Moderator/Panelist: Sanchita Banerjee Saxena, Executive Director, Institute for South Asia Studies; Director, Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies; Professional faculty, Responsible Business, Haas School of Business
Panelist: Natasja Sheriff, Senior Program Manager, NYU Stern’s Center for Business and Human Rights
Panelist: Dorothee Baumann-Pauly, Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Geneva University; Director, the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights
Panelist: Abrar Hossain Sayem, Director of Sayem Group, CEO of Merchant Bay
Sponsors: The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, Center for Business and Human Rights, Stern School of Business, NYU
Despite the claims of many fashion brands to engage in responsible sourcing practices, the typical characteristics of garment supply chains -- hyper flexibility, lack of transparency, and unequal power dynamics -- are not readily compatible with these brand commitments. In addition, it is common for global retailers to engage in transactional or indirect relationships with their suppliers in the Global South that can undermine human rights and exacerbate poor working conditions. This panel will explore the potential of a buyer-supplier partnership model to benefit global retailers, suppliers, and most importantly, garment workers.
Co-organized by the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, University of California at Berkeley and the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, this panel is a part of the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector.