CGF HRC Hosts Informative Webinar on Impactt’s New Principles and Guidelines for the Repayment of Migrant Worker Recruitment Fees and Related Costs

Building on the CGF’s work with stakeholders from government and civil society since the launch of the consumer goods’ industry’s first-ever Social Resolution on Forced Labour in 2015, the HRC has identified responsible recruitment to be the focus of one of its three core projects, and used the webinar to spark dialogue among Coalition members about this topic. Recruitment fees are also the focus of one of the CGF’s Priority Industry Principles (“No Worker should pay for a job”). 

The webinar was facilitated by Rosey Hurst, founder and director of Impactt. Rosey commenced the session by explaining why focusing on repayment is important. She shared there are three reasons: first, that repayment matters to Workers; second, that repayment sharpens the focus on responsible recruitment in the future; and third, that there are gaps in international standards which means more guidance on repayment is needed.

Rosey walked the HRC members through the updated Principles and Guidelines, how they can be applied, and their impact. The remainder of the session was allocated to HRC members to ask questions and share their own best practices concerning repayment.

The webinar and Rosey’s explanation of the new Principles and Guidelines were a helpful tool for the Coalition as it explores developing the remediation approach within its Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) Framework, notably for HRC members’ Own Operations and select palm oil supply chains. Remediation is a key component of any HRDD approach but a complex one at that; therefore the HRC thanks Rosey and the Impactt team for their time explaining this important resource.

The HRC is a CEO-led Coalition of Action from The Consumer Goods Forum consisting of 24 retailers and manufacturers committed to helping achieve fair and decent working conditions worldwide by driving individual and collective action in their businesses and supply chains to eradicate forced labour. For more information, visit www.tcgfsocial.com.