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An independent study has confirmed that Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) has sufficient plantation resource to meet the pulp requirements of its existing mills as well as its future mill in OKI, South Sumatra.

The launch of the company’s Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) last year was met with caution by certain NGOs when APP committed to producing pulp and paper that is free from fibre or activity linked to deforestation.

To address concerns around whether existing supplier plantations would have sufficient capacity to meet APP’s commitment, The Forest Trust (TFT) and Ata Marie, a provider of professional services to the Forestry, Agri-Business and Natural Resource Management sectors, were asked to conduct an independent “Growth and Yield” study to assess existing plantation areas.

Scott Poynton, executive director, The Forest Trust, said: “We are pleased to be able to reassure everyone that APP and its suppliers have sufficient resource for the company’s 100 per cent plantation target. We have identified one minor gap in 2020 but this can be easily filled by increasing the productivity of the plantation operations between now and then.”

Aida Greenbury, APP’s managing director of sustainability, commented: “The FCP is central to our business model and this study proves that the model works - we can continue our operations and expand profitably without having a detrimental impact on forests in Indonesia or anywhere else in the world.

“The TFT report forecasts a minor gap in supply in 2020. However it is clear that with a harvesting rotation of around five years, improvements made now can bridge that gap by increasing productivity of supplier plantations through improved yield, better tree stock and reduction of waste.

“As such, we have been developing an action plan to ensure we have sufficient plantation fibre to meet the pulp requirements of our existing mills as well as our future mill in South Sumatra, in line with our target to become a 100% plantation business for pulp production.”

The methodology and conclusions of the report will be evaluated by Rainforest Alliance as part of the independent FCP evaluation it is currently carrying out.

For more details, download APP’s 18 month FCP update report here  

Picture caption: Timber from APP's sustainable plantations is checked as it enters the mill log yard 

The Japanese government has announced plans to set up a special policing unit to monitor and investigate corruption threats to the nation’s sporting bodies.

Government officials say that multiple government agencies would co-operate with the special unit in order to fight sports corruption in Japan and potential threats from abroad ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The next games will be Japan’s fourth Olympic event, following on from: the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo; and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Japan’s ruling party the Liberal Democratic Party stated that plans for the creation of the special unit had begun in December 2013.

The government plans to ask for international co-operation in fighting sports corruption, stating it had reviewed international legal systems regarding the matter. Concerns about sports corruption have grown in recent years, due to corruption in Sumo.

Japan’s ancient and revered sport of Sumo has fallen on hard times. Damaging scandals over the past five years have led to declining popularity and eroded the sport’s finances. Match fixing, betting, drug use, extortion, the brutal treatment of young wrestlers, and links with organised crime have all provoked public outcries.

Advertisers and sponsors have withdrawn their support as it has become clear that large numbers of Sumo wrestlers and others associated with the sport are involved in the corruption.

Sumo’s status as a cultural emblem of many historic Japanese traditions has become severely tarnished. Consequently, ticket sales for wrestling matches and TV viewership have declined, worsening the sport’s problems. Most worrying of all is the inability of the sport to put its house in order.

The government stated that the special unit would focus mainly on detection of match fixing, tampered sports performance, and money laundering through sports betting.

Corruption in Japan has increased since 2011, when the Tohoku earthquake and an accompanying Tsunami devastated coastal regions of North East Japan.

This record earthquake led to the nation’s most extensive reconstruction efforts since 1945.

The devastation has proved a bonanza for the Yakuza, Japan’s organised crime groups, who have strong links with the construction industry, partly through their control of the supply of labourers.

In 2011, Japan’s ranking out of 178 nations in Transparency International’s corruption perception index was 14 - just behind Germany. However, in 2013, Japan was 18th, behind Barbados and Hong Kong. 

More than 100 migrant workers building the al-Wakrah stadium, one of Qatar’s 2022 football World Cup venues, have been receiving only 45p an hour or £4.90 ($8.20, €6.20) a day.

