Engaging Business to End
Trafficking
and Slavery
April 27, 2013
Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, CT
Rev. David M. Schilling
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
ICCR
Faith-based Investor Coalition
•Founded in 1971, ICCR is a coalition of 300
religious investors from the Catholic, Jewish
and Protestant communities in the United States
with a combined investment total of over $100
billion
•ICCR has over 60 associate members--socially
responsible investment firms, public pension
funds, union pension funds, foundations and
universities.
Faith Context
“Faith communities evaluate companies, not
only by what they produce and their impact
on the environment, but also by how
companies contribute to sustainable
community and protect or undermine the
dignity of the human person. We believe
these companies carry responsibility for the
human and moral consequences of their
economic decisions.”
Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility: Bench
Marks for Measuring Business Performance
Faith Context
“The dignity of the human person,
realized in community with others, is
the criterion against which all aspects
of economic life must be measured.”
Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra
Corporate Responsibility
to Respect Human Rights
•ICCR members encourage companies to adopt
comprehensive, transparent, verifiable human
rights policies for their operations, business
partners and suppliers
•15 years ago, only a handful of companies had
human rights policies
•Today, 300 companies have adopted human
rights policies and more to come www.businesshumanrights.org
UN Framework on Business & Human Rights
and the Guiding Principles establish a global
norm for companies to respect human rights and
implement a “human rights due diligence
process:”
•Assess impact
•Integrate findings
•Track and
•Report performance
Human Trafficking/Slavery
An Egregious Violation of Human Rights
Awareness of human trafficking for the purposes
of forced labor/slavery and commercial sexual
exploitation is growing among investors and
companies.
Why?
Human Trafficking/Slavery
Key Drivers of Greater Awareness
•Moral repugnance
•Compliance with national laws
•Serious risk and reputational issue
•Consumer awareness
•Assessing risk further down supply
chains to commodity/materials level
•Media stories (CNN’s Freedom Project)
• Reporting requirements (CA Law;
Dodd/Frank Law- “Conflict Minerals”
reporting)
 Women and girls are greater share of total (55%)
 Children 17 and younger account for 26%
 Majority subjected to forced labour in place of origin
or residence (56%)
Source: International Labour Office (ILO) Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL) 2012
Victims of forced labor by region
PREVALENCE
(per 1000 inhabitants)
Central and South Eastern Europe ….
Africa
…..
Middle East
…..
Asia and the Pacific
…..
Latin America & the Caribbean …..
Developed Economies & EU
…..
4.2
4.0
3.4
3.3
3.1
1.5
Source: International Labour Office (ILO) Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL) 2012
Human Trafficking—
Forced Labor/Slavery in Global
Supply Chains
ICCR members have engaged dozens of
companies in the apparel, footwear, toy,
electronics, automotive and consumer products
sectors on supply chain codes of conduct,
including prohibitions on forced and child labor.
Growing Expectations:
Supply Chain Responsibility
• Beyond 1st Tier: “Monitor all suppliers,
contractors, and sub-contractors, tracing to raw
materials to ensure that measures are in place
throughout the company’s entire supply chain(s)
to prevent human trafficking” (Luxor
Implementation Guidelines)
• Beyond Factory Walls—Role of Labor Brokers
• California Transparency and Supply Chain
Law: “…to provide consumers with information
regarding their efforts to eradicate slavery and
human trafficking from their supply chains.”
Supply Chain Accountability:
Labor Trafficking
1. A policy stating the company’s commitment
to respect human rights, including language
on trafficking/slavery
2. An assessment of actual and potential human
rights impacts, including trafficking and
slavery
3. Integration of the policy and corresponding
assessment into internal oversight systems and
independent monitoring programs
4. Training of employees, contractors and
vendors
Supply Chain Accountability:
Labor Trafficking
5. A clause in contracts with suppliers, host-
government agreements and joint ventures
stating a common repudiation of human
trafficking/slavery
6. Alliances with appropriate authorities
including police, anti-trafficking organizations,
child welfare agencies and public-private
partnerships with governmental institutions
7. Awareness raising and educational
campaigns
8. Annual public reports on performance
Human Trafficking—
Forced Labor/Slavery in Global
Supply Chains
Good practice:
Gap’s response to trafficked children in a subcontracting factory in northern India through a
multi-stakeholder, multi-layered industry-wide
approach in 2007. Case Study in ICCR’s Social
Sustainability Resource Guide:
http://www.iccr.org/publications/2011SSRG.pdf
Government of India’s Ministry for
Rural Development; Gap Inc.
• Worked with Indian Government, a local NGO,
and an apparel supplier in Mewat to create a
handwork center for embroidery for women.
• By helping build a skilled workforce and by
addressing low employment, poverty and the
other social ills that provide a breeding ground
for human trafficking, it’s goal is to eradicate
the practice.
350 women have been trained and are earning income
that enables them to put their children in schools.
