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There are believed to be over 40 million people enslaved worldwide, generating an estimated US $150 billion in illegal profits per year. Types of slavery include child trafficking, forced labour/debt bondage, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation and domestic servitude.
There is no typical victim of slavery. Victims are men, women and children of all ages, ethnicities and nationalities and cut across the population. However, it’s normally more prevalent among the most vulnerable or within minority or socially excluded groups. Approximately 53% of victims in the UK are women, and 46% are men.
Poverty, limited opportunities at home, lack of education, unstable social and political conditions, economic imbalances and war are some of the key drivers that contribute to someone’s vulnerability in becoming a victim of modern slavery. What’s more, victims can often face more than one type of abuse and slavery, for example, being sold on to another trafficker and then forced into another form of exploitation.
In 2017, potential victims were reported from 116 different countries of origin. The top six most common countries of origin for potential victims were Albania, Vietnam, Nigeria, Romania, the UK and India. The number of British people identified as modern slavery victims surged by 72 per cent between 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The UK Modern Slavery Act
The Modern Slavery Act requires organisations with a turnover exceeding £36m, and which supply goods and services in the UK, to publish an annual statement explaining what they are doing to eliminate slavery from their businesses and supply chains.
The Modern Slavery Act came into Force in 2015. This insight gives an overview of the Act; focusing on the impact on Supply Chains and the role of Procurement and actions required to support the organisation.
The Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018
The Australian legislation requires organisations based, or operating in Australia, with a turnover exceeding AUD $100 million, to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, the actions taken to address those risks and the effectiveness of those actions. Other entities based, or operating in Australia may report voluntarily.
The Act came into force in January 2019 and from early 2020 we will see the first reports coming through. Those reports are kept by the Minister in a public repository known as the Modern Slavery Statements Register, which will be accessible by the public, free of charge, on the internet.
For organisations with operations in both Australia and the UK, reporting under the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 will suffice for the UK legislation and the same report can be submitted. This does not work inversely.
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Implications of Covid-19 for modern slavery challenges in supply chain management
This report shares the results of an empirical study of 489 UK-based practitioners that examines if, and how, the new Covid-19 business landscape affects commitments to tackle modern slavery in corporate supply chains.
In response to the pandemic, waves of lockdowns and restrictions around the world stopped demand for some industries, whilst simultaneously, in other industries, huge surges for particular products and services exceeded supply capacity It is against this backdrop of competing priorities, dynamic supply markets, and changing policy environments that this research was conducted.
The study aimed to:
- Investigate the impact of Covid-19 on firms’ prioritisation of addressing modern slavery in their supply chains.
- Identify effective methods for building commitment to addressing modern slavery when other commercial priorities dominate sourcing decisions.
Download the full report
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