七国峰会将讨论供应链标准保障工人人权
FRANKFURT — A Burmese migrant worker is sold by traffickers as a slave to the owner of a Thai fishing boat. The catch of the boat is used to make fish meal to feed farmed shrimp. The shrimp wind up in supermarkets in the United States and Europe.
法兰克福——一名缅甸外来务工人员被人贩子卖给一艘泰国渔船的老板当了奴隶。这艘船捕获的水产会被用来制作喂给养殖虾的鱼粉，而这些虾最后会出现在美国和欧洲的超市里。Issues of security and economics tend to attract the most attention at Group of 7 meetings. But when President Obama and other leaders of the nations in the group meet at the Bavarian spa resort of Schloss Elmau on June 7 and 8, one of the items on the agenda will be related to those Thai shrimp.
安全和经济似乎是七国集团峰会最引人关注的议题。不过，6月7日和8日，当奥巴马总统与该集团其他国家的领导人在巴伐利亚州的温泉度假胜地埃尔茂宫(Schloss Elmau)会晤时，其中一项议程将与这些来自泰国的虾有关。
The leaders plan to discuss so-called supply chain standards — ways of ensuring that everyday products like food, electronics and jewelry do not come packaged with human misery as a hidden ingredient.
七国领导人计划就“供应链标准”问题进行讨论——研究哪些办法可以保证食物、电子产品和珠宝等日常商品当中不会隐藏着他人的疾苦。
Abuses in the Thai fishing industry have been well documented and were the subject of hearings in the United States Congress in April. The Group of 7 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — represent 45 percent of global economic output, which gives them considerable power to push for better working conditions not only for Thai fishing crews but also for miners in Democratic Republic of Congo and textile workers in Bangladesh.
泰国渔业中虐待工人的现象有详细的资料记录，还是于今年4月举行的多次美国国会听证会的主题。七国集团——英国、加拿大、法国、德国、意大利、日本和美国——代表着45%的世界经济产出，所以拥有相当大的力量，不仅可以为泰国的渔业工作者，还可以为刚果民主共和国的矿工和孟加拉国的纺织工人，争取更好的工作条件。The urgency was underlined on May 14 after at least 72 workers died in a fire that consumed a factory near Manila that made rubber sandals and slippers. The products were made for local markets, according to news reports, but the events showed the potentially deadly consequences of unsafe working conditions.
今年5月14日，马尼拉附近一家生产橡胶凉鞋和拖鞋的工厂被大火吞没，导致至少72名工人死亡，相关问题的急迫性由此得以突显。新闻报道称，这些产品是为当地市场制造的，但此类事故说明不安全的工作环境可能会带来怎样的致命后果。No producer wants to be excluded from markets in the Group of 7. While the gathering of wealthy nations is known more for bland communiqués than bold initiatives, even a statement of resolve on supply chain standards would be welcome, watchdog groups say.
所有生产商都不想被七国集团的市场排除在外。监督团体表示，虽然这些富裕国家的会议更多地以乏味的公报著称，鲜有大胆的行动，但一份在供应链标准问题上表达决心的声明也会受到欢迎。“We would love to see the G-7 leaders make a strong commitment to this,” said Sophia Pickles, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, an advocacy group. “It would be an important signal.”
“我们希望看到七国集团领导人做出强有力的承诺，”倡导团体全球见证组织(Global Witness)的资深宣传人员索菲娅·皮克尔斯(Sophia Pickles)说。“这将是一个非常重要的信号。”The United States and other countries already have rules designed to ensure that imported products are not contributing to human rights abuses or environmental damage. Dodd-Frank, the American law designed to address the financial crisis, has a provision requiring companies to disclose if they were using minerals like tungsten and gold exported illegally from the Democratic Republic of Congo or neighboring countries.
美国等国已经出台相关法规，希望确保进口产品不会成为侵犯人权或破坏环境的帮凶。旨在应对金融危机的联邦法律《多德-弗兰克法案》(Dodd-Frank)中有一条规定，企业必须披露，是否使用了刚果民主共和国或其邻国非法出口的钨和黄金等矿物。But watchdogs say the wealthy nations need to do more to ensure that existing rules are more rigorously enforced.
不过，监督团体表示，这些富裕国家需要采取更多举措，确保更严格地执行现有规定。“Governments really need to start closing the door to illegally produced products,” said Jason Clay, a senior vice president at the World Wildlife Fund, which has pushed for improved scrutiny of timber and of other products that are often harvested in developing countries and exported to rich ones.
“政府亟需开始关闭向非法生产的产品敞开的大门，”世界自然基金会(World Wildlife Fund)的高级副会长贾森·克莱(Jason Clay)说。世界自然基金会一直要求加大对木材等通常由发展中国家生产并向富裕国家出口的产品的审查力度。Perhaps surprisingly, some corporations have been moving faster than governments to scrutinize where their products come from and to ensure they are not tainted, Mr. Clay said. The collapse of a building in Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013, in which more than 1,100 textile workers were killed, demonstrated to retailers like Walmart how their own reputations and sales could be at risk from unscrupulous suppliers.
