ANALYSIS - Is landmark UK law falling short in fight against modern slavery?, 19 March 2018

…Campaigners said Britain has been too soft on businesses. Under the law, firms with a turnover of at least 36 million pounds must issue a statement outlining steps they have taken to identify the risk of forced labour within their operations. But there are no penalties for companies that fail to do so - and they can meet requirements by stating they are doing nothing to spot or curb the threat of slavery, activists said. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre… estimated only about two-thirds of up to 11,000 firms required to comply have issued statements so far… [In addition], monitoring compliance is difficult… since there is no complete public list of all the companies required to produce statements, rights groups said… [However], there are some signs the law might be spurring better practices as more large brands are now training their suppliers to spot slavery... and also leading other countries to follow suit…