Modern Slavery

Different countries use different legal terminologies, but “modern slavery” includes the crimes of human trafficking, slavery and slavery like practices such as servitude, forced labour, forced or servile marriage, the sale and exploitation of children, and debt bondage.

​According to the Global Slavery Index, there were approximately 15,000 people living in “conditions of modern slavery” in Australia in 2016.
Globally it is estimated that there are over 40 million people engaged in Modern Slavery. About two thirds of the global slave trade occurs in the Asia-Pacific. Some of Australia’s biggest trading partners, including China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, are host to some of the most egregious crimes. Which means, that while your internal practices and many of your tier 1 suppliers might clearly display no signs of modern slavery, the probably of finding slavery in your deeper tiers is highly likely. In fact, a survey conducted in 2015 of retailers and their tier 1 suppliers found a 71% likelihood of slavery in their supply chains. If you haven’t identified it yet, it is probably because you are not looking in the right places.
(Ashbridge Centre for Business and Sustainability)

The Modern Slavery Act 2018. is an Act that requires entities based, or operating, in Australia, which have an annual consolidated revenue of more than $100 million, to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and actions to address those risks.
Reports are kept by the Minister in a public repository known as the Modern Slavery Statements Register. Statements on the register may be accessed by the public, free of charge, on the internet.
Organisations are required as part of the report to submit modern slavery statements, describing the risks of modern slavery in the operations and supply chains of reporting entities and entities owned or controlled by those entities.
The statements must also include information about actions taken to address those risks.
Joint modern slavery statements may be given on behalf of one or more reporting entities.

1. The name of your organisation as an entity
2. Your organisation’s structure and operations
3. Your organisation’s key modern slavery risks
4. The actions being taken to address them
5. How your organisation assesses the effectiveness of the actions being taken
6. What consultation has taken place within parts of your organisation’s business (including overseas)
7. Any ‘other initiatives’ – consultation, collaboration etc.

​Informed 365 has helped some of Australia’s biggest companies, prepare for their Modern Slavery reporting statement. We would be most happy to walk you through the process we have taken with other reportable entities. Please call us on 1300 552 335 to speak further.

Below, are some links to other informative sites:

The Australian Government ‘Guidelines for Reporting Entities’: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/criminal-justice/files/modern-slavery-reporting- entities.pdf
Supply Chain Sustainability School Modern Slavery resource library: http://supplychainschool.org.au/resources/modern-slavery.aspx
The Global Slavery Index: https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/
Anti-Slavery Australia: http://www.antislavery.org.au/
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/GuidingprinciplesBusinesshr_eN.pdf
The Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/
The Australian Human Rights Commission: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our- work/complaint-information-service/work-out-your-rights-information-employees
The Dhaka Principles, from the Institute for Human Rights and Business: https://www.ihrb.org/dhaka-principles/
The Australian Government Department of Home Affairs Criminal Justice resources: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us/our-portfolios/criminal- justice/people-smuggling-human-trafficking/modern-slavery

​This Modern Slavery Act requires entities based, or operating, in Australia, which have an annual consolidated revenue of more than $100 million, to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and actions to address those risks. Other entities based, or operating, in Australia may report voluntarily.

​The Minister may request an explanation from an entity about the entity’s failure to comply with a requirement in relation to modern slavery statements, and may also request that the entity undertake remedial action in relation to that requirement. If the entity fails to comply with the request, the Minister may publish information about the failure to comply on the register or elsewhere, including the identity of the entity.