Register      Login
Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Combating modern slavery in Australian supply chains: a case study of a holistic approach

Judy Auld A and Sophie Ryan B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Bureau Veritas Australia & New Zealand, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

B Bureau Veritas Australia & New Zealand, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.

* Correspondence to: Sophie.ryan@bureauveritas.com

The APPEA Journal 63(2) S36-S39 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22057
Submitted: NaN NaN  Accepted: 15 February 2023  Published: 11 May 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.

Abstract

It is an appalling reality that about 50 million people worldwide live under the constraints of modern slavery conditions, such as forced labour, worst form of child labour, debt bondage, servitude and deceptive recruitment and so on. In Australia, the federal government has launched the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth), which sets mandatory criteria for an applicable entity to issue a modern slavery statement. However, there is a clear absence of actionable guidelines for companies to follow, in order to assess and address risks of modern slavery within their value chain. Ambiguous legislative requirements have resulted in poor monitoring that, ultimately, does not effectively help eradicate modern slavery from Australian supply chains. In order to address this gap and provide a practical tool for organisations to combat modern slavery, this article employs a case study to demonstrate how to conduct effective on-site audits to mitigate modern slavery risks through the supply chain. A set of critical factors and potential solutions to remove barriers are discussed.

Keywords: continuous improvement, effective communication, ethical sourcing, human rights, modern slavery, remediation, responsible sourcing, social audits, social sustainability, supplier code of conduct, supply chain management.

References

Barrientos S (2008) Contract labour: the ‘Achilles Heel’ of corporate codes in commercial value chains. Development and Change 39(6), 977-990.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Birkey RN, Guidry RP, Islam MA, Patten DM (2018) Mandated social disclosure: an analysis of the response to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010. Journal of Business Ethics 152(3), 827-841.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Chauvey J-N, Giordano-Spring S, Cho CH, Patten DM (2015) The normativity and legitimacy of CSR disclosure: evidence from France. Journal of Business Ethics 130(4), 789-803.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Han C, Jia F, Jiang M, Chen L (2022) Modern slavery in supply chains: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications 1-22.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Helin S, Babri M (2015) Travelling with a code of ethics: a contextual study of a Swedish MNC auditing a Chinese supplier. Journal of Cleaner Production 107, 41-53.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

International Labour Organization (2022) Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. September 2022. Available at https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm

International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2022) Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. Available at https://www.walkfree.org/reports/global‐estimates‐of‐modern‐slavery‐2022/

Islam MA, Van Staden CJ (2022) Modern slavery disclosure regulation and global supply chains: insights from stakeholder narratives on the UK Modern Slavery Act. Journal of Business Ethics 180, 455-479.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Jiang B (2009) Implementing supplier codes of conduct in global supply chains: process explanations from theoretic and empirical perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics 85(1), 77-92.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Pedersen ER, Andersen M (2006) Safeguarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in global supply chains: how codes of conduct are managed in buyer-supplier relationships. Journal of Public Affairs 6(3–4), 228-240.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Stevenson M, Cole R (2018) Modern slavery in supply chains: a secondary data analysis of detection, remediation and disclosure. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 12, 81-99.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Walk Free Foundation (2023) What is modern slavery? Available at https://www.walkfree.org/what-is-modern-slavery/