Search results

Manufacturers of labour‐intensive, branded consumer goods – particularly apparel and footwear – are facing increasing pressure from consumer groups, non‐government organisations (NGOs), and other stakeholders, to provide assurances that contracted suppliers in developing countries are complying with global labour and environmental standards. Companies have adopted a variety of strategies to strengthen and monitor compliance by their suppliers, including codes of conduct, direct monitoring by their own personnel, more stringent contract conditions, and reduction in the number of contractors. Increasingly, companies are turning to what are termed here “monitoring coalitions”, membership organisations that undertake to organise the monitoring of labour or other standards in overseas factories. To be effective, these emerging systems must address a range of issues, including how to manage the monitoring process, what standard to set, how to finance monitoring, how to disseminate the information collected, and, most difficult, how to accomplish costeffective monitoring in tens of thousands of production facilities in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Arafat and Rabin's famous handshake opened a new stage in the Middle East peace talks. Recent delays in the process have centered more around economic than political issues. Two main controversies revolve around means for distributing aid funds and the development of viable financial networks in the Israeli Occupied Territories. These agenda are reviewed from the viewpoint of promoting U.S. trade interests in the region. Islamic banks, if they are granted licenses by the Israeli government, may provide an effective means for distributing funds, while at the same time promoting U.S.‐Arab mercantile trade.