The pay levels were revealed first by the UK’s Guardian newspaper, which found the workers, mainly from poor countries in South-east Asia, were labouring in fierce heat for up to 30 days a month to earn their pittance.

One worker spoke of being hired on a basic monthly £136 and working 64 hours of overtime, for which he received £29. The salary, for an assumed 48-hour week, represents 64p an hour, and the overtime 45p.

These rates appear to contravene the welfare rules of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar’s management body for the tournament.

The revelations follow earlier statements by migrant workers that they had not been paid for about a year after fitting out the supreme committee’s offices. These workers, whose wages ceased with the collapse of Lee Trading, the Qatari government’s local contractor for the project, are said now to be stranded and living in squalor.

The migrant workers’ circumstances even brought protests from the UK parliament.

Labour MP Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons culture committee, asked: “How can anybody enjoy watching the 2022 World Cup knowing the people who built the stadiums had to endure these conditions? Qatar should put on hold the construction until we can get these issues sorted out.”

The low pay contrasts with Qatar’s spending of £134bn on preparations for the tournament.

Mohamad Ahmed Ali Hussain Hamad, project manager at Amana, the Qatar company that employs the workers, said an audit had “identified the need of further clarification with regards to workers’ pay slips and we are working with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy to clear up the same”.

The supreme committee said it too wanted to “rectify any non-compliance”.

However, Amana said the workers were accommodated in comfortable well-equipped apartment blocks and none had complained that identity documents had been confiscated.

Supreme committee members claimed they were “dismayed” that the employees who had worked on the offices were still unpaid.
Zaha Hadid, the British architect who designed the al-Wakrah stadium, and whose practice is to receive a multi-million-pound fee for the project, said he and his fellow design consultancy Aecom were working with the Qataris to “ensure that any outstanding issues are resolved”.

The disquiet is against a background of international protests at the deaths of hundreds of migrant workers from construction and road accidents, suicide and health problems.
 

In a highly unusual alliance, rival retailers Walmart and Target have agreed to co-host an industry summit to address sustainability issues in the personal care products market.

The Beauty and Personal Care Products Sustainability Summit took place earlier this mon th in Chicago and was organized by Forum for the Future, the global sustainability non-profit.

The meeting evolved through conversations over a period of time with both companies. “We see each other at many events,” explained Helen Clarkson, Forum’s U.S. director.

Both Walmart and Target took to Twitter to remark on their momentous partnership.

“Do you think people will be surprised? Great way to spur sustainability convos … MT,” tweeted Target. It followed up with: “This is one uncommon collab you want to watch.”

Meanwhile, Walmart tweeted: “Walmart + Target + sustainability leaders = opportunity to make a difference. See you in September!”

A Target spokeswoman said the event will bring together product manufacturers, other retailers, NGOs, and industry influencers for a conversation about a collaborative approach to beauty product sustainability.

“The summit is a result of both companies wanting to create more sustainable products for our guests, team members and the environment. Consumers want and expect leadership from their retailers when it comes to the quality and sustainability of the products they buy,” said Target spokeswoman Kristy Welker. “To that end, both companies recognize that this is an issue where we have common interests and can collaborate to create change within the beauty and personal care industry.”

Surveys have been sent to participants about their areas of most concern. The feedback will be used to whittle the agenda into three specific topics. Attendance will be held to about 80 and the one day event will take on a workshop format.

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Cover Girl and Olay, L’Oréal and other large consumer packaged goods companies are expected to attend. Burt’s Bee, a leader in the natural beauty product sector, is among those already committed.

The US beauty industry has been criticized for its lack of cohesion on ingredient use and labeling topics. For the most part it still falls under the dated Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, that provides for much self-regulation. A bill introduced in Congress last year to strengthen cosmetics oversight has not gotten serious consideration.

Separately, the Personal Care Products Council, an industry scientific group, had been in talks with the Food & Drug Administration, to jointly author legislation addressing product standards. But the two parties hit an impasse earlier this year and talks have stalled.
 

