OSCE Special Representative launches publication calling for action to stop human trafficking in the private sector

Businesses which procure products and services have an important role to play in preventing human trafficking, by setting minimum standards to be met by all their suppliers, concludes a new publication launched on 4 November 2014 by the OSCE’s Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova.

Similarly, procurement managers for government-run organizations as well as private businesses can make proactive decisions that play a key role in keeping human trafficking out of their supply chains, the paper, “Ending Exploitation. Ensuring that Businesses do not contribute to Trafficking in Human Beings: Duties of States and the Private Sector”, adds.

The publication outlines a number of ways that businesses can contribute more effectively to the fight against human trafficking, emphasizing that large corporations can have a profound effect on other companies that supply them with goods and services.

“They can influence their suppliers’ workplace in a positive way - for example, by suspending purchases with a condition that they will resume if the supplier can demonstrate effective reform and accountability,” Ambassador Jarbussynova said. “Enacting procurement policies that hold suppliers accountable, and require them to check that trafficking in human beings and labour exploitation have not occurred is also essential.”

The publication describes existing practices in the private sector, such as voluntary codes of conduct, initiatives to influence the recruitment industry, and challenges, including compliance and verification. It also presents the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and makes recommendations to both the private sector and to States.

Also underscored are the complexity of keeping goods and services made and provided by trafficked persons out of supply chains, noting that for example, agricultural produce picked by workers who have been trafficked may be marketed in the same containers as produce harvested by legally-employed agricultural workers.