Tackling Modern Day Slavery in Supply Chains: Slavery or no Slavery ?

Efforts to eradicate modern day slavery are on the rise and is growing exponentially worldwide.

What is Modern Slavery?

Generally when we talk about slavery we tend to relate it to the 17^th or the 18^th century. When most people think of slavery, they think of the horrific trade in Africa when people were kidnapped or sold for lifelong toil and abuse, most of us think the practice died off after the American Civil War but unfortunately it is now hidden in the businesses we so proudly promote, the same businesses that form the back bone of the country’s economy.

Modern Slavery and Supply Chain

Human Trafficking is on the rise and with the supply chains being extremely intricate it is very difficult to find where exactly slavery happens. Companies can set strict policies to root out slavery in their supply chains but the question is why aren’t they doing it? The unemployed often get caught in the web of labor agents who charge them a hefty amount of fees in return for a job placement. Most of the times these people land up being victims to human trafficking, they may be forced to work in unfavorable conditions in factories where there are no regulations. The products they produce is most often what we use in our daily lives!

The Global Slavery Index conducted by the Walk Free Foundation estimates that 29.8 million people are enslaved.10 Nations alone account for 3/4^th of the world’s slaves and more than half i.e 13.9 million approx. is in India and ranges from garment industry to sex exploitation . India is followed by china and Ethiopia. Slavery is all around us and is most often linked to the supply chain of many products like shoes and bags to electronic items. The multinational supply chains are so opaque that it’s very difficult to pin point the agent providing or using slaved labor.

I never thought I would have to think so much before eating my favorite sea food. The next time I would probably not even eat it, but then again human trafficking is not restricted to just food products, it could be a part of anything.

From frozen shrimps we eat to the smart phones we use could all be products of the supply chain that has slaves working at the end of it.

How can we be sure that the phones we buy, food we eat and the clothes we wear are not manufactured through human misery?

It's heart rending to see so many people enslaved, and with human trafficking becoming more and more common, its pains to watch people being sold and traded off in an attempt to make a little profit.

What can businesses and consumers do to make sure the products we buy and use are genuinely slave free?

Today people assume slavery has been eradicated completely, but unfortunately research shows that it is very much still prevalent in today’s businesses. The shocking truth is that most manufacturers have no idea if the businesses they are associated with enforce forced labor in their supply chain or not. If slavery is found in your supply chain then the consequences could be damaging. One such example was the Rana Plaza case in Bangladesh, which exposed the true working and living conditions of the people working at the factory and as a ripple affect 40 global fashion and retail brands including companies like Zara , Benetton ,Mango to name a few were marred.

A recent public awareness film is a very clear reminder of the hidden examples of slavery, although this video is solely on UK, it is a lot more in other countries like India and China. UK has been in the news recently for an increase in slavery in their business.

Business can have a huge impact on modern slavery. Their global supply chains extend to every corner of the globe so if we could eradicate slavery from all these supply chains, it would go a significant way to solving the problem. If companies are going to help tackle modern slavery, they need to really understand the issue – and at the moment, there just isn’t that widespread understanding across business.

They should set out clear standards and support companies to ‘do’ more, rather than just ‘disclose’ more. The companies need to realise the numerous different elements of a comprehensive response to modern slavery and they need to work together, and with governments, suppliers and non-governmental organisations, if they are going to effectively eradicate slavery.

One of the most recent case of slavery that has been exposed is that of the Thai fishing Industry and UK was caught in this web because the fish was sold to them.

“They kept me chained up, they didn’t care about me or give me any food...They sold us like animals, but we are not animals - we are human beings.”
This quote is from a man sold from ship to ship in Thailand, caught in the trap of slavery and forced to work . After this episode project ISSARA was launched to fight against the three major companies Walmart, Carrefour and Costco - that still stock food coming from Thailand after knowing they use force labour.

Is Canada slave free?

Canada used to be the place where slaves thought they had a voice, at one point it used mean freedom to them, but today the Canada is considered a key way station in the lucrative American slave trade, since it is easier to smuggle people across the border.

How do we tackle this?

Businesses need to take responsibility for their supply chains and make them more transparent. By improving visibility of the supplier networks, companies will be able to identify areas of risk and make changes to improve the working standards of their employees.

Companies should map their supply chain in order to find out which part of the supply chain is slavery more predominant ,they should review their supply chain practices and make sure they have strict rules in place. They should be sure that their suppliers are aware of the anti slavery laws and anti corruption laws. Unless the big firms put in that effort to make it better their supplier would not care as much.

But is that all?

Modern slavery is just one issue that companies should be thinking about and many companies should be doing more to identify and manage the risks and opportunities posed by human rights issues more broadly.

Some of the industry that are very commonly affected by this problem are :

Clothing - I would like to reference back to the Rana Plaza building collapse episode as a clear example of slaved labor in the clothing industry by major brands.

Electronics - In democratic Republic of Congo minors are forced to gather minerals to produce electronic gadgets ad the profit earned through the slavery is used for armed conflict. The electronic industry around the world are so effected by slavery, one example would be the major crisis Apple had with their factory in China.

Food - Most commonly chocolates, Cocoa produced in Ghana is quite often the product of child labour.

Jewellery - Diamonds are often called blood diamonds because of the horrible working conditions of the miners. copper and most of the other precious stones come from areas that have forced labor.

Slavery has to end . It's hard believe how ignorant people can get, human trafficking is common knowledge and most of the companies may even be aware that their suppliers used forced labor but they just turn a blind eye towards it. The demand for more goods at cheaper prices has caused corporation and indirectly the consumers to exploit millions of innocent people whoa re being forcefully shipped across the world in order to deliver your goods at a cheaper price and this desperately needs to change.

Just to raise a few questions to highlight what we as common consumers would probably be thinking

Is there anything we can do about it ? Yes, there is . By being more aware of what is happening around the world and not consuming anything you know are products of slave trade.

Does using fair trade make clothing and other products unaffordable ? NO, there are plenty of ethical brands that sell clothes and other products are fairly the same price.

Do you feel there is no way of knowing if the company indulges in fair trade or not ? There is, Google search often provides most of your answers . It is unfortunate that we have to research to find a fair trade certified company but finding them is possible and worth it. For instance USA has a database that gives a list of companies that are certified.

Slavery is the company's problem not mine. Yes it is the company's problem and does offend the company, but as consumers we are equally responsible. Once we have knowledge of the issue being ignorant it not a valid excuse.

I think we should value a persons basic rights more than the things we can buy, we need to stand together and use our money to vote. If we individually start buying products from ethical , certified companies and then rest will eventually need to restructure and reform their standards.

The following is a documentary conducted by BBC on the Thailand's slaved fishermen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01q5cf4

I am going to make a conscious effort to be more aware of the products I am buying. I hope you do the same too!

If you want to voice your opinion or support the anti-slavery initiatives and know more about slavery, you could check out these sources:

The Polaris Project

The Walk Free Foundation

Made in a Free World

The No project