Impediments to the implementation of voluntary codes of conduct in production factories of the Global South: so much to do, so little done

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1256-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maike J. Drebes
Author(s):  
Adam Poulsen ◽  
Eduard Fosch-Villaronga ◽  
Oliver K Burmeister

Until now, each profession has developed their professional codes of conduct independently. However, the use of robots and artificial intelligence is blurring professional delineations: aged care nurses work with lifting robots, tablet computers, and intelligent diagnostic systems, and health information system designers work with clinical teams. While robots assist the medical staff in extending the professional service they provide, it is not clear how professions adhere and adapt to the new reality. In this article, we reflect on how the insertion of robots may shape codes of conduct, in particular with regards to cybersecurity. We do so by focusing on the use of social robots for helping LGBTIQ+ elderly cope with loneliness and depression. Using robots in such a delicate domain of application changes how care is delivered, as now alongside the caregiver, there is a cyber-physical health information system that can learn from experience and act autonomously. Our contribution stresses the importance of including cybersecurity considerations in codes of conduct for both robot developers and caregivers as it is the human and not the machine which is responsible for ensuring the system’s security and the user’s safety.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rachel Alexa Margaret Tallon

<p>Young people are not passive, homogenous audiences of media that is produced by international humanitarian and development organisations (NGOs). They actively read and engage with the messages cognitively and emotionally and in the process create new meanings. This thesis is an investigation into what interpretations young people make from NGO media. The twin goals of education and fundraising present certain difficulties for NGOs who view developed world schools as a key site for awareness-raising for both their brand and global issues of injustice. Critics are concerned that when representation is aligned directly and simplistically with charity, powerful messages are signalled to the viewers. The nature and impact of these messages are yet to be fully understood as there is little empirical evidence of how young people receive and interpret NGO media.  This research directly addresses this gap. The research identifies and maps various interpretations that young people have on encountering images and messages produced by NGOs. Year 10 social studies classrooms were chosen as the context for data collection and 118 young people and seven teachers from five diverse secondary schools in New Zealand participated. They were canvassed using qualitative methods that included focus groups. The approach for this research was informed by postdevelopment critique which examines the power of the discourse of development in constructing ideas about people and development.  The findings show young people to be astute and critical interpreters of NGO media. Teachers reported that NGO media is very influential and could be problematic in forming a solely negative view of the global South. Most of the young people approved of the sector’s charitable work but many expressed doubts about NGO expenditure and the accuracy of the imagery. A key finding is that many said they knew the images were designed to make them feel guilty in order to elicit action which was usually a donation. The findings support other research among adults and show the early development of attitudes towards NGOs and ideas about the developing world. The significance of a conflicting emotional response towards NGO marketing is a central finding for this thesis. This conflict of wanting to help and yet not being able to do so created a tangible tension within the young people and affected how they viewed people in the global South. Young people in New Zealand are emerging actors in the global development industry and their ideas will shape North-South interactions in the future. This research directly contributes to understanding the power of the NGO sector to mediate global relations across difference, a process of which there are moral and political implications.</p>


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton Winston

This article describes and evaluates the different strategies that have been employed by international human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in attempting to influence the behavior of multinational corporations (MNCs). Within the NGO world, there is a basic divide on tactics for dealing with corporations: Engagers try to draw corporations into dialogue in order to persuade them by means of ethical and prudential arguments to adopt voluntary codes of conduct, while confronters believe that corporations will act only when their financial interests are threatened, and therefore take a more adversarial stance toward them. Confrontational NGOs tend to employ moral stigmatization, or “naming and shaming,” as their primary tactic, while NGOs that favor engagement offer dialogue and limited forms of cooperation with willing MNCs.The article explains the evolving relationship between NGOs and MNCs in relation to human rights issues and defines eight strategies along the engagement/confrontation spectrum used by NGOs in their dealings with MNCs. The potential benefits and risks of various forms of engagement between NGOs and MNCs are analyzed and it is argued that the dynamic created by NGOs pursuing these different strategies can be productive in moving some companies to embrace their social responsibilities. Yet, in order for these changes to be sustainable, national governments will need to enact enforceable international legal standards for corporate social accountability.


Author(s):  
Manfred Liebel

Citizenship of children implies that they can assume political co-responsibility in society on an ongoing basis, as well as influence societal processes and political decisions, not only in the future, but in the present. To understand children as citizens means that they can do so in a particular, but equal and equivalent way as adults. This must be accompanied by the development of a culture of children's rights in society that takes children seriously as legal subjects and grants them, in particular, participation rights, which enable them to make their own decisions in all areas of life and in society including questions, which touch the interests of adults. This requires not only the recognition of the children's competencies, but also the creation of conditions, which enable children to develop their agency competencies and use them practically. First, this chapter outlines what can be understood by citizenship in general and what problems are associated with the term. Then it discusses concepts of citizenship that relate directly to children and their relatively impotent social status. Finally, with regard to children, it explains what the term citizenship from below means, and how this can emerge from social movements of children, principally those from the Global South.


2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Whitehead

The overarching goal of this article is to explain how the relations between capitalist imperialism, primary accumulation&mdash;often misleadingly called "primitive accumulation"&mdash;and intersectionality operate in contemporary global political economy. From many recent studies, it is clear that certain populations are more vulnerable to processes of primary accumulation than others, and that many people in the global South now experience the dispossession and displacement caused by primary accumulation without any subsequent incorporation into waged work. Understanding how ethnicity, gender, and class intersect within contemporary patterns of global accumulation is important in order to develop clear political strategies against ongoing dispossessions.&hellip; To do so, imperialism, primary accumulation, and intersectionality all need to be rethought, especially in relation to each other.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-117
Author(s):  
S. Prakash Sethi

This issue of Business Ethics Quarterly offers a special forum incorporating a select group of papers that were presented at the First International Conference on “Voluntary Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations: Promises and Challenges,” held at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York, on May 12–15, 2004. The conference was organized by the International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA), Inc., and was co-sponsored by the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the World Bank’s World Bank Institute. Additional support was provided by a number of major corporations, academic institutions, and nongovernment organizations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bindu Arya ◽  
Jane E. Salk

Firms and industries increasingly subscribe to voluntary codes of conduct. These self-regulatory governance systems can be effective in establishing a more sustainable and inclusive global economy. However, these codes can also be largely symbolic, reactive measures to quell public criticism. Cross-sector alliances (between for-profit and nonprofit actors) present a learning platform for infusing participants with greater incentives to be socially responsible. They can provide multinationals new capabilities that allow them to more closely ally social responsibility with economic performance. This paper examines learning facilitators in cross-sector alliances that enrich corporate understanding of stakeholder concerns. It suggests that these organizational learning experiments can translate into globally responsible practices and processes that improve the content and effectiveness of voluntary corporate codes.


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