An event in the margins of the 76^th session of the U.N. General Assembly
to launch the Issue Brief on “Preventing Trafficking in Persons: The Role of Public Procurement”
by the Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT)

 

On Sep­tem­ber 27, 2021, ICAT orga­nized an inter­na­tion­al sem­i­nar as a kick-off meet­ing to imple­ment har­mo­nized bid­ding rules and pro­cure­ment poli­cies with­in inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions and mem­ber states. Keynote speak­ers, rep­re­sent­ing major inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions and mem­ber states, demon­strat­ed strong momen­tum for intro­duc­ing laws to reduce the demand for human traf­fick­ing through pub­lic pro­cure­ment reg­u­la­tion, to set an exam­ple for the pri­vate sector.

Inter­na­tion­al and nation­al nor­ma­tive and pol­i­cy frame­works rec­og­nize the duty of gov­ern­ments to under­take due dili­gence to pro­tect peo­ple against human rights vio­la­tions, includ­ing traf­fick­ing in per­sons, in their pro­cure­ment processes.

“Human rights due dili­gence” in sup­ply chains refers to process­es to iden­ti­fy, pre­vent, mit­i­gate and rem­e­dy human rights vio­la­tions asso­ci­at­ed with com­mer­cial activ­i­ties and busi­ness part­ner­ships, includ­ing procurement.

Traf­fick­ing in per­sons and child labour are amongst the human rights risks that can be addressed in the pro­cure­ment process.