Call for an Urgent Justice Mechanism for Repatriated Migrant Workers

March 12, 2021 William Gois, Regional Director Migrant Forum in Asia 25 Matiyaga Street Central District, Diliman, Quezon City 1100 Philippines Dear William, We, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), are a coalition of long-term institutional investors representing $2 trillion USD in assets under management. Since its founding in 1971, ICCR members have promoted human rights throughout companies’ operations and supply chains. Through active engagement of portfolio companies, ICCR has held companies accountable to a full range of international human rights standards for supply chain workers including freedom of association and collective bargaining, nondiscrimination, prohibitions on forced and child labor, and promotion of a living wage. ICCR members press companies to show leadership in rooting out exploitation in supply chains, including the elimination of wage theft and the protection of workers’ rights through adopting worker-driven social responsibility programs and comprehensive human rights due diligence processes. ICCR is proud to formally endorse the Migrant Forum in Asia’s (MFA) Call for an Urgent Justice Mechanism for Repatriated Migrant Workers. It is important to note that “the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted millions of migrant workers in destination countries, many of whom have experienced job loss or non-payment of wages, been forced by employers to take unpaid leave or reduced wages, been confined in poor living conditions, and with little or no engagement in the work options before them.”1 The March 2021 report, “Wage theft and pandemic profits: The Right To a Living Wage for Garment Workers,” 2 from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre documents the pervasiveness of wage theft in a number of producing countries. The report provides specific case studies of the devastating impact of wage theft on workers. As numerous retailers and manufacturers in all sectors have avoided liability for systemic abuse in the past which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we support the call for an urgent justice mechanism that includes the establishment of an International Claims Commissions, a compensation fund, and reforming of national justice systems to enable legal remedies for those impacted by wage theft. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility urges companies to implement human rights due diligence in their supply chains during and following the COVID-19 crisis. We call on companies and investors to support MFA’s Justice for Wage Theft campaign. Thank you. Sincerely, Rev. David Schilling Senior Program Director dschilling@iccr.org 1 See Justice for Wage Theft 1st Appeal. 2