What is the Path Forward in the Fight Against Modern Slavery?
The path forward to diminish the prevalence of MS and move towards eliminating it from global supply chains will require collaboration and concerted efforts from a variety of stakeholders that can exercise leverage in the four pillars that the ILO has identified as key for addressing this issue: prevention (awareness, fair recruitment, due diligence, root cause analysis), protection, remedies, and enforcement (International Labor Organization 2018). As a November 2019 report found, systemic change in this space may be entering a unique window of opportunity that results from a combination of factors that are coming together: 1) a significant change in the narrative in which sustainability and human rights have gained increasing traction and awareness for consumers and investors and 2) policy and regulatory frameworks that are pushing for stricter, binding standards (C&A Foundation, Future Impacts, and 4CF 2019). The following section will suggest roles for key stakeholders moving forward.
Steps for Governments
To begin with, governments are the primary actors responsible for holding other stakeholders accountable (Thomson Reuters 2016). This means not only enforcement of current laws, but also adapting them to evolving criminal landscapes and the shifting ways in which MS appears. A good place to start is to have local legislation align with the UNGP and ILO conventions (AFL CIO 2014). A further level of legislative maturity would involve regulations that require brands to publish their complete audit reports and expanding liability to certifiers and auditors. As we have seen, European countries have taken the lead on implementing due diligence legislation that allows for third parties to bring cases to court and include consequences for lack of compliance. From a financial standpoint, governments can align their tax policies with investments for complying with strict human rights guidelines.
A separate area where governments can play an active role is in promoting freedom of association. Strengthening workers’ ability to organize and advocate for themselves is a key step forward in breaking exploitative cycles that facilitate MS. Also, global unions can play an important role in establishing framework agreements with multinationals whose supply chains affect millions of workers (AFL CIO 2014). Vietnam recently moved in this direction by for the first time allowing workers to freely enter into unions (Hutt 2019).
Finally, public procurement must also step up to the challenge and disclose its own due diligence policies (Clean Clothes Campaign 2019). This is important because the state, in and of itself, has complex supply chains and engages with multiple vendors across the globe. If it wants to be a legitimate actor in enforcement, it would do well in setting the example and applying best practices. As we have seen, MS occurs in both the Global North and the Global South; in contexts where there is low state capacity be it in terms of financial or human resources, or regulatory capture by criminal networks, this may be especially difficult to implement.
Steps for Investors
Generally speaking, investors play a role in creating incentives for companies to reach higher targets, report on their progress, and stay accountable. Investors need to demand due diligence policy statements, public disclosure of assessment reports, and ask brands to participate in relevant pledges or commitments such as aligning their practices with the UNGP (Clean Clothes Campaign 2019). A second level of involvement would involve making investments conditional on audit results, worker participation in grievance mechanisms, or implementation of corrective action plans, among others (Clean Clothes Campaign 2019). Pension funds and mutual funds need to disclose if they carry stock in companies that have been found to be linked with MS (Datta and Bales 2013). At an individual level, some analysts have called for the need to address a talent gap in the industry: team members at financial firms need to understand issues of materiality, social sustainability, and be familiar with at least some of the major reporting frameworks (Roberts 2019).
There are some signs that this is already happening. First, there is a growing trend of investors requiring disclosure of ESG impact (Roberts 2019). Since at least 2014 when Yale’s Chief Investment Officer published a letter to this effect (Swensen 2014) we have witnessed the adoption of similar stances from mainstream investment firms such as BlackRock or groups of financial firms that control assets around the world (Fink 2018; Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures 2018).
References:
C&A Foundation, Future Impacts, and 4CF. 2019. “The Future of Sustainability in the Fashion Industry.” https://candafoundation.org/en/news/pdf/future-sustainability-fashion-industry-delphi-final-report-futureimpacts-ca-2019-v7.pdf (November 25, 2019).
Clean Clothes Campaign. 2019. “Fig Leaf for Fashion. How Social Auditing Protects Brands and Fails Workers.” Clean Clothes Campaign. https://cleanclothes.org/file-repository/figleaf-for-fashion.pdf/view (September 23, 2019).
Datta, Monti, and Kevin Bales. 2013. “Slavery Is Bad for Business: Analyzing the Impact of Slavery on National Economies.” The Brown Journal of World Affairs 19(2): 205–23.
Fink, Larry. 2018. “Larry Fink’s 2018 Letter to CEOs.” BlackRock. https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/2018-larry-fink-ceo-letter (November 25, 2019).
Hutt, David. 2019. “Workers of Vietnam, Unite?” The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2019/11/workers-of-vietnam-unite/ (December 4, 2019).
International Labor Organization. 2018. Ending Forced Labour by 2030: A Review of Policies and Programmes. Geneva. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_653986.pdf (November 3, 2019).
Roberts, Carter. 2019. “Next-Generation Corporate Sustainability Leadership: New Lines of Accountability.” GreenBiz. https://www.greenbiz.com/article/next-generation-corporate-sustainability-leadership-new-lines-accountability (November 25, 2019).
Swensen, David. 2014. “2014 Letter on Climate Change.” Yale Investments Office. http://investments.yale.edu/2014-letter-on-climate-change (November 25, 2019).
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. 2018. “TCFD: 2018 Status Report (September 2018).” TCFD. https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/publications/tcfd-2018-status-report/ (November 25, 2019).