Claudine Blamey is Chair of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS) and Head of Stewardship at The Crown Estate. 

I started my career in Corporate Responsibility as Environment Manager for Honda UK in 1997. At the time I wasn’t sure where my career would end up. It was difficult to plan a career path and to identify what advancement would look like, other than just an increase in salary. A supportive Institute would have been extremely value to me at that time, as it is now, and in response to the demands of practitioners, the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS) is now here!

The ICRS will support ALL those with a role or interest in Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) – those for whom it’s a full time job, those who have it as a small part of their role, those who are studying, and those who just take an interest in the subject. Whether you work in a corporate role, for a consultancy, in academia, government, or civil society, the doors of the ICRS are open for you.

The ICRS is supporting its members in various forms. There is a competency framework that sets out the skills a professional in this field needs. On applying to the Institute, individuals are assessed against the framework and awarded the appropriate level of membership. The Institute will provide a voice for the Industry, and the opportunity for members to learn from each other. Crucially, we will help our members build their professional knowledge and skills by providing resources, peer-to-peer learning, and events which highlight best practice and champion innovative and emerging ideas.

This industry is evolving at a great pace. There are pockets of innovation and great examples of individuals driving that innovation. We will help our members learn from these individuals and equip them to be brilliant in their jobs. The Institute will provide a forum where members can access and contribute to leading edge thinking around CR&S, including that which challenges the status quo.

Our vision is of a world where all businesses act responsibly, sustainably and have a positive impact on society, the communities where they operate, and the future wellbeing of our planet. We want to support CR&S professionals to achieve this goal.

Are you still wondering why you should become a member of the Institute? In summary, it will help you develop your career, it will recognise your experience, and it will let you demonstrate that experience to employers. If that’s not enough, it will also create a network for you to test ideas, make you part of a wider movement, and ensure that you stay on top of your game.

Joining the ICRS now gives you the opportunity to shape the organisation and set its direction of travel.

If you have any questions, get in touch with us at info@icrs.info or call us on 020 7839 019

UNICEF and international law firm DLA Piper have established a pioneering partnership focused on improving the quality of care and protection for children who come into contact with judicial systems. 

No justice system in the world is perfect but for children caught on the wrong side of the law in Bangladesh, one of Asia’s poorest countries, the experience can be harrowing.

Masood* (aged 17 and student) was only 15 years-old when he witnessed a theft and assault committed by a neighbour in one of the poorest areas of Khulna, a city located in south-western Bangladesh.

This terrifying event led to him being arrested and beaten, before being detained in an adult jail and later spending a month in a Juvenile Detention Centre. Masood was eventually freed following the intervention of a local Child Protection Committee located in his area. It was an ordeal he will never forget.

“Because it was winter I was suffering, as I didn’t have enough warm clothes and I was surrounded by seasoned adult criminals who were smoking”, says Masood. “The conditions in the prison were bad. It was a bad experience.”

Masood is one of the many young beneficiaries of an innovative partnership that brings together the child protection expertise of UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s organisation, with the legal knowhow of DLA Piper one the world’s leading law firms.
Cases such as Masood’s have led UNICEF and top international law firm DLA Piper to establish a pioneering partnership focused on improving the quality of care and protection for children who come into contact with judicial systems.

DLA Piper is providing the UK Committee for UNICEF with pro bono assistance to the value of US$5m in support of UNICEF’s child justice work in countries worldwide. The firm has pledged to raise a further US$1.5 million for child protection programmes in countries around the world including Bangladesh.

The partnership is being championed by Tony Angel, the firm’s Global Co-chair who recently returned from an exposure trip to Bangladesh. It will initially support the expansion of UNICEF’s child justice work in the country and aims to improve standards of care and protection for young people who come into contact with the law as victims, witnesses or offenders.

“I saw first-hand what currently happens when children come into contact with the justice system in Bangladesh and frankly it is grim”, says Angel.

