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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.109.15569.
Walden, J. L. (2023). Modern Day Slavery in Your Supply Chain. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 280-287.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Modern Day Slavery in Your Supply Chain
Joseph L. Walden
ABSTRACT
Modern day slavery is a huge problem in supply chains. Estimates place the number
of workers living in slavery conditions between 17-21 million worldwide. This
problem is growing rather than shrinking even though countries have laws that
prevent slave labor and some countries and states have laws that require reporting
on audits of their supply chains. Why do we have this problem and what can we do
to fix it? This paper addresses the issue and some recommendations to fix this
global problem.
Keywords: supply chain, ESG, DEIB, modern day slavery, ethics
PROBLEM
Slavery still exists in the world today. Today’s slavery is very prevalent in supply chain
activities. With the push to minimize costs comes the growing issue of forced labor in supply
chains to minimize or eliminate labor costs. When was the last time that you walked your entire
supply chain and looked at all of your suppliers? Do you know what your suppliers are doing?
Do you know what your suppliers’ suppliers are doing? Are you confident that your supply
chain is free of forced labor? Are you confident that the products you use everyday were not
made by modern day slaves?
BACKGROUND
Slavery exists in today’s supply chains and many consumers and supply chain professionals
either do not know about it or turn a blind eye to it in order to protect low costs. Before looking
into modern day slavery, perhaps we should start with defining slavery and looking at a quick
history of slavery.
What is slavery? According to multiple sources it is a “condition of being enslaved, held, or
owned as human chattel or property; bondage.” Is that really happening in the 21st Century in
supply chains? How is that possible? Didn’t we abolish slavery around the world in the 19th
Century?
In a 2021 blog (Traliant, 2021), Anti-Slavery International defined modern-day slavery in
supply chains as: “the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain.
Modern slavery practices include:
• Forced labor, where a person is forced to work against their will or under the threat of
punishment
• Bonded labor, where a person cannot leave because they are bonded or indebted
• Indentured labor, where agencies or brokers put people into debt with no other way to
pay it off but to continue to work
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Walden, J. L. (2023). Modern Day Slavery in Your Supply Chain. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 280-287.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.109.15569
• Child labor, where children are exploited for the gain of adults who are not family
members.”
Slavery is documented in history books back to at least 1800 BC when the Israelites were
enslaved in Egypt. It continued for the next 3600 years in various forms from the Romans up to
the mid-1800s in the US and even through the 1940s with slave labor camps used by the Nazi
Regime to support their war efforts. In the US although the Emancipation Proclamation freed
the slaves, it was not until two years later that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was
ratified abolishing slavery. The 13th Amendment stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (USA, 1865).
In 2022, the European Union established an annex to the DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending
Directive (EU) 2019/1937 that laid out violations to International Human Rights. This annex
included “Violation of the prohibition of forced labour; this includes all work or service that is
exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has
not offered himself or herself voluntarily, for example as a result of debt bondage or trafficking
in human beings....Violation of the prohibition of all forms of slavery, practices akin to slavery,
serfdom or other forms of domination or oppression in the workplace” (EU, 2022).
The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act of 2023 requires companies of over 3000
employees (in 2024 it will apply to companies of over 1000 employees) to map their supply
chains down to tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers for compliance with human rights and sustainability
issues (Ruiz, 2023).
The use of forced labor or modern-day slavery has been an ongoing issue in manufacturing and
in supply chain activities. The goal of this research paper is to document what is happening in
supply chain chains, what has been written on the subject and frame some conclusions and
recommendations on what supply chain managers need to do going forward to document,
validate and eliminate this problem.
LITERATURE REVIEW
What has been written to date on this topic? What does the research show as common threads
in the modern-day slavery?
Koettl makes a clear dichotomy between consensual and non-consensual exploitation of
individuals. In his work, he puts workers that are not in the sex trade as consensual. In this
realm he places those individuals that economic issues force into exploitive work
arrangements. His estimate places a “minimum of 12.5 million workers annually” that are
forced to accept exploitive work or working conditions (2009). He further defines this category
of exploitation to include forced labor (“put to work against their will, often under deplorable
and unsafe conditions”). By 2017 the International Labour Organization estimated that the
number of workers exploited as modern-day slaves had reached 16 million (Enumah, 2018).
