Norway’s Council on Ethics Hires US Non-Profit to Investigate Labor Practices of GPFG Portfolio Companies
Posted on 10/21/2020
Amherst, MA-based Verité, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1995. Verité seeks to identify labor rights violations in supply chains and remedy them to the benefit of workers and companies alike.
The Oslo-based Council on Ethics advises Norges Bank on ethical investment issues in regard to Norway Government Pension Fund Global’s investments. The Council on Ethics hired the non-profit Verité, after a tender launched in May 2020 by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, to conduct on-the-ground investigations to probe forced labor in Gulf states and countries such as Malaysia. The focus is geared toward migrant workers. The companies subject to investigations can operate in any sector, but there will be a primary focus on labor-intensive sectors such as service, production, and raw materials.
This contract awarded has a two-year extendable contract.
“The investigations shall form a basis for decisions on whether the companies’ conduct can lead to examination or exclusion in accordance with the human rights criterion in the ethical guidelines of the Government Pension Fund Global,” (GPFG), the finance ministry said in the tender notice.
Keywords: Verite.