[Problem 2] Apart from children, businesses also promote human rights abuses through failing to provide safe working conditions and equipment to workers. In this regard, despite the fact that most businesses in the technology industry have formulated policies and standards to promote workplace safety, these policies are only implemented in some markets while ignored in other markets where they have established their operations. According to Salcito et al. (2013), whereas multinational corporations adhere to strict workplace safety standards in North America, Australia and Europe, these corporations flout the standards in their operations in regions such as Africa and Asia, thus exposing millions of workers to workplace hazards in these regions. For example, a recent analysis of the operations of Green Resources, a Norwegian company operating in Tanzania, reveals that despite its written policies that promote workplace safety, these policies were not implemented in any way at their Uchindile plantation (Salcito et al., 2013). On the contrary, Salcito et al. (2013) observe that the management of this company failed to provide basic items that are necessary to promote workplace safety such as safe transportation to their work site, and safety gears, and as such, it had injury rates that were significantly higher than the average industry rate. The problem of unsafe working conditions is compounded by the fact that most developing countries often fail to enforce workplace safety standards, thus creating a leeway for businesses to violate human rights through fail to protect their workers from workplace hazards. For example, Giuliani (2016) observes that in Brazil’s Toritama, the Pernambuco government repeated failed to enforce labour safety standards, thus giving manufacturers of blue-jeans a chance to operate under unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, thus exposing workers to hazards such as gas leaks and atmospheric contamination. Therefore, most were at risk of suffering respiratory diseases.
[问题2]除儿童外，企业还通过未能向工人提供安全的工作条件和设备，促进侵犯人权。在这方面，尽管大多数技术行业的企业都制定了促进工作场所安全的政策和标准，但这些政策只在一些市场实施，而在其他已建立业务的市场却被忽视。根据Salcito等人（2013年）的说法，尽管跨国公司在北美、澳大利亚和欧洲遵守严格的工作场所安全标准，但这些公司在非洲和亚洲等地区的运营中却无视这些标准，从而使数百万工人暴露在这些地区的工作场所危险中。例如，最近对在坦桑尼亚运营的挪威公司Green Resources的运营情况进行的分析表明，尽管其书面政策促进了工作场所安全，但这些政策并未以任何方式在其Uchindile种植园实施（Salcito et al.，2013）。相反，Salcito等人（2013年）观察到，该公司的管理层未能提供促进工作场所安全所需的基本项目，如安全运输至其工作场所和安全装置，因此，其受伤率明显高于行业平均率。大多数发展中往往不执行工作场所安全标准，从而为企业因未能保护工人免受工作场所危害而侵犯人权创造了余地，这一事实使不安全工作条件的问题更加复杂。例如，朱利安尼（2016年）观察到，在巴西的托里塔马，伯南布哥政府一再未能执行劳动安全标准，从而使牛仔裤制造商有机会在不安全和不健康的工作条件下工作，从而使工人暴露在气体泄漏和大气污染等危险中。因此，大多数人都有患呼吸道疾病的危险。
[Solution 1] Despite the human right abuse problems that businesses cause across the globe, there are a number of solutions that can be adopted to minimise and eventually eliminate such problems. To begin with, one of the solutions that can help eliminate the abuse of children’s rights through engaging them in child labour is through requiring multinational corporations to eliminate such vices in their supply chain or face legal consequences. In line with this, Australian Human Rights Commission, ACCSR and GCNA (2015) observe that there is a need for multinational corporations to seek to establish long-term relationships with their supplies, thus making it easier to promote and enact their policies on human rights abuses in the operations of their suppliers. In other words, through establishing consistent relationships, multinational corporations would find it easier to help their suppliers implement policies that protect human rights and as such eliminate vices such as child labour. Such measures should be accompanied by development and adoption of social accountability frameworks that have performance indicators to measure human rights and social performance and as such, create a platform for public reporting on social impacts (Australian Human Rights Commission, ACCSR & GCNA, 2015). For example, through establishment of long-term relationship with its suppliers and adopting a social accountability framework, Apple has been able to eliminate child labour in factories that work directly with this company in Asia (Apple, Inc., 2016). Furthermore, this company uses third-party organisations to monitors the operations of its suppliers to ensure that it does not violate children’s rights through child labour.
