In Advance of London Olympics, U.S. and U.K. Investors Ask Corporations to Step Up Anti-Trafficking and Slavery Efforts
...[A] coalition of U.S. and U.K. investors and NGOs have united to call on corporations to strengthen their focus against human trafficking and modern slavery in advance of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games...The initiative focuses on the London tourism industry and key sponsors of the Olympic Games ...[The]coalition...sent letters to 32 companies, calling for immediate and transparent actions to train staff and suppliers to recognize and avoid the trafficking of workers into slavery, to monitor their supply chains, and to examine hiring and recruitment practices...Companies in the tourism sector that acknowledged the coalition’s letter include: Accor, Best Western, British Airways, Choice Hotels, Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental Hotel Group, Starwood, Thomas Cook, and Whitbread. Olympic sponsors that acknowledged the letter include: Adidas, ArcelorMittal, BMW, Coca-Cola, John Lewis, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Next, Procter & Gamble, Rio Tinto, Sainsbury’s and Samsung. Non-responding companies will be noted in a future press release with general trend analysis of the responses...