This winter, Barcelona City Council organised a conference on Socially Responsible Public Procurement, focusing on the promotion of its public procurement model based on the protection of human rights. With the conference, Barcelona wanted to explore the extra-territorial responsibility for the products PAs purchase, looking into the topics of due diligence, labour, social and environmental violations throughout the supply chain, with a particular attention to the Global South.

The event fits in the broader context of Barcelona City Council's approach to public procurement. The city tries to promote synergies and an effective model to ensure a real coherence of public policies in local and global agendas, often hindered by the complex supply chains between the global South and the North.

Among the events that took place during the conference was a meeting of the International Working Group on Ethical Public Procurement, which brings together public administrations and civil society entities. In the past years, this group has been working to advance the guarantee of basic labour, social and environmental rights in global public sector supply chains.