“High levels of poverty continue to push many children onto the streets, where they often get caught up in an inadequate and inappropriate justice system.

“There are 68m children in Bangladesh, so the scale of these challenges is enormous. The UNICEF-supported projects that DLA Piper is funding are helping to put in place the legal, social and organisational frameworks that will better protect these children.”

While Bangladesh has introduced the 2013 Children Act and made demonstrable progress in tackling a host of development issues affecting many of the country’s most vulnerable children, its justice system is still burdened by many child protec most vulnerable children, its justice system is still burdened by many child protection challenges including :
• Children arrested for minor crimes can be confined in a jail cell with adult prisoners facing the risk of violence or abuse though it is prohibited by law.
• Many child victims are deprived of liberty as a way to provide them with safe custody.
• Limited use of measures without resorting to formal judicial proceedings (diversion) For a country with a child population of 68 million, a figure larger than the entire number of people in the UK.

In response to these issues and with funding from DLA Piper, UNICEF is helping to strengthen the services that have been set up to protect the rights of children who are in conflict with the law, and those who are most at risk of falling into crime. Projects currently reach children residing in Khulna’s impoverished railway slum of Khulna and some of the city’s poorest areas.

Key activities supported by UNICEF include:
•Establishing diversion measures
•Establishing Child Protection Committees within local communities to help intervene in cases where children have come into contact with the law
• The provision of training committee members to help children caught on the wrong side of the law to be reintegrated back into their communities.
• Providing training in life skills to children who have been caught up in the justice system and helping them to rebuild their lives.

In addition, DLA Piper lawyers have been providing guidance to UNICEF staff and government officials working on the drafting of the rules to be implemented as part of the country’s 2013 Children Act. The Act incorporates provisions on minimum care standards for children who find themselves in care and juvenile justice institutions. “This global partnership is a unique opportunity for us to combine DLA Piper’s extensive resources and the expertise of our people with UNICEF’s local knowledge and global authority on the rights of children”, Angel added.

“As lawyers, the right to justice is something we feel very strongly about. We are proud to be able to use our skills to help address a significant global issue with the aim of making a positive impact for future generations.”

*A pseudonym has been used for the teenage boy mentioned in this case study.

Why are so many human beings still being bought and sold? And why is ‘the land of opportunity’ not immune? Indeed, the problem is rife in the sunshine state of California. Andrew Pederson investigates

Kevin Bales, professor of contemporary slavery at the University of Hull and lead author of the 2013 Global Slavery Index, estimates that 30m people live as slaves around the world, many of whom are coerced or tricked into servitude and then trafficked domestically or internationally for others’ profit. Globally, the marketplace for trafficked persons has an estimated annual value of $32bn, as profitable as the international drug trade and second only to the illicit arms trade.

The International Labour Organization marks the USA as one of the world’s top destinations for trafficked persons, and the California District Attorney finds that the Golden State is in the “top 4 destination states for trafficking human beings.” In California, the San Francisco Bay Area was recently recognized by the FBI as one of the nation’s top 13 locations for child sex trafficking, and Not For Sale, a San Francisco based international advocacy and services organization for trafficking victims, contends that 43% of California’s trafficking occurs in the Bay Area.

While California Attorney General Kamala Harris has emphasized efforts to link local and regional law enforcement agencies to battle human trafficking since 2007, little dependable information exists to describe the exact scope, scale and nature of the issue. In fact, a key finding of the Attorney General’s 2012 report on trafficking was that “California needs a central clearinghouse to coordinate and compile human trafficking information from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and governments, as well as non-governmental organizations.”

According to the report, the state has used federal grants to establish 9 regional task forces, up from 6 in 2007, and from 2010 to 2012, these task forces started 2552 investigations, found 1277 trafficked individuals and arrested 1798 suspects. Because there is no full context for these figures, however, it is difficult to determine how much concrete progress is being made. The report concedes that human trafficking remains “hidden and under-reported” and that arrest, conviction and victim statistics are often “unreliable.”

