...Last month, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRCC) published a report, "Modern slavery in company operations and supply chains: mandatory transparency, mandatory due diligence and public procurement due diligence". The report highlights all the leading legislation in mandatory transparency, mandatory due diligence and public procurement incentives intended to drive corporate action on modern slavery in supply chains.

Individual governments are developing powerful tools to eradicate modern slavery, but without coordination. So each piece of national legislation is currently only strong in parts, and leading companies are beginning to fear a ‘spaghetti soup’ of incoherent national legislations, each with their own unique reporting requirements. Victims of trafficking and slavery will be best served if like-minded governments now come together to combine the best of their legislation and incentives and create a harmonised, high standard for national legislations…

Our report sets out a clear pathway for governments to deliver harmonised national legislations, regulation and corporate incentives. The ILO Protocol on Forced Labour provides a strong legal framework on which to base these efforts. Together they would provide an international level playing field for business and facilitate their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains.