Seven years on from the Rana Plaza disaster in which 1,134 people tragically lost their lives, garment workers’ are still at risk.  As companies scramble to limit financial damage during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of vulnerable people living in countries without a social safety net are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the low pay and poor conditions of workers on precarious contracts around the world. Action is needed now and in future to better protect their rights.

Laws to regulate companies’ behaviour are desperately needed – but at the current time, the UK falls short. We explain why the UK needs to move beyond the Modern Slavery Act and also introduce a law that makes companies act to prevent human rights and environmental abuses.

CORE and 15 other NGOs, unions, investors and multi-stakeholder organisations have signed a statement asking the Government to take tough action to ensure companies make serious efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains.

Brazil is losing ground on eradicating modern slavery from its supply chains. Lessons learned from the implementation of the UK Modern Slavery Act could be the starting point for future legal developments in South America’s largest country, says Caio Borges from leading Brazilian NGO, Conectas Human Rights.

In her blog, Caroline Emberson of the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham, describes findings from a research project investigating the supply chain effectiveness of modern slavery legislation.

The second interim report by the Modern Slavery Act Independent Review makes a series of far-reaching recommendations to remedy the shortcomings of the Transparency in Supply Chains (TISC) clause (section 54), echoing CORE’s submission.

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Tea pickers in Assam. Credit: Traidcraft Exchange / HELM Studio

CORE Coalition, Accountability Counsel, Nazdeek, and other civil society organisations concerned about labour exploitation on Assam tea plantations are writing to 12 major British tea brands and retailers that source tea from Assam, urging them to use their purchasing power to help break the cycle of poverty wages.

A new report published by CORE and ICAR reveals that that a third of companies that have supplied uniforms for UK public sector workers, including the armed forces and prison officers, have not reported on what they are doing to tackle slavery in their supply chains.

CORE and 35 other organisations, including NGOs Anti-Slavery International, Unicef and Oxfam, Supermarkets Tesco and the Co-op, and Unions the TUC and Unison have signed a joint statement published by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner calling on the Government to establish a central modern slavery registry.

Section 54 of the[…]