Background: minimum social standards are human rights
It is the task of the governments and authorities in a country to establish fair social and labour law conditions and to ensure compliance with them. Yet the global competition for markets and investors is tough. To gain a short-term competitive edge some developing countries flout social standards, which means violating workers' basic rights.
As the German government understands it, core labour standards are an important element of social human rights. All countries - and all businesses - must be measured against the degree to which they observe these standards. Social standards form the foundation of a socially responsible economic process. The aim of German development policy is to help promote economic growth and to help establish decent working and living conditions in partner countries - since both serve poverty reduction.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) cannot impose sanctions when social standards are not maintained. That is why private initiatives such as voluntary codes of conduct and quality labels have an important role to play when it comes to implementing core labour standards worldwide. There are now many initiatives in which the private sector, NGOs and trade unions are working together to introduce social standards (multi-stakeholder initiatives).