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Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance

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Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance Tackling modern slavery in PPE supply chains: Tools and further guidance APRIL 2021 2 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This publication has been commissioned by the UK Home Office and has been produced by Impactt Limited, a business and human rights consultancy in the UK. This guidance should be taken as a source of information, guidance, analysis, and best practice examples, to be applied and implemented by businesses at their own discretion and in accordance with their own policies, which may or may not require all or any of the described practices to apply to its own operations and supply chains. The information and opinions within this document are not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to particular circumstances. The Home Office and Impactt Limited (or their respective employees or representatives), will not accept responsibility for any errors, omissions or misleading statements in this document, or for any loss, cost, damage or liability which may arise from reliance on materials contained in this document. Certain parts of this document may link to external internet sites, and other external internet sites may link to this report. Impactt Limited have drawn on other existing government-funded reports and publications1 in the development of this guidance and are not responsible for the content of any external references. This is the supplementary tools and further guidance for PPE suppliers. Please refer to the main guidance for more information. © 2021 Impactt UK info@impacttlimited.com 1 Ergon Associates (2018) Managing Risks Associated with Modern Slavery, https://ergonassociates.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Managing-Risks-Associated-with- Modern-Slavery.pdf Government Commercial Function (2019) Tackling Modern Slavery in Government Supply Chains, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/830150/September_2019_Modern_Slavery_Guidance.pdf 3 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance Contents Resource 1: Identifying Forced Labour Indicators .......................................................................... 4 Resource 2: ILO Definitions of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs ............................................ 21 Resource 3: Questions for Suppliers ............................................................................................ 23 Resource 4: Remediation – Common Issues and Appropriate Remedy........................................ 30 Resource 5: International and Local Initiatives for Collaboration and Continuous Learning ............................................................................................................. 33 Resource 6: Additional Resources ............................................................................................... 36 4 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance Resource 1: Identifying Forced Labour Indicators This section provides definitions for each of the 11 FLIs, reported examples in the PPE context, and questions that all companies can ask themselves and their suppliers to identify whether there is a risk of forced labour within the supply chain. 11 Forced Labour Indicators 1. Abuse of vulnerability 7. Intimidation and threats 2. Deception 8. Witholding of wages 3. Restricted freedom of movement 9. Debt bondage 4. Retention of identity documents 10. Abusive working and living conditions 5. Isolation 11. Excessive overtime 6. Physical and sexual violence What is it? Reported examples in the Check the risk to business and PPE context workers This column highlights This column provides a The questions listed in this information about each ILO fictional mini-case study column can help to identify FL indicator. of situations where the whether the company may be FLI was present in a PPE exposed to forced labour risk. supply chain Carry out or commission an in- depth assessment where risks are identified. 1. ABUSE OF VULNERABILITY Abuse of vulnerability A PPE factory employs a Do you or your suppliers: is more likely to occur majority migrant workforce, if you have a workforce including a large number of • employ workers with any of with any of the following workers from Bangladesh the common characteristics characteristics. People who: and Nepal, and a small of vulnerability listed? number from Vietnam. • ask/allow workers to work • lack knowledge of the While the Bangladeshi local language or laws. hours in excess of the local and Nepalese workers are law and/or international • have few livelihood relatively well organised standards, because you options. because of their large believe they want to earn numbers and have more money? established channels of communication with 5 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance Hire interpreters to communicate with workers from minority groups. What is it? Reported examples in the Check the risk to business PPE context and workers 1. ABUSE OF VULNERABILITY (CONTINUED) • belong to a specific / management through • provide workers financial minority religious, sex / interpreters, this is not the case incentives such as gender or ethnic group. for the Vietnamese workers, attendance bonuses to who: encourage them to work • have a disability. • don’t understand the in excess of their regular • have other terms of their employment, working hours? characteristics that set applicable employment law, • believe workers of certain them apart from the or their rights. nationalities may be majority population. • do not speak the language pressured into working and do not have access to excessive hours due to their • have multiple any interpreters on site. inability to communicate? dependency on the employer, such as when • live in separate, unsuitable. • make it a requirement that accommodations just the worker depends on workers stay in company- above the factory. the employer not only provided accommodations for his or her job but • paid high recruitment fees and use company-operated also for housing, food and took on debts to pay canteens? and for work for his or them. • not offer certain nationalities her relatives. An external audit reveals that the same accommodations these workers want to leave or amenities as others The mere fact of being in their job and their poor living (e.g. not providing workers a vulnerable position, for conditions but feel that they with a bed) because example, lacking alternative cannot because they are of perceived cultural livelihood options, does not unable to communicate and differences or preferences necessarily lead a person have no access to grievance (e.g. wanting to sleep on into forced labour. It is channels. the floor). when an employer takes In this case study example, advantage of a worker’s the fact that the Vietnamese Reflect vulnerable position, that workers cannot communicate Does your business take a forced labour situation with their employer, lack advantage of workers’ may arise. knowledge about their rights, vulnerability in any way? If and are part of minority group so, you should take steps to isolated from the rest of the remove those vulnerabilities, workforce renders them e.g. hire interpreters to especially vulnerable to abuse. This situation constitutes an communicate with workers indicator of forced labour that from minority groups, stop may point to the existence providing incentives to of forced labour when taken workers to work in excess together with other indicators. of the law, etc. 6 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance 7 Tackling Modern Slavery in PPE Supply Chains: Tools and Further Guidance If your company lacks visibility of your recruitment supply chain, and how agencies promote jobs to workers, you are at risk of having a deceptive recruitment process. What is it? Reported examples in Check the risk to business and the PPE context workers 2. DECEPTION Deception relates to the A company recruits migrant Do you or your suppliers: failure to deliver what has workers from Pakistan, • recruit migrant workers? been promised to the using two recruitment • use recruitment agencies to recruit worker, either verbally agencies, one in the workers (including local workers)? or in writing. Victims of production country, and • have measures in place forced labour are often another in Pakistan. to ensure that recruitment recruited with promises agencies provide pre-departure The company HR tells the of decent, well-paid jobs. orientation and training to But once they begin recruitment agency about workers, and check the quality working, the promised the job offer, and the terms of information provided? and conditions of the job, conditions of work do not • have oversight over what materialize, and workers but other than this, the information is provided to find themselves trapped in company doesn’t engage in workers through various stages abusive conditions without any due diligence to check of the recruitment process? the ability to escape. In how these agencies are • provide migrant workers with these cases, workers carrying out the request. contracts in their own language? When the workers arrive have not given free and • have clear visibility of your informed consent. Had at the production site, the recruitment supply chain and they known the reality, company finds out that they how recruitment agencies they
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