Modern day slavery in supply chains supporting US business was discussed in 2011 (Pierce,
2011) and 2012 (Ngwe & Elechi, 2012). Pierce discussed the fact that US corporations were
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perhaps turning a blind eye to modern day slavery (2011). Pierce estimated that the number of
persons enslaved in 2011 was higher than the total number of slaves at the “height of the Trans- Atlantic slave trade. Although the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in
2000, the problem continues to exist and grow.
“Despite growing awareness of the issue and an influx of resources for such influential bodies
as the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, foundation, and the US
government, the field is still hampered by its inability to measure the size and scope” of
modern-day slavery according to McGough (2013). Although outlawed in almost every country,
McGough goes on to say that slaves in today’s supply chains are held through debt bondage,
indentured service and other forms of physical and mental control.
In 2015, The United Kingdom established the UK Modern Day Slavery Act. This act was designed
to “give law enforcement the tools to fight modern slavery, ensure perpetrators can receive
suitably severe punishments for these appalling crimes and enhance support and protection
for victims” (Government, 2015). Much like the German Ordinance, the Act requires businesses
over 12,000 to disclose each year what action they have taken to ensure there is no modern
slavery in their business or supply chains (Craig, 2017). Research in the UK into how many
companies believed by 2016 that there was slavery in their supply chains was 71% (Eight,
2016). Craig stated that the biggest issue in enforcing the Modern-Day Slavery Act was a lack of
training for the agencies and individuals tasked with enforcing the Act (2017). Corrie argued
that the International Criminal Court should get involved in prosecuting agencies, organizations
and individuals involved in modern day slavery (2016).
“Despite increased global attention, resources and regulations, 10 million more people were
living in slavery conditions in 2021 compared to 2016. Of the 50 million people worldwide
living in slavery — owned by another human being — in 2021, 28 million are trapped in forced
labor” (Touchon, 2023). The International Labor Organization estimates that the majority of
those in forced labor are surprisingly in high to moderate income countries (2022). The use of
force labor is rapidly becoming a standard practice in many supply chains and undermines
sustainable growth in supply chains. The latest update from an international corporate
sustainability index shows that only about 11% of the companies reporting actually map their
supply chain in sufficient detail to know if modern day slavery exists within their extended
supply chain (EcoVadis, 2023).
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act in
2010 that mandated publishing information on companies’ supply chains “to allow consumers
to make more educated purchasing decisions” (Bolta, 2023) by educating the consumers on
what companies were engaged in using modern day slavery and human trafficking in their
supply chains. The intent of this act was “to ensure that large retailers and manufacturers
provide consumers with information regarding their efforts to eradicate slavery and human
trafficking from their supply chains, educate consumers on how to purchase goods produced
by companies that responsibly manage their supply chains, and, thereby, improve the lives of
victims of slavery and human trafficking (Bolta, 2023).” This act was intended to force
companies to do audits of their supply chains and certify that their suppliers were not using
slave labor. However, this act only applied to companies doing business in California with gross
incomes in excess of $100 million (Harris, 2015). The downside of this act is although it requires
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Walden, J. L. (2023). Modern Day Slavery in Your Supply Chain. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 280-287.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.109.15569
reporting on the company’s website, it only requires the large companies to describe what they
are doing to determine the use of slave labor by their suppliers and not the actions to eradicate
the use of slave labor. This act also only required the certification of direct suppliers also known
as Tier 1 suppliers and not the actions of lower-level suppliers.
De Witte (2022) reported, “Modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking continue to be
endemic issues in global production and manufacturing, especially in low-wage, labour- intensive industries. Despite governments and private corporations to put an end to
exploitative employment practices, the problem persists across the world’s supply chains.” De
Witte goes on to say that modern day slavery is prevalent in “chocolate to coffee, smart phones,
clothing and cotton” industries.
The World Economic Forum (Sethumadhavan, 2021), reported that modern day slavery is rife
in the developed world. Sethumadhavan goes on to say the there are more than 1.5 million
people living in conditions of modern slavery in Australia, Japan, Europe and North America.
How does this happen in developed countries? Probably because it is profitable. The
International Labour Organization estimates that modern day slavery in supply chains
generates approximately $51 billion USD in profits annually (ILO, 2014). Obviously that
number has gone up over the past decade with the growth of international supply chains and
the push to keep costs down.
