Persisting Harm: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability for Modern Forms of Slavery

Abstract

Across the globe, workers are at risk of being placed into forced labour, trafficked, or enslaved at various points including during recruitment, hiring, and employment. By engaging in the production, purchase, and sale of goods produced by forced or trafficked labourers, businesses bear responsibility for the human rights impacts of their supply chains. Although many companies are taking positive steps to address this risk, others lag behind. Positive business initiatives seem largely to be motivated by pressure from regulators, consumers or investors, rather than the threat of criminal law enforcement. In most countries, modern forms of slavery are criminalized, but few prosecutions have occurred at the national level. Modern forms of slavery persist, and businesses continue to be involved in the perpetration of such harms. This article argues that despite promising business and government responses to addressing modern forms of slavery in supply chains, gaps in protection at both the domestic and international level may contribute to the persistence of these offenses. The article first details the ways international criminal law and the corporate responsibility to respect human rights could shape companies’ responses. Second, the article examines current approaches to addressing modern forms of slavery as well as gaps in protection associated with voluntary company efforts, company efforts in response to regulatory requirements, and government led remedial measures. The conclusion argues that in light of the continued persistence of modern forms of slavery despite a plethora of voluntary initiatives and mandatory laws and regulations at the domestic level, more avenues of accountability and increased enforcement at all levels, including internationally, are needed to end this scourge.