Tightening Belts Two Regional Case Studies On Corporate Social Responsibility Remco E Breuker Imke Blh Van Gardingen by Remco E. Breuker & Imke B.l.h. Van Gardingen 9789067043595, 9067043591 instant download after payment.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), previously known as the One
Belt One Road (OBOR), is a key strategic initiative unveiled by Xi
Jinping in 2013 that aims to establish several economic corridors
between China and Eurasia over land and South East Asia over sea.
The initiative has been analysed from various strategic perspectives,
with its impact on labour conditions for both Chinese and foreign
workers perhaps less so; though there have been instances, such
as in Piraeus in Greece, where the issue was brought to the fore.
The M4 motorway project in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
is co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Department for International
Development (DFID). The Netherlands is a stakeholder
in both the ADB and the AIIB. The ADB is the ‘lead co-financer’
and it is their safeguard policies that are applicable on the project.
The ADB, alongside other Multilateral Development Banks such as
the World Bank, has in the past been subject to public scrutiny with
regard to its compliance with international human rights standards,
as well as the Core Labour Standards (CLS) of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO). In response to external pressures, in 2001
the bank became one of the first MDBs to commit to push for full
compliance with the CLS and national labour laws. Nevertheless, it
has not proceeded to integrate them into its internal policies; this
has, as we have seen in the context of the M4 project, diminished
the practical relevance of its original commitment to the CLS.
The Loan Agreements between Pakistan and the Asian
Development Bank are unequivocal on the issue, stipulating that
the borrower “shall ensure, that the core labour standards and the
Borrower’s applicable labour laws and regulations are complied with
during Project implementation”. It also stipulates that “contractors,
other providers of goods and services, and their subcontractors,
engaged under contracts for Works, have Works contracts…”.
But the empirical data, consisting of interviews conducted
with workers involved in the M4 project, has evidenced the widespread
informality of labour relations around the M4 project: many
workers were not officially employed by subcontractors, some of
which may themselves not be registered companies. This context
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and structure also make it much easier to evade compliance with
regard to right to unionise and collectively bargain, as well as increasing
the risk of other CLS violations, such as the recourse to
child labour or forced labour.
While the ADB is imposing extensive reporting obligations
on the Borrower for certain other issues (environmental impacts,
resettlement policies), it does not extend them to labour rights. We
believe that our findings warrant a much more extensive monitoring
of labour conditions in ADB projects.