Human Trafficking
and the Steel Industry
In 2006, Bloomberg Markets Magazine published a story
on modern slavery, focusing on the production of pig-iron
in Brazil. Every year, thousands of workers are forced to
illegally harvest timber and produce charcoal under the
most extreme and degrading conditions.
Human Trafficking
and the Steel Industry
Charcoal produced at these camps is used to
make pig-iron, which is ultimately sold to
international buyers including Nucor, one of
several companies named in the story.
Investor Engagement With Nucor
Domini Social Investments and ICCR co-filers
submitted three shareholder proposals to Nucor in
2008-10, seeking a Board review of Nucor’s efforts to
ensure fundamental human rights in its global
operations and supply chain. Nucor agreed in 2010 to
require all of its top Brazilian pig-iron suppliers to
join the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave
Labor or the Citizens Charcoal Institute (ICC).
BRAZIL
BRAZIL
Human Trafficking
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
• ICCR members got involved in 2005,
engaging Marriott to adopt the ECPAT code
of conduct to combat the commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
• A shareholder resolution was filed and later
withdrawn because:
• A high level company task force was set
up
• Marriott adopted and implemented a
policy protecting children
Engaging the Hotel Industry
• Since 2005, ICCR members have engaged a number
of hotel chains.
Those that have adopted policies against trafficking
include: Choice Hotels, Hilton, Host Hotels,
Marriott International, Starwood, Wyndham
Worldwide. Engagement of 8 hotel chains around
World Cup; 9 hotel chains in London before
Olympics.
Engaging the Airline Industry
• Airlines are being approached to do in-flight
messaging on human trafficking and training of
front-line personnel.
• Continental, United, US Airways and
Delta/Northwest, which signed the ECPAT code in
March 2011.
The London Olympics and
Human Trafficking
• Letters from investors with $58bn AUM to:
– 13 hospitality companies
– 21 Olympic sponsors
• Train staff and suppliers to recognize and avoid
trafficking
• Monitor supply chains
• Examine hiring and recruitment practices
• Report publicly on progress
– International Olympic Committee
• Website with tools and actions
• Report highlighting good practice
• Press
Multi-stakeholder Initiatives
Finding and addressing labor trafficking in
complex global supply chains requires working
with a range of stakeholders to make progress
down to the commodity level.
Multi-stakeholder Initiatives
Examples include multi-stakeholder campaigns
coordinated by the Responsible Sourcing Network
at As You Sow:
•Conflict minerals from the Congo that are used
in electronic products
•Forced child labor in cotton fields of Uzbekistan
Uzbek Government-Sponsored
Forced
Child Labor
What We Can Do:
• Awareness/education of congregations on
trafficking and slavery issues
• Consumer choices. Go to:
http://slaveryfootprint.org/#where_do_you_live
“How many slaves work for you?”
• Get involved: Not For Salehttp://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
• Free2Work ratings of companies-http://www.free2work.org/
ICCR Resources
On Trafficking/Slavery
•ICCR’s Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Investor
Statement
http://www.iccr.org/news/press_releases/2011/pr_slaveryinve
storstatement062711.php
•“Effective Supply Chain Accountability: Investor
Guidance on Implementation of the California
Transparency in Supply Chains Act and Beyond”
http://www.iccr.org/news/press_releases/2011/pr_SB657_111
711.php
•Business Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act
http://www.iccr.org/news/press_releases/2012/pr_slaverya
ct012612.php
•“Celebration without Exploitation”
http://www.iccr.org/publications/2012StrategiesToAddress
Trafficking.pdf?id=1205
ICCR Resources on Trafficking/Slavery
•Rabbis for Human Rights-North America (ICCR
member) http://rhrna.org/issuescampaigns/slavery-ahuman-trafficking.html
•ICCR Members’ global networks
--Example, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) provides
humanitarian relief and development assistance to the
poor and marginalized in over 100 countries and
territories around the world. http://crs.org/where/
•Faith Based trafficking networks
-- Example, Talitha Kum, a International Network of
Religious Life Against Trafficking In Persons, based
in 20 countries. Contact: Sr. Estrella Castalone
uisg_talithakum@yahoo.it
Other Resources
•Global Business Coalition against Human Trafficking
(gBCAT) http://www.gbcat.org
•Luxor Guidelines to the Athens Ethical Principles
http://www.endhumantraffickingnow.com/luxor_protocol.ph
p
•Dhaka Principles: Migration with Dignity
http://www.ihrb.org/pdf/Dhaka_Principles/Dhaka_Principle
s_Long_version.pdf
•Staff Wanted, Program of IHRB focused on labor
trafficking in hospitality industry—London Olympics
http://www.ihrb.org/pdf/Staff_Wanted.pdf
Thank You!
Rev. David Schilling
Senior Program Director
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
dschilling@iccr.org
www.iccr.org
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