A/HRC/35/37
parties are to take effective measures to prohibit the worst forms of child labour, including
child trafficking. Under the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and Abolition
of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), States parties have the obligation to take
measures to abolish forced or compulsory labour. ILO Convention No. 29 was strengthened
with the approval of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930. The
Protocol outlines measures for preventing forced labour and emphasizes the need for victim
protection and access to appropriate and effective remedies, such as compensation. The
measures States are required to take under the Protocol include supporting due diligence by
both the public and private sectors to prevent and respond to risks of forced or compulsory
labour (art. 2 (e)). This obligation is further underscored in the ILO Forced Labour
(Supplementary Measures) Recommendation, 2014 (No. 203), in which States are called on
to provide guidance and support to employers and businesses to take effective measures to
identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the risks of forced or
compulsory labour in their operations or in products, services or operations to which they
may be directly linked (sect. 4 (j)).
16.
Regarding the obligations of States to protect against and redress the human rights
impacts of business, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing
the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework were endorsed by the
Human Rights Council in 2011. In the Guiding Principles, States are requested to set out
clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or
jurisdiction will respect human rights throughout their operations (principle 2). While the
issue of trafficking in supply chains is not specifically addressed in the Guiding Principles,
in accordance with principle 17 businesses should carry out due diligence in order to
identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse human rights
impacts. Pursuant to that same principle, the due diligence should include assessing actual
and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking
responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed, and should cover not only
impacts related to an enterprise’s own activities, but also those to which it may be linked
through its business relationships.
Domestic efforts in enacting non-financial reporting obligations
17.
In the past few years, at the State level, the above-mentioned due diligence principle
and the need to ensure businesses accountability have been at the core of national
legislation developed to respond to consumer demands for more transparency in the
activities of businesses and their impact on trafficking in persons and forced labour.
18.
Notable examples of this are the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of
2010 in the United States, which came into effect in January 2012, and the Modern Slavery
Act of 2015 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Under the
California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, retail sellers and manufacturers with over
$100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts who do business in the state, regardless of
whether or not they are headquartered in California, are required to disclose their efforts to
eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods
offered for sale. In accordance with the Act, companies concerned must report on their
efforts in five different areas: verification, auditing, certification, internal accountability and
training.
19.
Under the Modern Slavery Act, companies with a total turnover of over £36 million
conducting business, or part of a business, in any part of the United Kingdom are required
to publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement to disclose the steps the
organization has taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human
trafficking is not taking place in any of its supply chains and in any part of its own business.
Companies may also provide a statement that the organization has taken no such steps. The
statement may include information on the company’s structure and its supply chains, its
policies and due diligence processes to combat human trafficking and slavery, specific parts
of its business and supply chains that may be exposed to higher risks and steps taken to
mitigate such risks, the effectiveness of such efforts, and training made available for its
staff. In addition, the statement must be signed by the highest level of management. The
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