Closer to the problem, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office has a more concrete sense of the issue. According to Deputy District Attorney Casey Bates, head of the Human Exploitation Trafficking (HEAT) prosecution unit, HEAT has, since 2007, concluded 322 out of 388 cases with an 82% conviction rate, representing 46% of all prosecutions for human trafficking in California. While Bates notes that his office’s caseload has increased over time, he questions whether there has actually seen a rise in trafficking or whether the problem is simply becoming more visible as reporting and prosecution improve.

It is known that trafficking remains very lucrative. Meredith Dank’s research at the Urban Institute observed that the annual value of the underground commercial sex industry varied from $39.9m to $290 million across eight American cities, and Elizabeth M. Wheaton, Edward J. Schauer and Thomas V. Galli’s 2010 study, “Economics of Human Trafficking”, suggested that each trafficked individual could bring in as much as $13,000 annually to their captors.

According to Killian Moote, Not For Sale’s vice president of Social Enterprise: “Poverty, lack of opportunity and lack of income cut across the entire issue of trafficking. 95% of victims were unemployed at the time they were trafficked, and 75% to 80% lived in dire poverty.” As poverty pressures individuals to accept riskier informal employment, traffickers have more leverage to recruit them to meet demands for cheap labour across several different industries.

Research supporting the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, passed in 2010 to require companies with over $100m in worldwide revenue to publicly disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery in their supply chains, found that most of California’s trafficked persons (84%) were concentrated in prostitution (45%), domestic servitude (24%) and sweat shops (15%).
Reflecting the industries where trafficking is concentrated, the Attorney General’s report found that most (74%) trafficked people in California are women. Notably, the report also showed that most of these victims (70%) are American citizens.
In Alameda County, Bates listed a revealing number of risk factors for trafficked sex workers: 99% of victims are female, 82% have a history as a runaway, 75% have experienced child abuse or neglect, 63% have been on juvenile probation, 60% have a history of prior victimization (especially rape), 51% have substance abuse issues, 39% were in foster care and 30% have significant mental health problems.

“This isn’t solely a prosecution or law enforcement issue,” says Bates. “We need to attack trafficking from many different angles, especially through more stringent criminal penalties for the purchasers who drive demand for underground sex workers as well as additional social services for at-risk populations and more efficient, better coordinated after-care for victims.”

NPR recently cited an FBI estimate that 100,000 to 300,000 children are sold for sex in the US each year, which means that in California alone, thousands of children could be living in forced prostitution.

Cutting off demand
Policy measures requiring corporate supply chain transparency do not directly address the multi-million dollar commercial sex industry where the highest portion of human trafficking occurs, and they are unlikely to have a profound impact on labour exploitation in agriculture or manufacturing.

Considering the strong link between poverty and trafficking, however, the private sector could contribute significantly by providing community funds for job training or other social services as well as employment for victims of human trafficking, many of whom are local residents in dire need of better economic opportunities. Since information on the scope and nature of human trafficking is limited, increased corporate and governmental transparency will also be vital to define and carefully monitor progress towards eradicating these heinous crimes.

Underground domestic sex work by exploited girls and women appears to account for a disproportionate amount of human trafficking, both nationally and in California. Addressing America’s persistent demand for commercial sex through radically modified policy frameworks is a logical, though still controversial, option.

For example, Samuel Lee at NYU’s Stern School of Business and Petra Persson at Columbia University’s Research Institute of Industrial Economics recently described a compelling framework to decriminalise and license commercial sex workers while imposing much harsher criminal penalties for both the operators who solicit unlicensed sex workers and the customers who frequent them.

This “hybrid” model addresses some frequent critiques of criminalizing sex workers, especially those who are victimized by traffickers.

As Casey Bates put it:“the most important thing we can do is to change the way we view the victims of these crimes. We’re not looking at a child prostitute, we’re looking at a victim of human trafficking. We can then see them for who they really are: children who need our help.” 

