Verité has identified a number of factors that increase workers’ vulnerability to becoming victims of human trafficking, all of which will likely worsen during and after the COVID-19 crisis, including poverty, inequality, political instability, conflict, crime/violence, and tightening of restrictions on immigration.
As we at Verité take stock of COVID-19’s many implications for employers and supply chain actors, we particularly want to emphasize the importance of the high-level principles that companies should promote in their own operations and supply chains.
Verité is excited to launch a major new program in Mexico to promote and protect labor rights more effectively in the sugarcane sector. SENDEROS will combine intensive rights training and grievance mechanisms for workers with closely coordinated efforts with both the Mexican government and the private sector to create a new approach to labor rights enforcement in a sector that has long experienced poor working conditions.
While we are humbled by the great deal more we need to accomplish, we are proud of what we have been able to achieve this past year. Please join us in a review of selected notable projects from 2019.
New Estimates of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking in Global Supply Chains | Modern Slavery is a Problem that Companies Cannot Ignore | Worker-Owned Apps Are Trying to Fix the Gig Economy’s Exploitation | World’s Largest Fund Drops G4S Over Modern Slavery Fears | And More