Proactive measures needed to free supply chains from modern slavery

Businesses must be proactive in ensuring their supply chains are free from modern slavery.

Digital Nation Australia spoke to Stephen Morse, founder and CEO of Unchained Solutions, who is working with clients in the private and not for profit sectors to help them comply with the Modern Slavery Act.

According to Morse, modern slavery in Australia is “hidden in plain sight”.

“It's about choosing what we want to see. One of the dynamics in Australia is really there's a lot of ambiguity around the risk of modern slavery, despite lots of anecdotal evidence that it does occur and examples of people being exploited.”

Brands must proactively seek to remove modern slavery from their supply chains in order to ensure that they are acting responsibly, he said.

“You can make an investment in investigating risk and then think, ‘Oh well we’ve laid out these processes and we've measured the impact of those processes and we haven't really found anything.’ That's another thing to go out of your way to find the risk.”

According to Morse, if businesses haven’t found any traces of slavery, it means they aren’t working hard enough.

One tool that he highlights that is supporting the eradication of modern slavery is Just Good Work.

The platform provides preventative measures to support workers in understanding their rights, and the local laws and customs that they should be aware of before accepting work. This can assist them to make informed decisions and know what to look for in the beginning stages.

Although Morse agrees that technology has a role to play in the fight against modern slavery, he says that its not a complete role.

“It needs to be a combination of having human beings expressing empathy, looking into the nuances of the complexities, which often technology can't do on, on the social spectrum,” said Morse.

"To combine that with the use of technology to increase the voice of those who are being exploited, to increase the transparency and traceability to give companies what they need. And to advance the process of due diligence.”