Kersti Strandqvist is the senior vice president at SCA, the global hygiene and forest products company, in charge of Group Function Sustainability. She leads the company’s corporate sustainability team and is a member of the SCA corporate senior management team. Kersti talks to Ethical Performance about her responsibility for the group’s sustainability strategy and the integration of targets for environmental, social and public affairs. She has been with SCA since 1997, previously holding leadership positions in both the global feminine and baby care business.  

What does sustainability mean to you?
For me, sustainability means that we can all live well and within the planet’s natural boundaries; including people in both established and emerging markets, not just now, but also in years to come. It means we have to find new and creative ways for the development of mankind, without depleting the Earth’s resources. From SCA’s perspective, it means creating value for people and nature. We create value for our company but also for our stakeholders – from customers and consumers to employees, investors and society. With our incontinence products, consumers can continue to lead an active life even if they have a leakage issue. When buying our solutions, our corporate customers are encouraged to achieve their own sustainability targets and they can feel assured they are commercially involved with a robust supplier who treats its employees fairly. As Europe’s largest private forest owner, our sustainably managed forests absorb 2.6 million tons of CO2 annually.

How did you get interested in the field?
Social and environmental issues have always been close to my heart and throughout my career I have found it rewarding and interesting to seek new solutions and concepts on how to create value, not only in terms of profit and growth, but also for society, people and the environment. In my opinion, this is a positive way to make a difference. For SCA, both social and environmental concerns have always been part of our business model. In the last five years we have taken steps to reinforce this approach by placing emphasis on innovation and focus on delivering growth and profitability while creating value for people, our society and nature. This approach gives us a competitive edge, allows cost-efficiency, minimises risk and raises the level of attraction as a company for existing employees and new recruits as well as customers and investors.

What are the most interesting innovations in sustainability that we’re seeing at SCA right now?
In 2013 we launched TENA Identifi, a sensor product in elderly care that registers an individual’s urination patterns. This gives caregivers entirely new opportunities to optimize care, both from a qualitative and financial perspective. The individual gets the right product at the right time which enables a more dignified existence and more time for care, not just treatment.
We continuously work with Life Cycle Assessments to minimize the environmental impact from our products. During the 2008-2013 period, for example, we have reduced the carbon footprint in our Libero open diapers by 24%.
SCA Energy, is a business division entirely dedicated to renewable energy. It includes wind farms on our forest land and extracting biofuels from felling residue such as branches, crowns and stumps.
Thanks to innovative solutions, SCA converts by-products into valuable energy. Our tissue mill in Ortmann, Austria is one example where we produce biogas based on wastewater.

What’s the biggest challenge you’re faced with?
The biggest challenge, and opportunity, is to continue to develop innovative technologies, products and services that minimize resource utilisation and help improve hygiene standards in emerging markets.

What are some of your short-term goals?
In total we have 13 People and Nature targets. We have three targets related to combatting climate change; we will reduce our CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 (2005 as reference year); we will triple our production of biofuels from our forests (2010 as reference year); and our wind power production will reach 5 TWh. Employee health and safety is a major priority and we will decrease our accident frequency rate by 25 per cent between 2011-2016. There has been an increased focus on supply-chain management the last couple of years and we will use our SCA Supplier Standard in all our supply chain contracts by 2015.

And long term?
We have set up a number of People and Nature ambitions which describe our long-term views on what kind of company we want to be. We want to improve hygiene standards worldwide and support women empowerment across the world by giving them access to education about hygiene solutions. We aim to combat climate change, minimize our impact on the environment and care for the forests.

Does sustainability ever feel unachievable?
No it doesn’t, although there is always a better way do things and we can be proud of the steps we take to improve every day. Being able to help people live a healthy and dignified life, and helping society is very rewarding. We need to recognize that there is no “perfect world”, and that we will never be finished, but as long as we are moving in the right direction we should be satisfied.

