Yesterday the final agreement was made for me to be part of the Stakeholder Board of APSCA. The Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) is a new organisation created by the world’s leading social and environmental auditing companies.
Already for some years I have been pushing for the industry itself to get together to defend both the quality and the credibility of serious and professionally qualified auditing. I am happy to see that this has now been done.
I was pleased to accept the invitation of APSCA as I am convinced that social and environmental auditing will continue to play a key role in laying a credible and useful foundation for protecting human rights and improving labour conditions. The Stakeholder Board will bring into the organisation’s work the expectations and views of brands and retailers, civil society organisations, independent experts and others.
In most supplier countries it would take a long time before labour relations built on collective agreements, protective legislation and an efficient government control and labour inspection can take over completely. To ensure positive change, a multitude of approaches and involving different global and local partners are needed. Among the most important participants in this work are the environmental and social auditors.