The fast-paced globalisation of the economy, combined with cost-minimising corporate strategies, has led to the offshoring of production for the EU market to low-income countries. In these contexts, labour regulations are typically weaker, and workers face multiple risks, including job and income insecurity, unfair wages, lack of social protection, and limited opportunities to join unions.

According to internationally recognised corporate accountability frameworks, companies have a responsibility to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence — a duty that applies equally in countries with weak labour protections and limited law enforcement. This process is intended to identify and address the risk of negative impacts within their value chains and to promote decent working conditions.

It is important to note that for due diligence to be truly effective, it should be guided by continuous and meaningful engagement with workers in the value chain. However, many companies outsource this responsibility to third parties, such as social auditing firms, which risks reducing the process to a mere box-ticking exercise.

Over the years, Swedwatch’s investigations have uncovered labour rights violations across a wide range of sectors, regions, and stages of the value chain — including raw material extraction, manufacturing, and downstream operations.