What sustainability statistics at SCA are you most proud of?
We have many achievements, such as reduced accident frequency rate, delivery on reduced CO2 emissions and water usage targets and our sustainable forest management practises. However, I am most proud of being able to break taboos on incontinence and menstrual hygiene with education and through our products and services. This combination of work and innovations truly make a difference in people’s lives!
 

Michael Pollitt examines the background to the proposed Modern Slavery Bill

Two hundred years after Wilberforce, an unexpected slave trade boom has forced the world to revise its anti-slavery legislation. This time, however, Britain isn’t ready to lead the way.

Unlike two hundred years ago, slavery is now invisible. Behind closed doors, it has become more prolific and more lucrative than ever. At 29.8 million, the estimated number of people living as slaves today amounts to more than double the total number trafficked out of Africa during the entire transatlantic slave trade. At 150 billion US dollars, the income generated globally from forced labour in 2012, was three times the revenue of Google (50 billion) and significantly higher even than ‘Big Oil’ (120 billion) and the US banking industry (141.3 billion).

Increasingly, this new globalised slavery has been found running through the supply chains that lead on to our high streets. The numerous exposés, in the last five years, of forced labour on West African cocoa farms have left a bitter taste in the mouths of Hershey’s, Mars, Nestlé, Cadbury’s and the other Western confectionary giants at the top of the chain. More recently, the Thai prawn-fishing scandal of 2014 revealed a picture of slavery, in the most traditional sense of the word, at the bottom of supply chains that led to Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco.

Migrant workers trafficked into Thailand spoke of being sold for a little as £250 by Thai employment brokers. Kept in chains without free access to food, they were exchanged between the captains of prawn-fishing boats, working out at sea for years at a time without pay. Many complained of indiscriminate corporal punishment and claimed to have seen fellow slaves murdered in front of them, in summary execution for misbehaviour.

With the horsemeat scandal of 2012 and the Rana Plaza factory disaster of 2013 still fresh in the public’s mind, consumers began to question how much we really knew about the sequence of distant transactions that put food on our plates and clothes on our backs.

The answer, in the UK at least, was that we knew very little. Research published by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply earlier this year revealed that, until now, consumers and business leaders in Britain have relied on a strict “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with regard to international supply chains. According to a survey of 3,406 respondents, almost three quarters (72%) of British supply chain professionals said they have no visibility of their supply chains beyond the second tier. While 11% of business leaders polled through YouGov admitted that it was likely modern slavery is already playing a part in their supply chain.

Modern Slavery Bill
So when the UK Home Office revealed its plans to introduce a new Modern Slavery Bill in August last year, many believed that Britain was making its triumphant return to the forefront of international abolitionism. “I believe this is the first time any government has brought together, in a single Act, its legislative measures to counter this growing evil,” declared Home Secretary Theresa May. She was half right.

Former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had signed the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act three years before. Although the Act was not a one-size-fits-all measure, it did aim to “counter this growing evil” in the appropriate international context. Under this Act, retailers and manufacturers doing business in California, with annual worldwide gross receipts of more than 100 million US dollars, are required to disclose publically their efforts to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains.

Supply chain omission
When the UK eventually published its Draft Modern Slavery Bill in December 2013, international monitors and activists justifiably presumed that Britain would take the lead on supply chain slavery. Yet, nowhere in the draft Bill were supply chains mentioned. Ignoring protests from the evidence review team, commissioned by the Home Office to gather intelligence for the draft, the Government concluded that, instead of legislating on supply chains, it would “work with businesses on a voluntary basis so they can ensure their workforces and supply chains are not exploited”.

This decision has since proved unpopular among anti-slavery campaigners in the public and third sectors. A coalition of 15 leading anti-slavery organisations issued a briefing paper calling for supply chain transparency to be included in the legislation. A joint committee of representatives from the Commons and the Lords published a report warning that “voluntary agreements would not be afforded high business priority” and “legislation on supply chains does not have to be burdensome.” Drawing on statements from high street names like Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Ikea, the committee argued that ethical supply chains were ultimately “more profitable” because “a good reputation more than pays for itself”.

