'Slavery hasn't gone away '“ but you can help'

Men, women and children across globe are routinely trafficked and forced into abject poverty and deprivation.

There’s an estimated 40 million victims of slavery in the world today – including 13,000 in the UK.

The areas of our lives it touches are widespread with forced labour existing in the domestic, agricultural, sex, construction and retail industries to name but a few. Yet many remain unaware of the existence of this worldwide, and pressing, human rights challenge.

Yorkshire has been central to an abolition movement once before. This year marks the 210th anniversary of the British Slave Trade Abolition Act – associated with one of Hull’s most famous sons, William Wilberforce MP.

But there is still a critical amount of work to be done to increase awareness of what is happening around us.

Yorkshire is home to one of the world’s s leading research centres working towards the end of labour exploitation and slavery worldwide – the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute.

Through research and practice, the institute helps inform policy and played a major role in shaping the UK Government’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act.

The role that business can play in tackling modern-day slavery is one of the many topics in the spotlight at the University of Hull’s Wilberforce World Freedom Summit on September 28 and 29.

Leading speakers from government, public sector and business are coming together to help tackle modern-day slavery. As chairman of Arco, one of the region’s largest family-owned businesses that understands the complexities of managing a global supply chain, and campaigns vigorously to enforce ethical trading, I, proud to be one of the business leaders speaking at the event.

In recent months, a number of reports have revealed unethical trading in UK businesses and slavery occurring in factories on British soil. This highlights the critical role that industry has to play in eradicating modern day slavery in the supply chain.

Even when businesses have good intentions, today’s complex supply chains make it difficult to ensure compliance.

Arco is taking initiative in promoting ethical trade within the supply of its safety products and educating others. The business is driving what it calls the ‘supply chain reaction’, calling for businesses to make improvements within their own supply chains when it comes to ethical trading.

It is always preferable to try and help a supplier raise their standards, rather than cease trading. Instead, organisations should work with factories to identify problems and achieve full compliance.

As well as improving working conditions for staff, this benefits the supplier by helping them to win more contracts and compete more effectively.

Arco practices this approach by supporting its suppliers with improving employee wellbeing through the provision of better dining and hygiene facilities, and instigating training programmes. The safety business has also generated its own ‘Ethical Guide for Vendors’ – any supplier that fails to adhere to the standards, is removed from the approved supplier list.

What’s the solution? There are a number of steps businesses can take:

* Ask suppliers about their supply chain and the factories providing the goods.

* Ask suppliers about their ethical assurance measures and due diligence processes.

* If a supplier has a turnover in the UK greater than £36m and falls under the Modern Slavery Act criteria, review their published statement.

* Only use suppliers that are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative or equivalent organisations.

The types of questions businesses can ask include:

* Can the leadership, management and staff within your suppliers describe modern slavery?

* What policies and processes do they have in place to assess human rights within their supply chains?

* Do your suppliers and service companies have an ethical policy?

* Have your suppliers presented their approach to ethical trade?

* Have you ever asked how your suppliers manage to cut or hold prices for goods and services?

Modern-day slavery continues to be an issue across the globe. The hope is that if businesses, the public and government work together, then the lives of the most vulnerable people in society will improve.

The Wilberforce Summit is one important step our region is taking to help to achieve global emancipation.

More information on the summit can be found at: www.culturenet.co.uk

Thomas Martin is chairman of UK leading safety experts Arco. The firm is based in Hull.