2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

Organised by Doughty Street Chambers with Traidcraft and Ethical Trade Initiative

Brief description
The session is intended to discuss the issue of combatting modern slavery in supply chains through the perspective of two sectoral responses and two industries. The session will show two short videos (around 5 mins each) on the Rajasthan Stone Sector and the Assam tea Industry, which are meant to highlight some of the issues and then engender discussion on the question of what could be done to combat modern slavery in supply chains from an industry, NGO and legal perspective.

Session objectives
The objectives for the session are:

• To highlight some of the violations in two important supply chains which the attendees may not be aware of.
• To highlight the current campaign on the transparency in the Assam tea supply chain.
• To highlight the current work that has been done and is planning to be done on the Rajasthan Stone Supply chain.
• To have a greater understanding of what are the barriers to combatting modern slavery in those supply chains.
• To have a greater understanding of why companies are finding difficulties in mapping supply chains.
• To have a greater understanding of what legal avenues may be possible for combatting the most serious human rights violations in supply chains.

Key discussion questions

What are the key lessons from these two sectoral campaigns in:

• Addressing the main barriers to combatting modern slavery in supply chains?
• how companies should enhance their due diligence in supply chains?
• why many companies are not enhancing their due diligence in supply chains?
• what stakeholders can do to improve due diligence in supply chains?
• what lawyers can do to improve due diligence in supply chains?

Format of the session
There will be:

• Short video on Assam Tea Supply chain, followed by a 10 min introduction by Fiona Gooch, on the campaign.
• Short video on Rajasthan Stone Supply chain, followed by a 10 min introduction by Krishnendu Mukherjee on the issue.
• Response by Cindy Berman on the issues raised.
• Further response by Fiona Gooch and Krishnendu Mukherjee
• Discussion from the floor.

Background to the discussion
A backdrop to the discussion is the reluctance of many large companies in the UK to engage with s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. By drilling down on lessons from two sectoral case studies, the aim is to generate a discussion rooted in practical examples on how barriers and challenges to progress can be overcome.