CORRUPTION

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Interview with Matthew Friedman Interview with Matthew Friedman The Mekong Club International Affairs Forum In recent years, businesses involved in human trafficking and slave labor have come under fire. Could you elaborate on the issue of human trafficking in the private sector? Human trafficking, which represents the recruitment, transport, receipt, and harboring of people for the purpose of exploiting their labor, affects almost all parts of the world. Globally, it is estimated that there are over 45.8 million men, women, and children in situations in modern-day slavery today, with over half in Asia alone. These victims, who can be found in factories, construction sites, fisheries, and sex venues, are forced to work for little or no pay, deprived of their freedom, and often subjected to unimaginable suffering. While most people think that human trafficking focuses primarily on women and girls being forced into the sex industry, this represents only about 25 percent of the total cases. The remaining 75 percent of human trafficking cases fall under the heading “forced labor.” Out of this number, it is estimated that 60 percent of these victims are associated with manufacturing supply chains, which begin with a grower or producer and end with a finished product purchased by consumers in the retail market. Over more than a decade, the international anti-human trafficking community has not come close to meeting its full potential. While individual, small-scale success stories can be found, many victims are never identified. For example, the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report; US Department of State, 2015) was only able to account for 48,000 victims receiving assistance globally (0.1 percent helped). During the same time period, there were less than 4,000 convictions for an estimated 500,000 criminals engaged in human trafficking activity (0.8 percent). This number has remained unchanged for several years. Why are these numbers so low? According to the United Nations (International Labor Organization, 2014), the profits generated from this illicit trade are estimated to exceed US$150 billion annually. But despite the size of the problem, annual global donor contributions add up to only around US$350 million, which represents 0.23 percent of total profits generated by the criminals. With this in mind, it is not surprising that the number of trafficked persons continues to increase. In fact, the UN has indicated that there are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in history (Power, 2013). Why should the business world care about this? First, most forced labor cases have some direct or indirect link with the private sector. Unlike the UN and other civil society organizations, the private sector knows how to root out bad businesses and already has the necessary skills and capabilities to tackle the problem, for example, legal, compliance, accounting, communications, and financial expertise. Second, labor trafficking often undercuts the price of legitimate businesses, offering an unfair advantage to those involved. Third, when human trafficking conditions are found in a given 78
International Affairs Forum Fall 2016 business sector, it can result in an entire industry receiving a bad name. This trend is emerging in the electronics, garment, chocolate, and seafood sectors. Fourth, this topic is becoming a growing public concern (similar to environmental issues), with more and more consumers asking questions about whether the products they buy are “slave free.” Fifth, with new legislation out of North America and Europe, it will be expected that most declarations of Corporate Social Responsibility address this topic. Finally, and most importantly, slave-like conditions have been and will always be incompatible with good business. How can the private sector itself improve on approaches to fighting human trafficking? Can the private sector provide a unique perspective in this area? Yes, companies can play an important role in addressing the problem. First, they can look at their business to determine if there are any risk factors. Based on this risk, companies can take specific measures to maintain a slave-free supply chain, including these: - Conducting investigative audits that illuminate the real conditions faced by workers throughout the continuum of the supply chain and describe them in qualitative and quantitative degrees to top-level corporate decision makers; • Conducting migrant worker assessments focused on conditions at workplaces that employ foreign contract or migrant labor, with a goal of detecting potential risks for trafficking and forced labor; • Conducting action-oriented training for staff in global corporations and their suppliers with the goal of expanding awareness and helping reduce the negative impacts of global sourcing; • Consulting at the points of maximum leverage on how to implement effective human rights protections within global businesses; and • Facilitating multistakeholder initiatives that join private sector business, workers, labor, civil society, and governments to focus on both strategic and practical levels with the goal of achieving positive social change. What are more effective alternatives to naming and shaming private companies involved in human trafficking? While there may always be a need for naming and shaming when excessive labor violations are uncovered that are highly criminal in nature, or where companies repeatedly fail to address problems, there are also other options. A more successful approach might include engagement with the private sector in a positive and supportive manner. For example, if slavery-like conditions are identified, the first step could be for concerned organizations to work with the company to help them to correct the problem without it going public. This would change the approach from being confrontational to collegial. Over the past three years, I have met with countless private sector managers and directors from many major companies who really do care about ensuring that slavery and exploitation are not found within their value chain. They share the same world that we do and worry about the future for their own offspring. They also understand that an increased attention to the plight of workers in their companies’ supply chains means that addressing these problems is both a business and moral imperative. Fall 2016 79
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Fall 2016 Volume 7, Issue 2 CORRUPT
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HUMAN TRAFFICKING 73 Interview with
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Special Themed Issue: Editors’ In
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9 Corruption - Security: Forging US
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Political Will - or Political Won
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Page 74 and 75: 73 Interview with Dr. Myria Vassili
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REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES Corruption
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%e2%80%9chow-to%e2%80%9d/, 25 Novem
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1 By Law No. 228/2003. 2 In particu
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Shen, Anqi (2015). Offending Women
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direct experience of some of the is
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Contributors in this issue: Corrupt
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