WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000
This cell phone

00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.000
started its trajectory

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.000
in an artisanal mine

00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000
in the Eastern Congo.

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000
It's mined by armed gangs

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.000
using slaves, child slaves,

00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.000
what the U.N. Security Council

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.000
calls "blood minerals,"

00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.000
then traveled into some components

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000
and ended up in a factory

00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.000
in Shinjin in China.

00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.000
That factory -- over a dozen people have committed suicide

00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000
already this year.

00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000
One man died after working a 36-hour shift.

00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.000
We all love chocolate.

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.000
We buy it for our kids.

00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.000
Eighty percent of the cocoa comes from Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.000
and it's harvested by children.

00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.000
Cote d'Ivoire, we have a huge problem of child slaves.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:48.000
Children have been trafficked from other conflict zones

00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.000
to come and work on the coffee plantations.

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:53.000
Heparin -- a blood thinner,

00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.000
a pharmaceutical product --

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.000
starts out in artisanal workshops

00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:00.000
like this in China,

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000
because the active ingredient

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.000
comes from pigs' intestines.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000
Your diamond -- you've all heard, probably seen the movie "Blood Diamond."

00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000
This is a mine in Zimbabwe

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.000
right now.

00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.000
Cotton: Uzbekistan is the second biggest

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.000
exporter of cotton on Earth.

00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.000
Every year when it comes to the cotton harvest,

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.000
the government shuts down the schools,

00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.000
puts the kids in buses, buses them to the cotton fields

00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000
to spend three weeks harvesting the cotton.

00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.000
It's forced child labor

00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.000
on an institutional scale.

00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.000
And all of those products probably end their lives

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000
in a dump like this one in Manila.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000
These places, these origins,

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.000
represent governance gaps.

00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.000
That's the politest description

00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.000
I have for them.

00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.000
These are the dark pools

00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.000
where global supply chains begin --

00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.000
the global supply chains,

00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.000
which bring us our favorite brand name products.

00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000
Some of these governance gaps

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.000
are run by rogue states.

00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.000
Some of them are not states anymore at all.

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.000
They're failed states.

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000
Some of them

00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000
are just countries who believe that deregulation or no regulation

00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000
is the best way to attract investment,

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.000
promote trade.

00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000
Either way, they present us

00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.000
with a huge moral and ethical dilemma.

00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000
I know that none of us want to be accessories

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000
after the fact

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000
of a human rights abuse

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.000
in a global supply chain.

00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:34.000
But right now,

00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.000
most of the companies involved in these supply chains

00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.000
don't have any way

00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000
of assuring us

00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000
that nobody had to mortgage their future,

00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.000
nobody had to sacrifice their rights

00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.000
to bring us our favorite

00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.000
brand name product.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000
Now, I didn't come here to depress you

00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:56.000
about the state of the global supply chain.

00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.000
We need a reality check.

00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.000
We need to recognize just how serious

00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000
a deficit of rights we have.

00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.000
This is an independent republic,

00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000
probably a failed state.

00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.000
It's definitely not a democratic state.

00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.000
And right now,

00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.000
that independent republic of the supply chain

00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.000
is not being governed

00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.000
in a way that would satisfy us,

00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:24.000
that we can engage in ethical trade or ethical consumption.

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000
Now, that's not a new story.

00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000
You've seen the documentaries

00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:31.000
of sweatshops making garments

00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.000
all over the world, even in developed countries.

00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.000
You want to see the classic sweatshop,

00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000
meet me at Madison Square Garden,

00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000
I'll take you down the street, and I'll show you a Chinese sweatshop.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000
But take the example of heparin.

00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.000
It's a pharmaceutical product.

00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.000
You expect that the supply chain that gets it to the hospital,

00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.000
probably squeaky clean.

00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000
The problem is that the active ingredient in there --

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000
as I mentioned earlier --

00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.000
comes from pigs.

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000
The main American manufacturer

00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000
of that active ingredient

00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.000
decided a few years ago to relocate to China

00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.000
because it's the world's biggest supplier of pigs.

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.000
And their factory in China --

00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.000
which probably is pretty clean --

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.000
is getting all of the ingredients

00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:19.000
from backyard abattoirs,

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000
where families slaughter pigs

00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.000
and extract the ingredient.

