Our members have been long committed to promoting decent working conditions worldwide but recognise that the eradication of forced labour remains a key challenge. We are, therefore, now working with our members to drive global collaboration between retailers and manufacturers and thereby address forced labour as one of the most pressing social issues of our time. This commitment was confirmed with the January 2016 announcement of a new, Board-approved Social Resolution on Forced Labour. The resolution is the first industry commitment of its kind.

This was followed up later in 2016 with the introduction of the Forced Labour Priority Industry Principles, which look to address three of the most problematic, yet often common, employment practices across the world that can lead to cases of forced labour.

Eradicating Forced Labour

We recognise our role as responsible businesses to respect and promote human rights and decent working conditions worldwide, in alignment with ongoing efforts such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international frameworks including the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the recently launched United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of our wider efforts to promote human rights and decent working conditions worldwide, we acknowledge the broad societal problem of modern slavery and we strive to eradicate forced labour from our value chains. We will also continue not to tolerate forced labour within our own operations.

To do so, we will harness the power of collective action as an industry group to identify and address issues and geographies of shared concern, enhancing the efficiency of any individual company initiatives in this area.

Identifying Problematic Employment Practices

Building on momentum from our ground-breaking Forced Labour Resolution, the three Priority Industry Principles will help to prioritise action to address the primary drivers of forced labour within the consumer goods industry and beyond.

While certain employment and recruitment practices may not initially appear problematic, in aggregate or combined with other forms of leverage, they can result in forced labour, particularly among vulnerable workers.

We will take active measures to apply these Principles across our global value chains and own operations, to cases where such practices may lead to forced labour. We will seek to apply these Principles to all workers regardless of their employment status, location, contractual arrangements or role. We will do this as part of our collective journey to advance the human rights of workers and positively shape global labour markets.