Tag Archives: addressing modern slavery

Modern Slavery Risks in the Cleaning and Security Industry

August 8, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, cleaning accountability frae, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, exploitation, forced labour, governance, labour standards, modern slavery act, regulation, Reporting, Supply Chain, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, Unions, vulnerable workers, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

This briefing session brings together academic experts in the fields of modern slavery, labour law compliance, supply chain due diligence and temporary migrant workers, to share insights and advice on how universities can demonstrate leadership in promoting good labour practices. The aim of this briefing is to assist relevant stakeholders in the higher education sector to understand their role in promoting good labour practices, and provide guidance on practically how to do this. This briefing is aimed at professionals working in university procurement and contract management, university modern slavery working groups, university risk and compliance, cleaning and security contractors that currently hold contracts at university campuses.

Continue reading Modern Slavery Risks in the Cleaning and Security Industry →

Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV

June 15, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Australia, civil society, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, ethics, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, forced labour, global supply chains, governance, government, human rights, human rights abuses, labour, labour standards, legislation, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, modern slavery act, regulation, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, trafficking, transparency, vulnerable workers, work, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Modern slavery may seem a distant issue in Australia, but a new course will teach graduates why an understanding of it is increasingly important in every business

It might be easy to imagine, especially in Australia, that slavery is a thing of the past. But an estimated 15,000 people were living in conditions of modern slavery here in 2016, through forced marriage and labour, sexual exploitation, debt bondage and human trafficking – exploitation that disproportionately affects women, children, asylum seekers and migrants. Globally, in that same year, 40.3 million victims were being abused.

Martijn Boersma is an associate professor of human trafficking and modern slavery at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where a new course aims to provide the skills and knowledge that will enable people to work proactively to put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Continue reading Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV →

Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach

July 30, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, Climate change, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, environment, exploitation, forced labour, global supply chains, human rights, human rights abuses, migrant workersmartijn

Climate change has made millions vulnerable to modern slavery. Displacement and migration because of climate change creates a nexus of harm that pushes people to accept work that actively contributes to environmental destruction of forests, fisheries, waterways and land. Weak regulation and enforcement, corruption, a lack of political will and the lure of profits combined with vulnerability of people creates a vicious circle of opportunity for forced labour, child labour, debt bondage and slavery. In this webinar, speakers explored how an integrated approach to addressing modern slavery, climate change and environmental destruction can lead to impactful interventions by governments, communities, workers and business.

Hosted by: Jenny Stanger, Anti-slavery Taskforce, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Facilitated by: Dr Martijn Boersma, Associate Professor of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking at University of Notre Dame Australia

Continue reading Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach →

Consultation on Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation (New Zealand)

June 14, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, governance, government, human rights abuses, justine nolan, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, multistakeholder collaboration, Reporting, Supply Chain, trade unions, trafficking, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Modern slavery and worker exploitation are severe types of exploitation that can be found both internationally and in New Zealand. To address these behaviours, significant collaboration between government agencies as well as civil society, corporations, trade unions, academics, and international partners is needed.

The New Zealand Government sought feedback on a new law aimed at addressing modern slavery and worker exploitation in New Zealand and around the world. The law would introduce new obligations for organisations with operations and supply chains in New Zealand. Below is a submission made by academics and representatives from civil society that work on modern slavery and labour exploitation.

Will Ratification of the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour Make Australia’s Approach to Modern Slavery More Survivor-Centred?

April 8, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Australia, exploitation, forced labour, forced labour protocol, global supply chains, governance, human rights, human rights abuses, ILO, legislation, Martijn Boersma, modern slavery, ratification, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, vulnerable workers, worker exploitationmartijn

40.3 million people are a victim of modern slavery, 21 million of which are in forced labour.

While these estimates are not uncontentious, recurrent news reports that detail abusive working practices, including modern slavery in Australia and overseas, remind us that this is a real and significant problem.

For example, investigations into the Australian horticultural industry have uncovered a pattern of systemic underpayment and abuse of workers. Similarly, the production of rubber gloves in Malaysia is tainted by exploitative practices, such as excessive recruitment fees, withholding of passport and wages, threats to workers and forced overtime.

In the last four years, the Australian Government has taken steps to address workplace exploitation in the operations and supply chains of Australian companies and this week it ratified the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Protocol on Forced Labour.

