The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act has focused company attention on the presence of human trafficking and modern-day slavery in supply chains. Yet standard social compliance responses will not be adequate to reduce company risks – or worker vulnerability – to these egregious problems. In a new White Paper 'Compliance is Not Enough: Best Practices in Responding to The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act', Verité outlines the content of the Act, the sources of trafficking and forced labour risk, and what is necessary in order to address these problems adequately in supply chain production.
To meet the letter of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, companies need only publicly disclose the extent of their own policies and practices to eradicate slavery and human
trafficking. But this is clearly not enough. Companies should instead commit to finding trafficking and forced labor where they exist in the supply chain, and resolving these abuses where they are
found. To fully understand and prevent trafficking and slavery in the making of products requires a greater level of effort and commitment. Detecting, preventing, and taking corrective action
against slavery, trafficking, and forced labor in a supply chain presents substantial challenges to ‘business-as-usual’ efforts to implement social compliance. In Verité’s experience, it is impossible
to identify the hidden and insidious abuses of human trafficking and forced labor unless a company examines all aspects of workers’ employment, from the moment of recruitment to on-site
employment, across the entire supply chain. If companies are serious about eradicating trafficking and forced labor, they must also look beyond their first-tier suppliers to ensure that businesses
deep in their supply chains are mirroring their own commitments.
Click here for full text of the Verité White Paper
Click here to review the full text of the act.
