"Right now, there are millions of people all over the world being forced to work to produce goods that we use every single day. But we can help change this by requiring big business and governments to act.
The private and public sectors are rarely held to account for extractive, exploitative practices that fuel human trafficking and forced labor. Most companies ultimately fail to root out modern slavery from their supply chains and leave victims without the opportunity to receive justice.
Some countries have passed national and state laws asking the private and public sector to report on modern slavery risks in their supply chains. However, most legislation does not actually require firms or public procurement to do anything to stop modern slavery and other human rights abuses from occurring in their supply chains.
They do not face any financial, civil, or criminal penalties when environmental or rights abuses are exposed. Make no mistake, recent legislation on corporate responsibility – provisions within the landmark UK Modern Slavery Act1, the Australian Modern Slavery Act, the Dutch Child Labor Due Diligence Act, the French Corporate Vigilance Law, and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act—are crucial steps, but to achieve corporate accountability, companies should be held liable and victims of human rights abuses in their supply chains should be able to seek redress. Furthermore, as public procurement is estimated to account for 15-20% of global gross domestic product, it is essential that governments uphold human rights and environmental protections in their own sourcing. 2
There is a growing, global movement for governments to pass mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation, and it needs more power. If successful, companies and governments would be required to enact preventative measures, conduct robust risk analyses, and face punishments for failing to prevent all human rights violations—including human trafficking and forced labor—in their supply chains." https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/failure_to_prevent/?trk_msg=UL7UC3V5NS243E1MAM25MMJH6O&trk_contact=00O1OUKBFDRTJNBNNKK2LCOP5S&trk_sid=4BDHQ0R4SSU1IA72OCJNRG9NPG&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Add+your+name+to+the+campaign+for+laws+that+put+people+first&utm_campaign=FU-EN-29APRIL-2021-DUE-DILIGENCE-NAT-active&utm_content=FU-EN-29APRIL-2021-DUE-DILIGENCE-NAT-active