Migrant workers are at heightened risk of exposure to unfair recruitment, exploitation and abusive living conditions, which can also pose serious, numerous risks to companies and investors:

• financial, in the form of fines, sanctions and remediation;
• legal, including lawsuits and labour authority rulings;
• operational, as workers mobilise or buyers “cut and run” in response to alleged abuse;
• reputational, as consumers get wind of workers in exploitative conditions stitching their shirts or harvesting their tomatoes.

This publication highlights the links between risks to workers and these risks to capital, drawing on emblematic cases and analysis from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Migrant Worker Allegations Database and Tracker to make recommendations for responsible investors on engaging with portfolio companies.

As climate, conflict and economic crises increase migration pressures, and labour conditions continue to worsen, integration of these risks into stewardship and investment decision making across sectors and geographies is no longer simply a “nice to have”: it is non-negotiable.

Responsible investors must stand behind commitments on social issues by using their leverage when portfolio companies are linked to salient human rights abuse. As key actors in global markets and stewards of capital, investors have a clear responsibility to foster conditions in which migrant workers’ rights are respected, forced labour risks eradicated, and decent work can thrive. Beyond the moral imperative for investors to engage with portfolio companies to conduct stronger human rights due diligence, including remediating harms to migrant workers in their value chains, this action is in fact an integral part of the investor’s fiduciary duty: reducing material risks for portfolio companies and increasing supply chain resilience and broader economic well-being.