或许令人吃惊的是，克莱称，在审核产品来源及确保它们没有污点方面，有些企业的行动比政府更加迅速。2013年，孟加拉国拉纳广场发生建筑物垮塌事故，导致逾1100名纺织工人丧生。此事向沃尔玛(Walmart)等零售商表明，道德缺失的供货商会对它们自身的名誉和销售状况造成怎样的威胁。Walmart denied reports that one of its suppliers had purchased jeans made by a company at the Rana Plaza complex. But Walmart has stepped up scrutiny of its supply chain and contributed to a fund for victims of the disaster.
有报道称，沃尔玛的一家供货商采购了来自拉纳广场里的一家公司的牛仔服，沃尔玛对此予以了否认。不过，沃尔玛加强了对自身供应链的审查，并给针对此次事故受害者的一家基金捐了款。“Even in the height of recession, companies were investing in sustainability because they knew their futures depended on it,” Mr. Clay said. “We don’t see that commitment from governments. They have trouble managing their own piece of the planet.”
“即便在经济衰退最严重的时刻，企业也在对可持续性进行投资，因为它们知道自己的未来取决于此，”克莱说。“我们没有在政府身上看到这种决心。他们在处理自己的问题方面都有困难。”The push to put supply chains on the Group of 7 agenda comes largely from Germany, the world’s third-largest exporter after China and the United States. Germany, host of the meeting this year, is also the world’s third-largest importer, in part because of the raw materials required for its auto makers and other industries.
促使供应链问题被提上七国集团峰会议事日程的主要是德国——它是仅次于中国和美国的世界第三大出口国。作为今年峰会主办国的德国还是世界第三大进口国，这在一定程度上是因为它需要进口汽车制造等行业所需要的原材料。“The rich industrial countries need to establish fundamental standards worldwide, so that these will be adopted by others,” said Gerd Müller, the German minister for economic cooperation and development.
德国经济合作与发展部部长盖德·米勒(Gerd Müller)表示，“富裕的工业化国家需要建立世界性的基本标准，从而让这些标准被他国采用。”The European Commission is considering a proposal that would encourage companies to scrutinize whether minerals they use are coming from conflict areas. There are already similar rules in place that apply to timber and diamonds.
欧盟委员会正在考虑一项提议，其中鼓励各大企业严格审查自身使用的矿物是否来自冲突地区。目前已有适用于木材和钻石的类似规定。Global Witness and other nongovernmental organizations have complained, though, that the European proposal calls for voluntary rather than mandatory compliance. Companies such as mobile phone manufacturers would be certified as a European Union “responsible importer” if they documented that raw materials they were purchasing were not being used to help finance armed conflict. But there would be no legal obligation for them to do so.
然而，全球见证组织及其他一些非政府组织抱怨，欧洲的提议呼吁企业自愿执行，而不是做出强制要求。如果手机厂商之类的公司提供文件证明，它们所购买的原材料不会被用来资助武装冲突，它们就能成为欧盟认证的“负责任进口商”。但这不属于它们的法律义务。“The commission’s proposal is from our point of view extremely weak,” said Michael Gibb, a campaign leader at Global Witness in London who specializes in so-called conflict resources. Although Germany pushed to put supply chains on the agenda, he said, it is one of the countries that has resisted mandatory rules.
“在我们看来，欧盟委员会的提议力度太小，”全球见证组织驻伦敦的宣传负责人迈克尔·吉布(Michael Gibb)说。他关注的正是“冲突资源”议题。他表示，虽然德国将供应链问题提上了议程，但它也是抵制强制规定的国家之一。Others say that voluntary rules are easier to steer through the political process and potentially just as effective.
其他一些人则认为，自愿性规定更容易通过政治程序，也可能同样有效。A strong statement from the wealthy countries at the summit meeting would have a powerful effect on the developing countries that are the main suppliers, said Mr. Müller, the German development minister.
德国发展部部长米勒表示，参与峰会的富裕国家发表的有力声明会对主要的供应方——发展中国家——产生巨大的影响。He noted that voluntary rules were more practical. “You can’t change world trade overnight with regulations,” he said. “What is decisive is that the industrial countries commit themselves to sustainable standards.”
他指出，自愿性规定更加实际。“不可能通过监管一夜之间就改变世界贸易格局，”他说。“关键在于工业化国家致力于实施可持续标准。”Gabriela Ramos, chief of staff at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the person responsible for summit meeting preparations, said that reaching agreement on common supply chain standards would be significant.
经济合作与发展组织(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)幕僚长、本次峰会准备工作的负责人加芙列拉·拉莫斯(Gabriela Ramos)表示，在供应链通用标准方面达成协议将具有重大意义。“It’s important for the G-7 to be leading by example,” Ms. Ramos said. “Sometimes you need to make progress in any way you can. Of course we would like to make everything obligatory. International law is more complicated than that.”
“重要的是七国集团应该以身作则，”拉莫斯说。“有时需要取得进步，无论通过何种方式。当然，我们乐于出台强制性规定。但国际法要比这更复杂。