Han, et al., (2022) stated that “modern slavery is a complex and challenging phenomenon”
across global supply chains. They reported that modern day slavery is embedded in the
Southeast Asia electronics industries and the offshore fishing industries in spite of the fact that
many of those countries have laws on the books prohibiting modern day slavery.
Antislavery.org estimates that the size of the modern-day slavery issue could be as high 17.3
million people in supply chains (2023). Part of the blame for this large number of slave labor
workers points to the desire and demand of consumers to drive down prices. The anti-slavery
organization also blames long, extended global supply chains that enable hiding practices from
consumers for the continued growth of modern-day slavery.
The British Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) estimates that there are as
many as 50 million slaves worldwide with as many as 100,000 within the UK (Harrison, 2023).
CIPS blames the lack of appointing a commissioner to oversee the UK’s Modern Slavery Act as
one of the impediments in fixing the issue. They also point to the lack of corporate training and
resources to identify slavery activities in supply chains.
WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
The bottom line is that slavery still exists in many areas of the world and is prevalent in supply
chain operations. In 2023, the Fairtrade Foundation launched an online tool to promote
transparency in supply chains and map human rights violations (a euphemism for modern day
slavery). The goal of the tool is to support efforts mandated by the German legislation, the 2022
Canadian legislation and a directive working its way through the legislative pipeline in the
European Union to require companies to map their supply chains to identify suppliers that are
using slave labor and eliminate the practices. The EU directive is designed to assist companies
in developing action plans and preventive measures to the adverse effects of slave labor and
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human rights violations. The Open Supply Hub, a US non-profit organization, has created a
similar tool for US based companies.
Everstream Analytics emphasizes that the supply chain is the lifeblood of the organization – a
reiteration of the claim by Julian Thompson about Military operations and logistics from 1991
(1991). The Everstream staff goes on to say that most product managers have any idea what
goes on in their product’s supply chain (2023). This lack of knowledge is what allows modern
day slavery to exist in supply chains.
The efforts in the EU, the UK, Germany and even in California may provide a good start to
eliminating modern day slavery, but only if the ordinances and laws are enforced and violators
identified and prosecuted. This does not seem to be the case to date. Pressures to get the global
economy running again after the COVID 19 pandemic have helped to hide forced labor activities
in supply chains.
Companies and governments continue to discuss the impacts and ills of modern-day slavery in
supply chains but it is a lot like hot house actions – there is a lot of discussion, a lot of hot air
but very little action being taken. Why? Primarily because consumers continue to push for
lower prices and reduced inflation. The answer to the lower costs seems to be increases in
modern day slavery and forced labor to keep costs down. The Global Slavery Index indicates
that migrant workers are much more likely to be in forced labor situations than non-migrant
workers (2023).
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Companies continue to promote, at least in theory, Employee, Sustainability and Governance
(ESG) goals and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs for their offices, but seem
to be ignoring the same issues in their supply chains. A survey reported by Thomson Reuters
(2016) reported that of over 1100 business leaders that responded to the survey stated that
they only conducted due diligence on their first-tier suppliers. This level of reporting will never
reveal to the leaders the extent of slavery in their suppliers’ suppliers. The supply chain is much
longer than just the first-tier suppliers. If we are to stop modern day slavery in supply chains,
leaders have to physically walk their entire supply chain all the way back to the producer of
raw materials and audit each level of the supply chain for compliance with human rights and
anti-slavery measures.
Supply chain leaders have preached the importance of relationships in supply chains since
before the term supply chain management came into use in the early 1990s. The time has come
for leaders to lead. This means auditing the supply chain, educating supply chain partners,
establishing fair labor practices to secure the integrity of their supply chains.
Customers for the most part want to do business with companies that establish and enforce
ethical standards. Eliminating modern day slavery in the supply chain is not only ethical, it is
imperative if we want to sustain human rights, corporate integrity and actually implement ESG
and DEIB goals outside the four walls of the corporate headquarters.
Modern day slavery is as wrong as the slave practices abolished in the 1800s. In the US, we had
to fight a war to eliminate slavery. While a physical war is not necessary, a war is necessary to