The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), British Retail Consortium (BRC), Corporate Justice Coalition (CJC), and Trades Union Congress (TUC) have issued a joint statement on the Government’s response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) report on Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains.
Earlier this year, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) recommended that the
government introduce mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD)
legislation, a recommendation that we strongly supported.
While we are disappointed that the government has not yet committed to introducing this legislation in its response to the JCHR report, we are actively engaging in the UK’s Department for Business and Trade Responsible Business Conduct Review and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s National Baseline Assessment, and look forward to their findings due early next year.
Dominique Muller, Executive Director of the Corporate Justice Coalition, said
“There is growing urgency to address corporate accountability and growing calls for mandatory due diligence legislation. The JCHR has laid out how the UK’s existing piecemeal and ad hoc domestic law framework for addressing forced labour is “inadequate”. The government response cites a patchwork of often ineffective sticking plaster regulations highlighting the urgent need for a
holistic approach to addressing human rights abuses and environmental harms in supply
chains. While we recognise the government is undertaking a review of responsible business
conduct there is little transparency on the process. We hope the government can take bold
steps towards a new law that will hold companies to account.”
In this updated statement, we join ETI, BRC and the TUC in continuing to urge the government to take this opportunity to show leadership on business and human rights by introducing robust mHREDD legislation that protects both people and the environment.
Together, ETI, BRC, CJC and TUC represent:
- Over 350 UK high street brands with £800bn in combined turnover
- Trade unions representing 230 million workers worldwide
- Over 100 civil society organisations globally.
