OECD FORUM ON DUE DILIGENCE IN THE GARMENT AND FOOTWEAR SECTOR

The Forum will be hosted by the OECD as a virtual event and brings together over 600 representatives from government, business, trade unions and civil society to address emerging risks and to share learnings on implementing labour, human rights, environmental and integrity due diligence in the sector across geographies. 

The topic of building a more resilient and sustainable sector post- and during the current COVID context will be key thread running through the first main day of the Forum, including as the theme of the high-level opening panel. As part of that panel, we will look at the importance of sectoral dialogue in prioritising collaborative action during the crisis, and lessons from that for building a more resilient sector. The second day will open with a discussion on recent mandatory due diligence policy developments with consideration of their role in enhancing and enabling company due diligence practice in the Garment and Footwear sector, as well as potential pitfalls to avoid.

The OECD Garment Forum has set the precedent of pushing the needle by focusing on challenging processes and issues as well as acting as a convenor to help parties address challenges together and pushing for alignment across government jurisdictions and industry initiatives on expectations of business.