[解决方案1]尽管企业在全球范围内造成了侵犯人权的问题，但仍有许多解决方案可用于尽量减少并最终消除此类问题。首先，通过让儿童从事童工劳动，有助于消除对儿童权利的滥用的解决办法之一是要求跨国公司消除其供应链中的此类恶习，否则将面临法律后果。根据这一点，澳大利亚人权委员会、ACCSR和GCNA（2015）指出，跨国公司有必要寻求与其供应商建立长期关系，从而更容易促进和颁布其供应商运营中侵犯人权的政策。换言之，通过建立一致的关系，跨国公司将更容易帮助其供应商实施保护人权的政策，从而消除童工等恶习。在采取这些措施的同时，还应制定和采用社会问责框架，该框架具有衡量人权和社会绩效的绩效指标，并因此为社会影响的公共报告创造一个平台（澳大利亚人权委员会，ACCSR和GCNA，2015）。例如，通过与供应商建立长期关系并采用社会责任框架，苹果公司已经能够在与该公司直接合作的亚洲工厂中消除童工现象（苹果公司，2016年）。此外，该公司利用第三方组织监督其供应商的运营，以确保其不会通过童工侵犯儿童权利。
[Solution 2] Apart from encouraging businesses to take responsibility in promoting human rights, governments too have a responsibility of formulating and implementing policies that encourage the protection of human rights within their borders. Notably, whereas there are numerous labour standards particularly on workplace safety that have been formulated in developed countries and regions such as the United States, Australia and Europe, multinational organisations may not necessarily adhere to such laws and regulations when operating in regions such as Asia and Africa. This therefore means that the governments of third world countries too have a responsibility of protecting their citizens through strict enactment of workplace safety standards. According to Ruggie (2011), one of the major mandates of the state, through the relevant regulations, policies and adjudication, is to protect its citizens from human rights abuses that are committed by third parties such as businesses and organisations. The role of the state in protecting the human rights of its citizens is further emphasised by Bishop (2012), who observe that since the state play a critical role in formulating human rights policies, it should also play the role of enforcing these policies within their jurisdiction. This means that the government has a responsibility of not only setting the safety standards for employers within its jurisdiction, but to play an oversight role to ensure that such policies are strictly adhered to. Without such monitoring, businesses are likely to undermine the human rights of workers through failure to provide a safety workplace.
[解决方案2]除了鼓励企业承担促进人权的责任外，各国政府也有责任制定和执行鼓励在其境内保护人权的政策。值得注意的是，尽管美国、澳大利亚和欧洲等发达和地区制定了许多劳动标准，特别是关于工作场所安全的劳动标准，但跨国组织在亚洲和非洲等地区开展业务时可能不一定遵守这些法律法规。因此，这意味着第三世界的政府也有责任通过严格制定工作场所安全标准来保护其公民。根据Ruggie（2011），的主要任务之一是通过相关法规、政策和裁决，保护公民免受第三方（如企业和组织）侵犯人权的行为。Bishop（2012）进一步强调了在保护公民人权方面的作用，他指出，由于在制定人权政策方面发挥着关键作用，因此还应在其管辖范围内执行这些政策。这意味着政府不仅有责任为其管辖范围内的雇主制定安全标准，而且有责任发挥监督作用，确保这些政策得到严格遵守。如果没有这种监督，企业很可能会因为无法提供安全的工作场所而损害工人的人权。
In conclusion, while businesses in the technology sector play an important role in helping sustain the global economy, they also contribute to human rights abuses across the globe. Speaking from this point of view, there is a need to enforce different regulations and policies to avert human rights abuses such as child labour and unsafe working conditions. For instance, through implementing policies to eliminate the child labour in the supply chain can help technology companies significantly avert cases of child abuse. Similarly, through government regulations, businesses can be motivated to implement and deploy workplace safety standards or risk legal consequences or even revocation of their licenses if they fail to honour such standards. While this is the case, these companies need to address challenges such as cases where they have multitier relationship with their suppliers, thus reducing the visibility into the practices of these suppliers. However, such challenges can be addressed through enlisting the services of third party monitoring organisations to help provide periodical reports on the operations of the suppliers as far as child labour is concerned. This will help deter child labour. Similarly, the role of the state in protecting the rights of workers within their jurisdiction could be limited by political willingness to implement such policies. However, in such cases, international bodies such as the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation need to interject and pressure the government to adopt and implement policies that promote safe workplace policies and practices. This will in the end ensure that no person’s human rights are violated as businesses expand to new markets across the globe.
总之，虽然技术部门的企业在帮助维持全球经济方面发挥着重要作用，但它们也助长了全球各地的侵犯人权行为。从这一角度讲，有必要执行不同的条例和政策，以避免侵犯人权，例如童工和不安全的工作条件。例如，通过实施消除供应链中童工的政策，可以帮助技术公司大大避免虐待儿童的案件。类似地，通过政府法规，企业可以被激励实施和部署工作场所安全标准，如果不遵守这些标准，则可能面临法律后果，甚至被吊销执照。在这种情况下，这些公司需要应对挑战，例如与供应商有多层关系的情况，从而降低对这些供应商实践的可见性。然而，这些挑战可以通过争取第三方监测组织的服务来解决，以帮助定期提供有关供应商在童工方面运作的报告。这将有助于遏制童工现象。同样，在保护其管辖范围内工人权利方面的作用也可能受到执行此类政策的政治意愿的限制。然而，在这种情况下，联合国和国际劳工组织等国际机构需要介入并向政府施压，要求政府采取和实施促进工作场所安全政策和做法的政策。这最终将确保在企业向全球新市场扩张时，任何人的人权都不会受到侵犯。