00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000
So a couple of years ago, we had a scandal

00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.000
which killed about 80 people around the world,

00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.000
because of contaminants

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.000
that crept into the heparin supply chain.

00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000
Worse, some of the suppliers

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.000
realized that they could substitute a product

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.000
which mimicked heparin in tests.

00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000
This substitute cost nine dollars a pound,

00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.000
whereas real heparin, the real ingredient,

00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.000
cost 900 dollars a pound.

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.000
A no-brainer.

00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.000
The problem was that it killed more people.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.000
And so you're asking yourself,

00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.000
"How come the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000
allowed this to happen?

00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.000
How did the Chinese State Agency for Food and Drugs

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000
allow this to happen?"

00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.000
And the answer is quite simple:

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000
the Chinese define these facilities

00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.000
as chemical facilities, not pharmaceutical facilities,

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.000
so they don't audit them.

00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:19.000
And the USFDA

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.000
has a jurisdictional problem.

00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.000
This is offshore.

00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.000
They actually do conduct a few investigations overseas --

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.000
about a dozen a year -- maybe 20 in a good year.

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000
There are 500

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000
of these facilities

00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000
producing active ingredients in China alone.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.000
In fact, about 80 percent

00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.000
of the active ingredients in medicines now

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.000
come from offshore,

00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.000
particularly China and India,

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.000
and we don't have a governance system.

00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.000
We don't have a regulatory system

00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000
able to ensure

00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000
that that production is safe.

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.000
We don't have a system to ensure

00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.000
that human rights, basic dignity,

00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:01.000
are ensured.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:05.000
So at a national level --

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.000
and we work in about 60 different countries --

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.000
at a national level

00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000
we've got a serious breakdown in the ability of governments

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.000
to regulate production

00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.000
on their own soil.

00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.000
And the real problem with the global supply chain

00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.000
is that it's supranational.

00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.000
So governments who are failing,

00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.000
who are dropping the ball

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.000
at a national level,

00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.000
have even less ability to get their arms around the problem

00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.000
at an international level.

00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.000
And you can just look at the headlines.

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.000
Take Copenhagen last year --

00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000
complete failure of governments

00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.000
to do the right thing

00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.000
in the face of an international challenge.

00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.000
Take the G20 meeting a couple of weeks ago --

00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:50.000
stepped back from its commitments of just a few months ago.

00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.000
You can take any one

00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.000
of the major global challenges we've discussed this week

00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.000
and ask yourself, where is the leadership from governments

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.000
to step up and come up with solutions,

00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.000
responses,

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:08.000
to those international problems?

00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.000
And the simple answer is they can't. They're national.

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000
Their voters are local.

00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000
They have parochial interests.

00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.000
They can't subordinate those interests

00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000
to the greater global public good.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.000
So, if we're going to ensure the delivery

00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.000
of the key public goods

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.000
at an international level --

00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000
in this case, in the global supply chain --

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000
we have to come up with a different mechanism.

00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.000
We need a different machine.

00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.000
Fortunately, we have some examples.

00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.000
In the 1990s,

00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.000
there were a whole series of scandals

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000
concerning the production of brand name goods in the U.S. --

00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:49.000
child labor, forced labor,

00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.000
serious health and safety abuses.

00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000
And eventually President Clinton, in 1996,

00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000
convened a meeting at the White House,

00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000
invited industry, human rights NGOs,

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.000
trade unions, the Department of Labor,

00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.000
got them all in a room

00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.000
and said, "Look,

00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.000
I don't want globalization to be a race to the bottom.

00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.000
I don't know how to prevent that,

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:12.000
but I'm at least going to use my good offices

00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.000
to get you folks together

00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.000
to come up with a response."

00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.000
So they formed a White House task force,

00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.000
and they spent about three years arguing

00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.000
about who takes how much responsibility

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.000
in the global supply chain.

00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.000
Companies didn't feel it was their responsibility.

00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.000
They don't own those facilities.

00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.000
They don't employ those workers.

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.000
They're not legally liable.

