The Modern Slavery Agenda

Policy, Politics and Practice

Craig, Gary, Balch, Alex, Gary Craig, Alex Balch, Hannah Lewis, Louise Waite

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781447346791
• eBook ISBN: 9781447346821
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

Modern slavery, in the form of labour exploitation, domestic servitude, sexual trafficking, child labour and cannabis farming, is still growing in the UK and industrialised countries, despite the introduction of laws to try to stem it.

This hugely topical book, by a team of high-profile activists and expert writers, is the first to critically assess the legislation, using evidence from across the field, and to offer strategies for improvement in policy and practice. It argues that, contrary to its claims to be 'world-leading', the Modern Slavery Act is inconsistent, inadequate and punitive; and that the UK government, through its labour market and immigration policies, is actually creating the conditions for slavery to be promoted.

EIGHT

Modern slavery and transparency in supply chains: the role of business

Colleen Theron

Introduction

This chapter, having briefly restated what is meant by the term ‘modern slavery’, will explore how business is implicated by it, and the salient requirements of the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) transparency in supply chain provision, in the context of growing mandatory reporting requirements for business to report transparently on their supply chain impacts. We also examine how business has responded to the MSA. It concludes with some practical steps that business can take to address the risk of modern slavery in its supply chains.

The liberalisation of trade, the growth in global value chains (GVCs) and the proliferation of multinational corporations (MNCs)¹ and their impact on the environment and human rights have recently led to a spotlight being shone on ethical trade and the protection of human rights. ‘Modern slavery’ has become a recognised global phenomenon, giving rise to questions on how the state and business should be tackling these issues.

Although ethical trade is still relatively in its infancy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals, pressure groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international bodies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO)² have spent years trying to manage the impacts of large-scale global business. While it may seem relatively straightforward to ensure certain factors such as decent work, decent wages and regular employment contracts throughout the supply chain, this has increasingly become no easy feat. Global business has expanded tenfold and MNCs are faced with assessing the benefits of supporting developing economies through supply contracts and ensuring that they are producing a responsibly sourced product.³ As business has expanded, so have the mechanisms to conceal forced labour. The GVC theoretical framework has been deployed over the last two decades to analyse the drivers of labour exploitation in the global economy and the governance gaps that facilitate it.⁴ Larger organisations have increasingly complex and ever-changing supply chains, making it almost impossible to stay on top of risk.⁵ Another significant contribution to the exploitation by business of labour has been the significant growth by MNCs in outsourcing the number of workers employed directly. This outsourcing of the functions and responsibilities associated with employment increases the opportunity to exploit labour as it significantly dismantles employers’ obligations to workers. (Phillips 2016). Phillips (2017: 436) also highlights that the consequence of GVCs has been the ‘growth of a precarious and insecure and explosive workforce significantly made up in global production, performed by a workforce made up of informal, migrant, contract and female workers’.

Historically, the protection of human rights was the remit of government. However, with the growth of MNCs not governed by international laws, and in the absence of laws being enforced at a domestic level, this has led to a governance gap.⁶ Ruhmkorf states that:

the reason why the western transnational corporations operate with impunity is the existence of ‘governance gaps.’ In particular, the combination of the separate legal personality of companies and the territorial nature of law makes it difficult to translate the moral responsibility of western transnational companies into legal liability.⁷

International bodies such as the United Nations (UN)⁸ have introduced best practice standards that sit outside of international law, and this work can be seen to have positioned a change in governmental thinking towards understanding that business needs not only support in these areas, but also a formalised strategy for managing risk. The presence of modern slavery in the operations and supply chains of many businesses is increasingly recognised as one of the major international challenges, with a need for an international response. One response to tackling the issue of the impact on human rights by business was the endorsement in 2008 by the UN of the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework for business and human rights developed by Professor John Ruggie. In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which operationalise the UN framework and define the key duties and responsibilities of states and business enterprises with regard to business-related human rights abuses.⁹

Another response to tackling the global issue of productive employment and decent work is the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2015, 159 heads of state committed to the SDGs and to achieving sustainable development in three dimensions. Goal 8.7 seeks to:

Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.¹⁰

Alliance 8.7¹¹ was created by the ILO to bring together a multi-stakeholder alliance, aiming to see a world free from forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery. One example of a business embracing section 8.7 of the Alliance is Sky.

Governments around the world, including Australia, have committed to eliminating modern slavery domestically and internationally by introducing legislation. The Australian Parliament, in its report ‘Hidden in plain sight’,¹² claims that the UK government has taken a lead in the global effort to combat modern slavery, including its introduction of the MSA. While it is clear that governments have a significant role to play in tackling modern slavery, the role of business is key. The then UK Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, stressed ‘the “vital role” of business in the fight against modern slavery and she sets out her belief that “business must not be knowingly or unknowingly complicit with modern slavery” or “be profiting, no matter how indirectly” from slavery’ in the updated guidance for the MSA.¹³

Recognising the role of government in tackling the crimes of modern slavery and human trafficking, the US government publishes an annual ‘Trafficking in persons report’. The 2017 report¹⁴ notes that the anti-trafficking/modern slavery movement commenced in earnest with the adoption of the Palermo Protocol in 2000. The report also highlights the need for business to understand how to engage with survivors appropriately and responsibly as part of their efforts to advocate for social change.¹⁵ Consumer pressure is also increasing, with customers now demanding more information from the businesses from which they buy.¹⁶

What is ‘modern slavery’?

As noted elsewhere in this volume, there is no single international or legal definition of ‘modern slavery’. It is used as an umbrella term covering a number of human rights abuses, of which human trafficking is one. This is key to understanding how the legislative framework seeks to address modern slavery and human trafficking both as criminal offences and in tackling the issues in supply chains. There are, however, internationally accepted definitions of ‘human trafficking’, ‘forced labour’ and ‘child labour’. ‘Slavery’ is defined in the 1926 Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery as ‘the condition of a person over whom any or all the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised’.¹⁷

The definition of ‘human traffic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of tables, figures and boxes
• Notes on contributors
• Editorial introduction: the modern slavery agenda: policy, politics and practice
• one: Modern slavery in global context: ending the political economy of forced labour and slavery
• two: The UK’s response to modern slavery: law, policy and politics
• three: Defeating ‘modern slavery’, reducing exploitation? The organisational and regulatory challenge
• four: Class Acts? A comparative analysis of modern slavery legislation across the UK
• five: Child trafficking in the UK
• six: Human trafficking: addressing the symptom, not the cause
• seven: Still punishing the wrong people: the criminalisation of potential trafficked cannabis gardeners
• eight: Modern slavery and transparency in supply chains: the role of business
• nine: Migrant illegality, slavery and exploitative work
• ten: The UK’s approach to tackling modern slavery in a European context