EU: Anti-Slavery Intl. brief underscores need for due diligence legislation to prevent forced & child labour in supply chains
"A call for European Union legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, to prevent forced and child labour in global supply chains", May 2020
Voluntary corporate social responsibility initiatives have failed to protect people from modern slavery.
Anti-Slavery International, along with a large coalition of NGOs and trade unions, is calling on the European Commission to introduce EU-wide human rights and environmental due diligence legislation...
The Covid-19 crisis has underscored the urgent need for legislation that makes businesses legally responsible for respecting the rights of workers in their supply chains. In industries and services such as food, PPE production, and delivery, there are reports of workers facing heightened risk of labour exploitation, including forced labour. Further, in industries with disrupted demand, many global businesses have taken knee-jerk reactions and cancelled orders with suppliers, putting the workers in these supply chains at risk... Mass unemployment, even if temporary, means that major sections of the global population are at greater risk of exploitation in forced labour and other modern forms of slavery...
As the world’s largest trading bloc, founded on the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, it’s vital that the EU takes the lead in and develops a clear and comprehensive economy-wide legislation...