The Ethical Trading Initiative : Negotiated Solutions to Human Rights Violations in Global Supply Chains?

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) propose that ‘non-state-based non-judicial grievance mechanisms' have an important role to play in remedying human rights violations linked to transnational business, in addition to state-based judicial and non-judicial mechanisms. This report is one of the case studies of an Australian Research Council-funded project investigating the efficacy and potential of these kinds of grievance mechanisms. The report focuses on the Ethical Trading Initiative (‘ETI'), a UK-based multi-stakeholder initiative that promotes respect for the human rights listed in the ETI's code of conduct (which is known as the ‘ETI Base Code') within the supply chains of ETI-member companies. The report is primarily based on extensive field research conducted in India and the UK between late 2011 and late 2015, supplemented by more recent information provided by research participants and available in public reports