...It is important to raise awareness on workers’ wellbeing and living conditions in Bangalore so that all key actors (brands, government, suppliers) can foster improvements in the region. This is why C&A welcomes the publishing of the report ‘Labour without Liberty’ as it also acknowledges that this issue is complex and challenging to resolve due to a wide spectrum of aspects including culture and caste system among others, which are embedded in the Indian society...

We acknowledge that only through collaboration we will be able to have the desired impact. After ICN issued the first report ‘Unfree and unfair’ in 2016, we took immediate actions to understand the root cause of the issue and how we can tackle it in order to improve migrants’ life and work. Hence, we joined efforts with other two international brands in order to conduct a context evaluation of freedom of movement, health & safety and workers’ wellbeing in general...

We are glad to see that ICN has taken into consideration the efforts C&A has done among other brands. C&A has been one of the few who has acknowledged the limitations of social audit and is committed to search for alternatives, which may bridge the gaps that audits have...

As a result of the ongoing improvement dialogue between brands and one of our main suppliers in Bangalore, the supplier has assigned the day-to-day management of its hostels to a suitable local NGO Janodaya...

Together with ETI, we have had consultations with NGOs and Trade Unions and have received positive responses from them to establish such Multi-stakeholder Ethical Trade Platform in India...