Slavery still exists around the world today
Unfortunately, slavery is not just a historical blight that modern-day ethics and awareness put an end to. Slavery, in the form of, among other things, human trafficking, servitude, forced labour, exploitation of workers, deceptive recruiting for labour and services, debt bondage and forced marriage exists in Australia and overseas today.
Slavery is big business; according to the International Labour Organisation modern slavery is estimated to generate profits of around $150 billion annually. It is not only practised in less developed countries. The Australian Government’s Interdepartmental Committee on Human Trafficking and Slavery Report 2015 and 2016 reported that between 2004 and 2016 the Australian Federal Police received 691 reports of human trafficking in Australia with 169 of those being made in 2015-2016.
Adopting better laws to fight slavery in the supply chain
The Australian parliament intends to pass a law early in 2018 to aid the international fight against modern-day slavery. The new law will probably look like the UK’s laws that require large companies to report the risks of slavery in their supply chain. The detail of reporting requirements has yet to be determined; however, it is likely that there will be mandatory annual reporting for companies with annual revenue in excess of $US100 million and voluntary reporting for others. The new legislation is likely to require large companies operating in Australia, each year to report on their efforts to address modern slavery both within their operations and in their supply chains. The interconnected and international mature of supply chains today can make it difficult for companies to know how the goods used in their supply chain are produced. To ignore the risks, however, is indefensible. This will provide an added attack on slavery supporting Australia’s criminal laws and international anti- slavery laws. This proposed law, like the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012, are examples of legal requirements for understanding and knowing how the players in a supply chain behave.
The risks passed along the supply chain
Legal compliance is only one of the reasons that companies should be putting these laws on the front burner. There are large reputational and financial risks to companies if, within the supply chain, human rights breaches or environmental destruction are exposed; financial institutions, consumers and customers along the supply chain will not risk involvement with companies they see as engaging in unethical behaviour or selling products from dubious sources.
These laws also work to level the playing field for moral and ethical companies that my see increased operating costs in operating ethically over those who exploit workers.
Getting started on ending slavery
Four points that companies can look at to start the fight against slaver are:
- Make sure all stakeholders from the Directors down are clear of the company’s values and policies on human rights and that these are incorporated into the business operations.
- Understand the laws that may impact on the supply of goods to and by the business.
- Understand the supply chain and where there are risks of worker exploitation, community exploitation or environmental degradation. Particular goods or sources of goods will ring alarm bells.
- Engage the supply chain to overcome or avoid the risks.
The same process applies to address broader Sustainability / Corporate Social Responsibility /Triple Bottom Line risks.