Recently in Osaka-Saki, Japan, the G7 Trade Ministers convened to discuss key issues affecting the global trading system and the topic of fishing subsidies was high on the agenda. Each year, governments worldwide provide an estimated $35.4 billion to subsidize their fishing fleets and over 60% of these subsidies go to commercial fishing that contribute to depletion of the world’s fish stocks. The G7 Ministers pledged to work on additional provisions to the historic agreement struck last year by the World Trading Organization (WTO) to reform fishing subsidies. The call for action was to seek greater alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 14.6, which addresses overfishing and Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Labor is the single largest component of most coffee farmers’ costs of production. In Latin America, for example, labor accounts for the majority of production costs.
A widely-read New York Times article on child labor by unaccompanied child migrants, published in February 2023, detailed the way that young people fleeing economic and political crises in Central America have collided with the tight US labor market and inadequate US labor law enforcement to create a “perfect storm” for child exploitation in the United States.
Verite’s analysis of thousands of recent recruitment transactions between employers and labor recruiters in high-risk labor migration corridors into the Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Gulf Cooperation Council regions finds that fewer than 10% of employers are recruiting workers ethically by paying the full cost of recruitment and preventing workers from being charged for their job.
Debt bondage, due to the imposition of recruitment fees and costs on foreign migrant workers, remains the most pervasive and entrenched form of forced labor in global supply chains today. Reimbursement is an important remedy but, on its own, it is not a solution to the underlying root causes of this ongoing labor abuse.
Working through coalitions is an indispensable part of Verité’s advocacy efforts to influence policy changes that uplift and safeguard the rights and well-being of workers worldwide. Today, Verité’s coalition work involves bringing expertise and knowledge on supply chains and labor rights to the policy arena so that public policy is informed and ultimately enforceable. The following resources and news highlight the latest advancements with our coalition partners.
Social audits have proven to be ineffective in detecting and preventing debt bonded labor, the most pervasive and entrenched form of forced labor in global supply chains today. While deep dive, focused, worker-centric investigations of the type conducted by Verité and like-minded organizations, are the gold standard to detect and remedy these abuses, it is neither practical nor cost effective for buyers, investors, and other stakeholders to use this approach at every workplace in high-risk countries, sectors, supply chain tiers, or migration corridors.
As organizations working to address human trafficking and labor exploitation, we are appalled by the horrific conditions children experienced after fleeing to the United States for refuge. This series in the New York Times demonstrates our government’s inability, unwillingness, or outright refusal to protect minors from forced labor.
In 2022, Verité continued its leadership role on the issue of forced labor in the West African cocoa industry, implementing trainings for cocoa suppliers on identifying and addressing forced labor, and supporting cocoa companies to develop response protocols to help them respond promptly and effectively when indicators of forced labor are found.
Building on the 2016 joint declaration between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to combat human trafficking and child labor, Verité’s Forced Labor Indicators Project (FLIP) is strengthening collaboration between these two West African nations.
Since 2018 in Ghana, and 2021 in Côte d’Ivoire, Verité has fostered coalition-building through Technical Working Groups (TWGs), uniting diverse stakeholders to raise awareness of forced labor and human trafficking, influence policies, and drive national-level change through collaborative expertise.
Based on the success of the FLIP Ghana model, the project is expanding activities into Côte d’Ivoire where project staff will similarly work to build stakeholder capacity to use the ILO indicators to understand and address forced labor risk.
The Sowing Rights, Harvesting Better Futures (SENDEROS) project promotes adherence of the sugarcane and tobacco sectors in Mexico to national regulations and international labor standards. In 2022, SENDEROS collaborated with the Mexican government, companies, producers, and farmworkers to build capacities to detect, remedy, and prevent labor rights issues.
Few reports have as much significance in the world of labor rights as the bi-annual U.S. Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, the latest edition of which was released on September 30.
Verité and the Tent Partnership for Refugees’ new report “Combating Forced and Child Labor of Refugees in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Responsible Sourcing” offers guidance that can help companies hire and incorporate refugees into their supply chains and advocate for their rights as a proactive strategy towards combating forced labor.
As new and emerging human rights due diligence (HRDD) legislation, such as the recently passed EU Corporate Social Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), gains traction, the demand for transparent and accurate information regarding labor recruitment costs has escalated. As global supply chains grapple with the pervasive issue of debt bondage, a deeply rooted manifestation of forced labor, the urgent need to shed light on the hidden financial burdens shouldered by migrant workers has become critical.
The Fostering Fee Accountability and Cost Tracking (FFACT) project, a collaborative effort between Verité and over 10 other civil society organizations (CSOs) in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, is addressing the need for transparent, accurate calculations of recruitment costs through worker-led digital
