GUIDE FOR THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

With the aim of offering Catalan administrations a responsible recruitment guide adapted to the legislative framework of the Spanish State, the organizations Novact, Servei Civil Internacional and Nexes, have promoted the “Guide for the protection and promotion of human rights in public procurement”. It is a document with recommendations and proposals to promote public procurement and purchase with ethical criteria by the administrations. It includes the proposal of clauses that promote respect for Human Rights, and is expected to generate deterrent mechanisms for the hiring of companies that have violations throughout the production or the supply chain of their articles or services.

The “Guide for the protection and promotion of human rights in public procurement” provides a legal framework, as well as clauses ready to apply in all phases of the public procurement process, and concrete examples of initiatives that are underway. As a complement to the legal guide, the project offers annexes with cases of companies that have violated human rights, investigated by the Observatory of Human Rights and Business in the Mediterranean.

The ‘Guide for the protection and promotion of human rights in public procurement’ responds to a demand from civil society and municipalities to develop legal tools for ensuring respect for human rights in the institutional sphere. It has been developed by ‘Tornos’ legal team and has received contributions from international experts.