When the Bill was reissued in June this year, it included several alterations based on criticisms of the initial draft, but the proposed supply chain amendment was omitted. In the most recent Home Office statement, Theresa May argued that requiring companies to report on modern slavery in their supply chain would be would be an “additional burden” on UK business, which the Government would prefer to avoid. She also indicated that the EU was likely to enact new laws in 2016 forcing companies to report on human rights in their business relationships, which could include supply chains.

So unlike two hundred years ago, when Britain led the global abolitionist movement by example, the UK would now rather wait for Europe to twist its arm. I have heard it said that issues like this act as a barium meal for our democracy, showing up which parts of the system are functioning healthily and which areas require attention. British civil society has shown itself to be as strong as ever. Charities, think-tanks and opposition leaders have kept this issue pressed up to the glass of non-governmental involvement. Yet, even after the successes of the 2010 Bribery Act, we are losing traction when we attempt to share responsibilities between governments and corporations.

The last wave of international anti-slavery legislation, between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, was designed to prevent colonial governments from abusing the labour-force and fragile economies of the countries in which they operated. In many ways, multi-national corporations are the new colonial powers. Their upkeep depends on the same complex network of transactions across distant and disparate societies. Although slavery is now constitutionally illegal everywhere, many countries still lack the institutional capacity to fully enforce the rule of law.

The modern abolitionist movement has to reflect this transition of responsibility from governments to corporations and their supply chains.
 

Michael Pollitt is a researcher at the Legatum Institute, a London-based public policy think tank

September, the back-to-school, new uniform, new shoes, month. It’s a time for fresh starts and fresh thinking. With a hopefully holiday-refreshed mindset, in this edition we take a special look at one of today’s most prevalent human rights issues and yet one that seems to go unseen by so many: human trafficking.

As Michael Pollitt points out on p16, two hundred years after Wilberforce, an unexpected slave trade boom has forced the world to revise its anti-slavery legislation.

Although slavery is now constitutionally illegal everywhere, many countries still lack the institutional capacity to fully enforce the rule of law.

Pollitt explains the background to the UK’s new Modern Slavery Bill and why, after being - at first - heralded as Britain’s return to the forefront of international abolitionism, it is in fact intrinsically flawed. Supply chain legislation is not mentioned. Requiring companies to report on modern slavery in their supply chain has been deemed too much of an “additional burden” on UK business (argues the Home Office). And this despite a coalition of 15 leading anti-slavery organisations issuing a briefing paper calling for supply chain transparency to be included.

And on pages 8-9, Andrew Pederson reveals the diametric opposite to the American dream with an exposé of the sunshine state’s human trafficking problem. He tells us that research supporting the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, passed in 2010 to require companies with over $100m in worldwide revenue to publicly disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery in their supply chains, found that most of California’s trafficked persons (84%) were concentrated in prostitution (45%), domestic servitude (24%) and sweat shops (15%). Reflecting the industries where trafficking is concentrated, the Attorney General’s report found that most (74%) trafficked people in California are women.

Notably, the report also showed that most of these victims (70%) are American citizens. He highlights the fact that one of the most important things we can do is to change the way we view the victims: “We’re not looking at a child prostitute, we’re looking at a victim of human trafficking”.

What with the recent Guardian exposé of the horrendous slavery that supplies many of us our prawn cocktails and reports that workers in Qatar are being paid slave wages for incredibly dangerous and testing work in order for us to enjoy a 2020 World Cup, it would be great to think that this month we could use our recently recharged inner batteries - both as businesses and as individuals - to take firm stances on cheap prawns, cheap t-shirts and poor wages.

As the lyric of a recent Tom Jones track goes: “What good am I - if I’m like all the rest/ If I just turn away - when I see how you’re dressed/ What good am I - if I know and don’t do/ If I see and don’t say.”

Indeed.

liz.jones@ethicalperformance.com