With the ratification of the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour, Australia inches closer to making its response to modern slavery more survivor-centred, placing increased emphasis on the rehabilitation and compensation of those that have been exploited.

Continue reading Will Ratification of the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour Make Australia’s Approach to Modern Slavery More Survivor-Centred? →

Modern Slavery and the Employment Relationship: Defining the Continuum of Exploitation

February 1, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, consumers, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, governance, governments, human rights, human rights abuses, justine nolan, labour, labour standards, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, modern slavery act, regulation, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

The Special Issue on ‘Modern Slavery and the Employment Relationship: Defining the Continuum of Exploitation’ in the Journal of Industrial Relations is now available online. The Special Issue focuses on what the large- and small-scale risk factors are that can cause working conditions to deteriorate, on how people can become trapped in exploitative conditions, and on what can be done to prevent and remedy labour abuses. Included articles explore the macro-level, specifically by examining global value chains and the labour exploitation within the global production regime and by examining the producer-end (rather than buyer end) of value chains and the responsibilities of companies for working conditions further downstream (rather than upstream) in the value chain. Other articles explore the market-based character of business and human rights regulation. One article concludes that market enforcement of modern slavery regulation is sub-optimal and should include $ penalties and a public regulator while another article asks whether business and human rights regulation originating in the Global North can improve working conditions in the Global South (spoiler: it’s complicated). Articles looking at the micro-level examine labour regimes on factory floors, specifically by examining the influence of the post-Rana Plaza labour governance system on worker outcomes and conditions of employment (hardship remains but less sweatshops) and by documenting the work experiences of Romanian transnational live-in care workers in Austria, where workers gave accounts of having been treated unfairly due to their dependence on placement agencies and employers.

On modern slavery, we need moral leadership not market morality

August 29, 2021Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill, Customs Amendment Bill, forced labour, modern slavery, modern slavery actmartijn

This week the Senate passed a Bill seeking to amend Federal customs regulations to prohibit the import of any goods made using forced labour.

The government introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2018. Do we need another law on this issue? Do we now need to make it unlawful to import goods produced by forced labour into Australia?

The short answer is yes.

Continue reading On modern slavery, we need moral leadership not market morality →

Review of “Addressing Modern Slavery” in Journal of Industrial Relations

September 15, 2020Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, book review, journal of industrial relations, justine nolan, labour exploitation, Martijn Boersma, modern slavery, reviewmartijn

Modern slavery has gained attention in scholarship, legislation and media in recent years – and rightly so. As Nolan and Boersma discuss, the term ‘modern slavery’ is not unproblematic but is now commonly used to refer to several practices, including forced labour, bonded labour, trafficking, child slavery and forced marriage (pp. 7–8). The book is extremely timely and of particular interest in Australia since the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act (Cth) 2018. This Act requires large businesses and the Commonwealth government to report on risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains (including overseas) and steps they are taking to address them. The first reports under the Act are due in 2020.

Continue reading Review of “Addressing Modern Slavery” in Journal of Industrial Relations →

Melbourne Asia Review on Addressing Modern Slavery

August 29, 2020Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, book review, Martijn Boersma, modern slavery, reviewmartijn

Addressing Modern Slavery provides important insights into the complexities that perpetuate slavery in a contemporary context, long after it was officially abolished. This book confronts the dark side of development that comes with intractable, complex, multi-tiered global supply chains. In particular, it highlights that global supply chains not only link us to modern slavery, but frequently generate the preconditions necessary for modern slavery to flourish in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and mining, which account for the majority of slaves in the world. Governments can also be complicit: while modern slavery can be connected to companies and consumers through supply chains, there are also governments that actively promote and benefit from slave labour.

Continue reading Melbourne Asia Review on Addressing Modern Slavery →

Addressing Modern Slavery at Adelaide Writers’ Week

March 18, 2020Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, adelaide writers week, consumers, exploitation, Martijn Boersma, podcastmartijn

“Does our globalised economy rely on the exploitation of the vulnerable? Are we, as consumers, an intrinsic part of chains of supply and complicity that keep 40 million people enslaved? Justine Nolan and Martijn Boersma wrote Addressing Modern Slavery to define and dissect a phenomenon we think of as remote but is more prevalent than at any time in human history. Based on years of forensic research, this impressive book is mandatory reading for anyone committed to ending exploitation and the scourge of modern slavery.”

Martijn's Blog

Critical Observations