00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.000
Everybody else at the table

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000
said, "Folks, that doesn't cut it.

00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.000
You have a custodial duty, a duty of care,

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000
to make sure that that product

00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.000
gets from wherever to the store

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.000
in a way that allows us to consume it,

00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000
without fear of our safety,

00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.000
or without having to sacrifice our conscience

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.000
to consume that product."

00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.000
So they agreed, "Okay, what we'll do

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.000
is we agree on a common set of standards,

00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:09.000
code of conduct.

00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000
We'll apply that throughout

00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.000
our global supply chain

00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.000
regardless of ownership or control.

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.000
We'll make it part of the contract."

00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000
And that was a stroke of absolute genius,

00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.000
because what they did

00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.000
was they harnessed the power of the contract,

00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.000
private power,

00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.000
to deliver public goods.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.000
And let's face it,

00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.000
the contract from a major multinational brand

00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.000
to a supplier in India or China

00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.000
has much more persuasive value

00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:41.000
than the local labor law,

00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.000
the local environmental regulations,

00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.000
the local human rights standards.

00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.000
Those factories will probably never see an inspector.

00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.000
If the inspector did come along,

00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.000
it would be amazing if they were able

00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.000
to resist the bribe.

00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.000
Even if they did their jobs,

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.000
and they cited those facilities for their violations,

00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.000
the fine would be derisory.

00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000
But you lose that contract

00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.000
for a major brand name,

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:12.000
that's the difference

00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.000
between staying in business or going bankrupt.

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.000
That makes a difference.

00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.000
So what we've been able to do

00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:21.000
is we've been able to harness

00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:23.000
the power and the influence

00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.000
of the only truly transnational institution

00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.000
in the global supply chain,

00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.000
that of the multinational company,

00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.000
and get them to do the right thing,

00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.000
get them to use that power for good,

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.000
to deliver the key public goods.

NOTE Paragraph

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.000
Now of course, this doesn't come naturally

00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000
to multinational companies.

00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.000
They weren't set up to do this. They're set up to make money.

00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.000
But they are extremely efficient organizations.

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.000
They have resources,

00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.000
and if we can add the will, the commitment,

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.000
they know how to deliver that product.

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.000
Now, getting there is not easy.

00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.000
Those supply chains I put up on the screen earlier,

00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.000
they're not there.

00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.000
You need a safe space.

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.000
You need a place where people can come together,

00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.000
sit down without fear of judgment,

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.000
without recrimination,

00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.000
to actually face the problem,

00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:22.000
agree on the problem and come up with solutions.

00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000
We can do it. The technical solutions are there.

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:28.000
The problem is the lack of trust, the lack of confidence,

00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.000
the lack of partnership

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.000
between NGOs, campaign groups,

00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.000
civil society organizations

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.000
and multinational companies.

00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.000
If we can put those two together in a safe space,

00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.000
get them to work together,

00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.000
we can deliver public goods right now,

00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.000
or in extremely short supply.

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:51.000
This is a radical proposition,

00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.000
and it's crazy to think

00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:56.000
that if you're a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl

00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:59.000
leaving your rural village

00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:02.000
to go and work in a factory in Dhaka --

00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.000
22, 23, 24 dollars a month --

00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:10.000
your best chance of enjoying rights at work

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:12.000
is if that factory is producing

00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.000
for a brand name company

00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.000
which has got a code of conduct

00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:19.000
and made that code of conduct part of the contract.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.000
It's crazy.

00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.000
Multinationals are protecting human rights.

00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.000
I know there's going to be disbelief.

00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.000
You'll say, "How can we trust them?"

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.000
Well, we don't.

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.000
It's the old arms control phrase:

00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.000
"Trust, but verify."

00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.000
So we audit.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:39.000
We take their supply chain, we take all the factory names,

00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.000
we do a random sample,

00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000
we send inspectors on an unannounced basis

00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000
to inspect those facilities,

00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.000
and then we publish the results.

00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.000
Transparency is absolutely critical to this.

00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.000
You can call yourself responsible,

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.000
but responsibility without accountability

00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.000
often doesn't work.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.000
So what we're doing is, we're not only enlisting the multinationals,

00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:06.000
we're giving them the tools to deliver this public good --

00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.000
respect for human rights --

00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.000
and we're checking.

