"Why we are calling on the EU to make tackling abuses in supply chains mandatory", 14 Nov 2019

...Decades of voluntary “corporate social responsibility” initiatives have so far failed to protect people across the world from modern slavery...

As the world’s largest single market... the EU and its member states are in a unique position to assume global leadership and mandate companies to act to prevent slavery in their supply chains...

Yet, a systematic approach to tackling such human rights abuses in supply chains has so far been absent from EU policy and legislation. While some EU companies are taking positive steps... many others are failing to take action. KnowTheChain... continues to find many large EU companies performing below average on their standards.

This is why we are calling for a new EU-wide law to require companies and financial institutions to proactively prevent abuses in their operations and supply chains...

Our call for action is joined by a wide coalition of NGOs and trade unions. The movement is growing by the day, for example, in at least 13 EU member states, civil society movements for mandatory human rights due diligence have formed.

And now leading global brands, such as Mars and Mondelez, have started to come out in favour of EU-wide legislation. Such businesses recognise that their efforts to ensure ethical practices are being undermined by competitors who adopt exploitative labour practices, yet continue to reap the profit...