Courage to Fail
Photo: IOM/Visarut Sankham
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MOVE: An App that Failed instead of Scaled Swedish and European food retailers depend on deliveries from suppliers in Thailand, who in turn depend on migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit Thailand in 2020, migrant workers became particularly vulnerable. Thousands lost their jobs and were scattered all over the country in lockdown. Lack of communication channels and reliable information increased health- and human rights risks immensely. Could a free-of-cost mobile app with reliable information on corona prevention and workers’ rights be part of the practical solution? Well. We tried. And failed. The UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, the UNGPs, recognize that companies should undertake human rights
due diligence measures, such as assessing actual and potential human rights risks and taking effective measures to mitigate those risks. In the spring of 2020, following the pandemic crisis, Axfoundation and the ed tech company Quizrr made a joint call for action and pinpointed a handful of international companies such as Axfood, Electrolux, HP and Unil (NorgesGruppen) with substantial production in Thailand. The International Organization for Migration, IOM, was part of the initiative which was named MOVE, indicating an ambition for a scalable solution for migrant workers in several countries. To address the communication gap and contribute to digital literacy among migrant