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.000
You don't need to believe me. You shouldn't believe me.

00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000
Go to the website. Look at the audit results.

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.000
Ask yourself, is this company behaving

00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.000
in a socially responsible way?

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000
Can I buy that product

00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.000
without compromising my ethics?

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:28.000
That's the way the system works.

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.000
I hate the idea

00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.000
that governments are not protecting human rights around the world.

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.000
I hate the idea

00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.000
that governments have dropped this ball

00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.000
and I can't get used to the idea

00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.000
that somehow we can't get them to do their jobs.

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.000
I've been at this for 30 years,

00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000
and in that time I've seen

00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000
the ability, the commitment, the will of government

00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.000
to do this decline,

00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.000
and I don't see them making a comeback right now.

00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:59.000
So we started out thinking

00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:01.000
this was a stopgap measure.

00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:04.000
We're now thinking that, in fact,

00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.000
this is probably the start

00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.000
of a new way of regulating and addressing

00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.000
international challenges.

00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:14.000
Call it network governance. Call it what you will.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000
The private actors,

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000
companies and NGOs,

00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.000
are going to have to get together

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.000
to face the major challenges we are going to face.

00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000
Just look at pandemics --

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:28.000
swine flu, bird flu, H1N1.

00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.000
Look at the health systems in so many countries.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.000
Do they have the resources

00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.000
to face up to a serious pandemic?

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.000
No.

00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.000
Could the private sector and NGOs

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.000
get together and marshal a response?

00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.000
Absolutely.

00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.000
What they lack is that safe space

00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.000
to come together, agree

00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.000
and move to action.

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.000
That's what we're trying to provide.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000
I know as well

00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.000
that this often seems

00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000
like an overwhelming level of responsibility

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.000
for people to assume.

00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.000
"You want me to deliver human rights

00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.000
throughout my global supply chain.

00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.000
There are thousands of suppliers in there."

00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000
It seems too daunting, too dangerous,

00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000
for any company to take on.

00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.000
But there are companies.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.000
We have 4,000 companies who are members.

00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000
Some of them are very, very large companies.

00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.000
The sporting goods industry, in particular,

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.000
stepped up to the plate and have done it.

00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.000
The example, the role model, is there.

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.000
And whenever we discuss

00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.000
one of these problems that we have to address --

00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.000
child labor in cottonseed farms in India --

00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.000
this year we will monitor 50,000 cottonseed farms in India.

00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.000
It seems overwhelming.

00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.000
The numbers just make you want to zone out.

00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.000
But we break it down to some basic realities.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:51.000
And human rights

00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:54.000
comes down to a very simple proposition:

00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.000
can I give this person their dignity back?

00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.000
Poor people,

00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.000
people whose human rights have been violated --

00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.000
the crux of that

00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.000
is the loss of dignity,

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.000
the lack of dignity.

00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.000
It starts with just giving people back their dignity.

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.000
I was sitting in a slum outside Gurgaon

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000
just next to Delhi,

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.000
one of the flashiest, brightest new cities

00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.000
popping up in India right now,

00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.000
and I was talking to workers

00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.000
who worked in garment sweatshops down the road,

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.000
and I asked them what message they would like me to take to the brands.

00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.000
They didn't say money.

00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.000
They said, "The people who employ us

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.000
treat us like we are less than human,

00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.000
like we don't exist.

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.000
Please ask them to treat us like human beings."

00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.000
That's my simple understanding of human rights.

00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.000
That's my simple proposition to you,

00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:52.000
my simple plea to every decision-maker

00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.000
in this room, everybody out there.

00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000
We can all make a decision

00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.000
to come together

00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000
and pick up the balls and run with the balls

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.000
that governments have dropped.

00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.000
If we don't do it,

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.000
we're abandoning hope,

00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.000
we're abandoning our essential humanity,

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000
and I know that's not a place we want to be,

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.000
and we don't have to be there.

00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.000
So I appeal to you.

00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000
Join us, come into that safe space,

00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.000
and let's start to make this happen.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.000
Thank you very much.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.000
(Applause)