How can European organizations ensure that suppliers from Southeast Asia do respect human rights in subcontracting relationships?

With the emergence of international trade, European companies started to outsource part of their supply chain in developing countries, including in Southeast Asia. This international market penetration created economic growth and employment opportunities. But at the same time, it generated a strong pressure on suppliers to cut their costs. This cost constraint included a reduction in the importance given to the respect for worker rights. The question of the respect of human rights and more particularly worker rights is a fundamental challenge for companies in today's world. Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013, many companies have become aware of the issue of human rights abuses in global supply chains and start to try to avoid, prevent and mitigate the risk of human rights violations in their subcontracting relationships. This is an especially complicated task to which many companies can still not guarantee 100% respect for human rights.