Today saw the publication of a report which seeks to give a snapshot of company perceptions and current responses to modern slavery. This report is the product of collaborative work between the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability at Hult International Business School. Given the new Modern Slavery Act and…
In the last days of the coalition Government the Modern Slavery Bill became law. As I reported in my blog, at the time, the Government was consulting on the reporting requirements for businesses in relation to the Transparency in Supply Chain clause. The key issue being at what size of company will these requirements kick-in.…
So the Modern Slavery Bill has finally become the Modern Slavery Act. Unfortunately however many of its inadequacies were not addressed. What have we ended up with?
We now know that despite the polls, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right wing Likud party has won the largest number of seats in the Knesset. As is the way in Israeli politics fragmented by proportional representation, he now has to put together a workable coalition. Given the political complexion of the new Knesset, whilst it is…
Whilst we very much welcome the Modern Slavery Bill as an important tool in combating trafficking and forced labour, it could be improved.
As my colleague Owen Tudor Blogged yesterday, the Home Office’s latest estimates of those living in the UK in modern day slavery is 13,000. By modern day slavery it is not meant that there are 13,000 people in chains but through circumstances there are 13,000 who for a variety of reasons cannot leave their exploiting…
Yesterday the Government published its response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee’s report on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill. As I blogged on the 14 April the Draft Bill was deficient in many ways, a view the Joint Committee also took. It would be lacking in generosity of spirit not to acknowledge that the Government has…
Last week saw the publication of the Joint Committee’s Report on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill. The Joint Committee being drawn from members of the House of Lords and Commons. It is a thorough piece of work which gives support to every concern expressed in the TUC’s own evidence and provides solutions where appropriate. Whilst…
Looking across the UK government’s responses to recent initiatives in international workers’ rights, such as the Modern Slavery Bill, ILO Convention on Domestic Workers and proposal to amend the Forced Labour Convention, I believe a pattern emerges of a strategy for doing nothing – or perhaps as little as possible.
The revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East which began with such high expectations, have been followed by democratically elected governments being overthrown, breakdowns in public order and in the case of Syria sustained bloody slaughter. The news from Tunisia is therefore particularly heartening.