It’s one of the most important fronts in the battle against slavery: getting companies to investigate their product supply chains to ensure they aren’t using slavery-tainted materials.
Today brings a new tool that can help. The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) has released a path breaking report, called “Beyond SB 657: How Businesses Can Meet and Exceed California’s Requirements to Prevent Forced Labor in Supply Chains.“
The title refers to the first-in-the-nation law that requires major manufactures and retailers in California to investigate and disclose what the company is doing to end human trafficking and slavery within their supply chains.
This pioneering law is viewed as a model for national action for all major companies throughout the U.S.
ATEST estimates that approximately 3,200 businesses will be required to comply with SB 657. “If California were a separate country, California’s economy would be in the top 10 largest economies worldwide. Effective efforts to eliminate human trafficking in supply chains of companies doing business in the state could prevent untold numbers of people worldwide from being trapped into what is essentially modern slavery,” says David Abramowitz, Director of ATEST and Vice President, Policy and Government Relations, Humanity United.
“This report aims to make it easier for companies to comply and even go beyond California’s requirements to eliminate forced labor in supply chains and we hope it will serve as a model for action by all companies committed to having modern sourcing practices that avoid human trafficking.”
In the coming months, ATEST will release results of on-going research on hundreds of company disclosures in order to demonstrate how the law is—and is not—leading to changes in corporate practice around trafficking. Free the Slaves is a founding member of the ATEST coalition.
Read the full report here. You can also see the human impact of slavery in the FTS business briefing video: “Becoming a Slavery Free Business.“
