The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed in its latest report that there is a huge difference between the allocated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds and actual spending by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) on labour and employment-oriented initiatives in South Asia.
The report, titled ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2017 – Sustainable Enterprises and Jobs’, clearly states that the situation is far better in other parts of the world, as far as the level of commitment and implementation of CSR is concerned. While Western Europe makes considerable progress in this regard, the situation is also grim in East Asia and West Asia.

However, the situation is slightly better in South Asian countries compared to Central and Western Asia, Eastern Europe and North America, but poor compared to African nations. As per the ILO report, the MNEs in Western Europe concentrate mainly on labour-oriented CSR initiatives with a special focus on non-discrimination in the workplace. They also monitor the improvement of health and safety measures, apart from taking care of the supply chain.
“Private commitment (and implementation) regarding freedom of association is globally very low, meaning that very few companies worldwide see this issue as a priority of self-regulation,” reads the report.
According to the ILO, financial and information technology services companies have shown no commitment to respect the freedom of association, while companies producing luxury goods and cosmetics, electric components and equipment, and beverage are more committed mainly “because of the critical importance of brand reputation for these types of products”.

Without revealing the name of any organisation, the ILO said that companies, which performed better in terms of freedom of association, also top-scored on other parameters, like human rights, environment and corporate governance. The UN agency clarified that it prepared the report on the basis of multiple and complex CSR data compiled by VigeoEiris, a European CSR rating agency. VigeoEiris covered more than 3,000 MNEs and measured the levels of voluntary commitment before compiling the data.
Meanwhile, Director (Business Advisory) of PwC India Abhishek Tripathi said: “The levels of commitment and implementation towards CSR are relatively high in Western Europe as compared to East Asia, Arab States and South Asian States because the European society is more powerful and demanding as compared to the latter.” He also said that the needs of the community encourage MNEs to perform the CSR activities in a better way in Western Europe.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das