and should, therefore, be held liable as joint employers of workers. They have also highlighted
that governments in Asian garment producing countries have the capacity to regulate
garment GSCs by applying existing labor protective legislations in the context of
outsourcing and offshoring of production by fashion brands.
Corporate Accountability and Human Rights: An important process that supports litigation
efforts at the national level and strengthens the legal paradigm towards stronger corporate
accountability at the international level is the negotiations at the United Nations towards a legally
binding instrument to hold transnational corporations and other business enterprises
accountable for human rights violations. The question of legal liability is being tackled in these
negotiations, and civil society organizations like the Global Campaign are pushing States to
provide for the civil, administrative and criminal liability of TNCs established in their
territory regardless of the place where they have caused or contributed to the violations
through their global production chains."5
We urge the World Economic Forum to acknowledge that garment GSCs rests on fundamental
power asymmetries that can only be corrected by strengthening labour protective policies and
frameworks. Guaranteed and protected living wages for Asian garment workers, implementing
product pricing models that account for the payment of living wages, moving towards progressive
taxation codes, and holding brands legally liable for labour rights violations are critical for reengineering garment GSCs. We can no longer afford to leave the lives and livelihoods of garment
workers to the whims of global fashion brands. The world economy must be built not on the
institutions of profit-making that caused an unprecedented socioeconomic crisis during a
pandemic but must be based on respecting the dignity and humanity of workers.
5
Global Campaign comments to the 3rd Revised Draft, September 2021