Review-Prozess: Bericht des Deutschen Instituts für Menschenrechte
Report of the German Institute for Human Rights
The German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) accompanied six of the 55 evaluation discussions in the Review Process. The aim was to assess the quality and suitability of the evaluation discussions as an instrument for promoting due diligence obligations in the Textiles Partnership.
In its 19-page report, the DIMR concludes that the evaluation discussions are an important part of the review process and should remain a mandatory part of the process in the future. On the one hand, mutual understanding could be significantly increased by the talks. On the other hand, the increase in knowledge that is necessary for the continuous improvement of companies with regard to their implementation of the UN Guiding Principles has increased.
"Many companies continue to face content challenges, such as the involvement of local stakeholders. Nevertheless, we can generally state that the evaluation discussions with their mixture of consulting and review are a valuable component of the review process. For the individual companies, they are well suited to achieve a better understanding of the individual implementation of due diligence obligations and to adequately present their own performance. This is a positive sign and points in the right direction towards more sustainability in the entire industry," explains Melanie Wündsch from DIMR.
In order to be able to exploit the potential of the evaluation discussions even better in the future, the DIMR recommends placing a special focus on those areas in which the companies show the greatest implementation difficulties. In this context, the stronger integration of the perspectives of stakeholders in the supply chain is emphasized.
In the Review Process, the Textiles Partnership should also work even harder to ensure that companies prioritise their risks in accordance with the requirements of the UN Guiding Principles, i.e. according to severity (degree, scope, irreversibility) and probability of occurrence. Both risk prioritization and the derivation of effective measures are sometimes the biggest challenges for companies.