A few days after the G20 summit meeting in Hamburg, where in a landmark move the twenty richest nations made a commitment in their final declaration to promote the implementation of social and environment standards along global supply chains, the first concrete manifestation of this initiative has taken place. At an international conference on 14 July in Ethiopia’s capital Addis-Abeba, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs officially launched the start of the Vision Zero Fund (VZF) in Ethiopia. The fund, set up by the G7 in 2015 from impetus by the German Labor Minister and co-managed by the ILO aims to support the implementation of national policies that better protect workers (physically, morally, and legally). In 2016 the fund started its working in Myanmar (c.f. article No.9760) and now its first African project is set to start in Ethiopia.
The goal: zero accidents at work. The fund, an initiative from the German Labor Ministry during the German G7 presidency following the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh (c.f. article No. 9311) aims for zero workplace deaths and occupational illnesses along global supply chains (c.f. article No. 9129). This goal was taken up again at the G20 and formed a key element in the G20 final declaration chapter on bolstering sustainable global supply chains (c.f.
Do you have information to share with us?