The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour (original) (raw)
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Governance gaps in eradicating forced labor: From global to domestic supply chains
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A growing body of scholarship analyzes the emergence and resilience of forced labor in developing countries within global value chains. However, little is known about how forced labor arises within domestic supply chains concentrated within national borders, producing products for domestic consumption. We conduct one of the first studies of forced labor in domestic supply chains, through a cross-industry comparison of the regulatory gaps surrounding forced labor in the United Kingdom. We find that understanding the dynamics of forced labor in domestic supply chains requires us to conceptually modify the global value chain framework to understand similarities and differences across these contexts. We conclude that addressing the governance gaps that surround forced labor will require scholars and policymakers to carefully refine their thinking about how we might design operative governance that effectively engages with local variation.
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This review of the role of business in tackling modern slavery in supply chains focuses on academic literature, though some reports by development organisations are included. Since the available academic literature is extremely limited (see point below), the report is not presented as a conventional evidence review, but rather is organised by aspects of the theme: prevalence of modern slavery in supply chains, pressures on firms to tackle this, challenges in doing so and different approaches, and evidence from initiatives to date. For each aspect, the main points made in the literature are given.
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This report presents the findings from the Global Business of Forced Labour project. The project is a first-of-its kind international research study investigating the business models of forced labour in global agricultural supply chains. Over two years the project systematically mapped the business of forced labour, focusing on case studies of cocoa and tea supply chains. Through extensive primary research in the cocoa industry in Ghana and the tea industry in India and with domestic and international business actors, the project generated an original dataset that sheds light on the drivers and patterns of forced labour in agricultural supply chains feeding UK markets. This dataset includes in-depth interviews with over 120 tea and cocoa workers, a survey of over 1000 tea and cocoa workers, and over 100 interviews with business and government actors including: tea and cocoa plantation managers, buyers, large multinational beverage and confectionery companies, corporate social responsibility experts. The report analyses the patterns of forced labour in cocoa and tea supply chains and the effectiveness of key business and government initiatives in combatting it. By way of conclusion, it offers recommendations to strengthen approaches to address and prevent forced labour in supply chains. Targeted recommendations for policymakers, business, and certification organisations are laid out in a series of policy briefs that accompanies this report.
The 70th anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an appropriate time to reflect on the present-day significance of the UDHR and, for the purposes of this chapter, of the prohibition against slavery enshrined in its Article 4. This chapter embarks in this reflection by focusing specifically on contemporary slavery in company operations and supply chains, as they offer an emblematic example not only of the way in which the forms of exploitation prohibited by Article 4 continue to this day, but also of how these abuses both enable and maintain a lucrative and long-standing business model which remains largely unchallenged. To better understand the persistence of slavery in company operations and supply chains, this contribution examines current attempts by the Business and Human Rights (BHR) movement to tackle this specific aspect of slavery. In doing so the chapter encourages a broader critical reflection on the apolitical positioning of the BHR discourse and its implications in reproducing an enabling environment in which slavery thrives, despite the numerous rhetorical commitments to combat it. This chapter posits that one of the reasons why contemporary slavery remains so pervasive and resilient across company operations and supply chains is precisely the political ‘neutrality’ which envelops the contextual analyses and solutions offered to tackle it, not least within the BHR movement.
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Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), large British companies are required to report on their efforts to monitor and protect the labour rights of their employees and workers on an annual basis. There are however criticisms. First, there is no requirement to audit Modern Slavery statements and this raises question over the credibility of the information that companies report. Second, the MSA is a soft governance tool that allows too much reporting flexibility. While the original intention behind this was to encourage companies to get to know their supply chains in the first place and subsequently focus on improving their reporting over time, there have been general calls to tighten up the non-mandatory reporting requirements of the MSA in the hope that this would in turn result in better quality of reporting. In this report, we present the key findings for our detailed examination of the Modern Slavery Statements of the largest 100 British companies. In order to exam...
Journal of The British Academy, 2019
Global supply chains cross and connect judicial systems, providing regulatory and legal frameworks in which supply chains operate. This article investigates the impact and implementation of modern slavery laws and the broader legal framework surrounding Brazilian-UK beef and timber supply chains towards their modern slavery exposure in connection with their supply-chain characteristics. The article outlines the current challenges presented by modern slavery, labour exploitation , and human rights implementation to supply-chain management and explains the origins and application of current legal frameworks in which these supply chains operate. The heterogeneity of the two sectors allows the extraction of variations in supply-chain characteristics such as buyer-supplier relationships, responsible sourcing, supply-chain compliance, and the availability and accessibility of sales markets and supply options. These supply-chain characteristics are then connected to the legal frameworks and to current business practices to discuss their effect on modern slavery risks and exposure.