Trilateral Cooperation strengthens Human Rights in Supply Chains

The launch events of the Trilateral Cooperation project in Colombia, Mexico and Germany on respect for human rights in supply chains, were held in Mexico City (November 8) and Bogotá (November 25). 

This project arises from the progress that the Business and Human Rights Agenda has had in the last ten years. Colombia has been the first non-European country to have two versions of the National Action Plan (NAP) on business and human rights, Mexico since this year has begun the structuring of its own NAP and Germany has taken a big step by legislating the human rights due diligence in supply chains, with the entry into force in 2023 of the LKSG (German law).

In this regard, it has become essential for multinational companies to ratify their commitment to respect human rights, and to include the companies of their supply chain in their due diligence processes. For this reason, the launch events in Colombia and Mexico had a large participation of unions, large and multinational companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interested in learning and knowing how to implement the agenda of respect for human rights in their business strategy.

For Alliance for Integrity, a business network consolidated for several years in Mexico and Colombia, the link between human rights and anti-corruption has been of great importance, there have been cases in which corruption significantly affects human rights, especially of the most vulnerable populations such as women, ethnic communities and children. This is how the global initiative is promoting with partner companies and unions, the Business and Human Rights agenda and its relationship with the agenda of business integrity and sustainable development.

The Colombian-German (AHK Colombia) and Mexican-German (CAMEXA) chambers of industry and commerce are the main partners for the execution of this project to promote, advise and socialize human rights material with their affiliated companies and generate a greater commitment with these companies in the implementation of mechanisms that guarantee human rights in their supply chains. In turn, the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation of Colombia (APC) and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) are political partners that guarantee trilateral cooperation between the three countries of the project.

In conclusion, this project is extremely important for Colombia and Mexico, therefore, it seeks to make companies know more about human rights and share their good practices in the adoption of due diligence processes in supply chains. In addition, it can serve as a reference for application to other countries of the Latin American network of Alliance for Integrity and expand the dissemination of standards on business and human rights in SMEs.