. While essential for public services, these supply chains often pose risks of human rights violations and environmental harm. A revision of procurement directives should ensure that public funds promote fair competition, strong labor standards, and sustainable procurement. They should seek to reduce supply chain risks while driving economic development within the EU and other producing countries.

To achieve this, the IWGEPP has outlined the following key priorities:

1. Alignment with international frameworks for human rights and labour standards

2. Demanding human rights and environmental due diligence

3. Moving away from the lowest price criteria

4. Enhancing SME and Social Economy Actors participation

5. Strengthening knowledge exchange and capacity building

The full letter is available here.

The International Working Group on Ethical Public Procurement (IWGEPP) is collaboration between representatives from public contracting authorities, governmental bodies, academia, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and NGOs from several countries. Our mission is to integrate socially responsible public procurement into procurement processes worldwide. It serves as a hub for public buyers, policymakers, procurement practitioners, NGOs, and scholars to share best practices, explore collaborative initiatives, and promote innovation in responsible procurement. For more information visit International Learning Lab on Procurement and Human Rights

Professor Martin-Ortega gives evidence before the UK Parliament Human Rights Joint Committee

On 5th March 2025 Professor Olga Martin-Ortega gave oral evidence to the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights' Inquiry on Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains. Her evidence focused my evidence on the need to include the public sector on the efforts to combat modern slavery in global supply chains and the support and resources public buyers need to be part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem of labour exploitation in the supply chains that they procure with public money and to provide the public services we all enjoy.

She gave evidence alongside Oliver Holland, partner at Leigh Day, and agreed with him on the on the need for a mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence obligations for business. She further provided arguments for the public sector to be included as recipient of such obligations.
The full evidence is available here Parliamentlive.tv - Human Rights (Joint Committee)