Ho Chi Minh City, 28 October 2021 - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) today launched a new report looking into the natural rubber supply chain for the footwear industry in Viet Nam. 

The report is produced under a project between FLA, IOM and three global footwear and sporting goods companies - adidas, Puma and New Balance – during 2019 and 2020 to foster learning about supply chain mapping and map the natural rubber value chain. The project engaged with over 40 suppliers in Viet Nam ranging from footwear manufacturers, component suppliers, traders, intermediaries, rubber processors to private plantations and smallholder farmers.

The report Natural Rubber Supply Chain Mapping in Viet Nam: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach in the Sporting Goods Industry provides an understanding of the various tiers of the natural rubber supply chain from the private companies in Viet Nam. The report highlights the challenges of participating companies to addressing labour issues and also provides practical recommendations for companies to explore the collective approach to uphold human and labour rights of workers in global supply chains.

Viet Nam is one of the top five producers and exporters of natural rubber. The report comes at a time when governments around the world are enacting legislative and regulatory frameworks requiring multinational companies to implement public reporting on the human rights impacts of their full supply chain. Failure to exercise adequate whole supply chain due diligence under these laws could lead to financial penalties and operational challenges, including having goods excluded from entry in a country.

“Consumers today are showing increased interest and awareness on corporations’ ethical conduct, including human rights protection of their workers. Also, we are seeing the changes in regulatory framework that are raising the standard on corporate responsibility to be expanded throughout the entire supply chain, from farm to factories,” said Mihyung Park, Chief of Mission, IOM Viet Nam.

“This report is an important milestone as it provides insight on complexities and challenges of global supply chain, while sharing practical recommendations. One of the important recommendations is the need for collective approach, as shown by adidas, New Balance and Puma that partnered for this initiative,” added Ms. Park. 

"The Fair Labor Association is pleased to share the lessons learned from our work in Viet Nam, mapping the working conditions across the journey of the rubber used in footwear from raw material to the finished product,” said FLA President and CEO Sharon Waxman. “The collective action taken by the project partners, including adidas, New Balance, and Puma, demonstrates the power of coming together and pooling resources, knowledge, and leverage to increase understanding of labor and human rights issues and identify opportunities to address gaps in workers’ rights.”

The partnership is within the framework of IOM’s Corporate Responsibility in Eliminating Slavery and Trafficking (CREST), an initiative that aims to realize the potential of business to uphold the human and labour rights of migrant workers in their operations and supply chains.

For more information, please contact Ms. Nguyen Thu Huong at thuongnguyen@iom.int

For media inquiries, please contact Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Yen at thihnguyen@iom.int