UK risks being a dumping ground for goods made using forced labour – JCHR report warns

• UK's legal and regulatory frameworks are inadequate for tackling supply chain abuses
• Report calls for the introduction of mandatory human rights due diligence, penalties for non-compliance and import bans on goods linked to forced labour
• Forced labour victims need greater access to justice in UK courts

The UK has fallen behind in its approach to addressing forced labour in supply chains and is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for goods made using forced labour, a Joint Committee on Human Rights report has found. It warns that human rights abuses are so pervasive in key sectors it is inevitable these goods are entering the UK market, as no effective safeguards are in place.

The UK's current legal and regulatory frameworks are inadequate for confronting the complexity of abuses in global supply chains. Businesses should be mandated to undertake due diligence of their supply chains, with penalties levied for non-compliance and new routes for victims to bring their case to UK courts.

Import bans should be established for goods linked to forced labour, in line with the approach taken by the USA and in the EU. The government must clearly set out who is responsible for identifying and seizing these illicit goods and establish robust oversight mechanisms for the new import ban.

Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Lord David Alton said:

“Over the course of this inquiry we have seen shocking evidence of human rights abuses in a wide range of industries that are a major part of UK trade. Other nations have progressed in eradicating these appalling abuses from their supply chains, but the UK has been left behind.

“Global supply chains are highly complex and abuses can be well hidden. A voluntary system is not going to be enough to root out wrongdoing. We are calling for a range of measures to give the UK robust protections against these goods entering the market. 

“Set out in law that it is illegal to sell goods made using forced labour in the UK. Mandate companies to carry out due diligence on their supply chains and fine those who don't. Impose import bans on goods made with forced labour. Empower consumers to know the origins of what they are buying. 

“Most of all, we want to see strong leadership from the Government. It's intolerable in the 21^st century that we profiteer on the broken backs of slave labour, from Uyghur servitude in Xinjiang to child labour in the cobalt mines of the Congo, and elsewhere. The Government knows nature of the problem and the challenge but meaningful action has been lacking.”

The UK imports over $26 billion of goods from five sectors where high levels of forced labour are found: electronics, garments, fish, timber and textiles. There is also evidence of human rights abuses in other industries – a BBC World Service report uncovered evidence of processed tomatoes labelled as being from Italy were in fact highly likely to have been produced using forced labour in China.

The existing legal and regulatory frameworks are inadequate for ensuring UK markets are free from goods made using forced labour. The Government must show visible leadership and improve co-ordination between law enforcement, intelligence agencies and ministerial departments to remove these goods from supply chains.

Relying on companies to voluntarily implement due diligence is failing to root out forced labour across supply chains. There is not a uniform approach to assess the risks of wrongdoing in supply chains, and proactive companies can be at a competitive disadvantage. The Joint Committee calls for legislation to be introduced to mandate that all companies undertake human rights due diligence of their supply chains. Penalties proportionate to the size of the company turnover should be levied against companies that fail to carry this out.

The newly announced Supply Chain Centre should support companies to carry out human rights due diligence of their supply chains by providing a single point of access to verified information, guidance and resources. Care should also be taken to ensure that the regulatory burden on small businesses SMEs is proportionate with adequate support and resources to help them comply with the new duties.

The UK should impose import bans on goods linked to forced labour – following the approach taken by the USA and EU. Failure to do so would risk the UK market becoming a dumping ground for goods prohibited in other markets.

Forced labour risks should be a key consideration in future trade deals and Free Trade Agreements, the report finds. The UK should carry out impact assessments to assess how any trade agreement will impact the likelihood of forced labour, and establish a process for monitoring whether human rights standards are being met.

The technologies underpinning the UK's green energy transition are reliant on critical minerals, a sector with a high risk of forced labour. The Joint Committee is disappointed by the lack of focus on forced labour in the Government's long awaited Solar Roadmap. The Government must urgently address this omission and clearly set out how it plans to mitigate the risk of forced labour in solar procurement and in the UK's supply chains for critical minerals.

It is currently too difficult for victims of forced labour to bring a case against UK companies who have profited from their exploitation. A new civil cause of action of failure to prevent forced labour should be created, the Joint Committee finds. This would allow victims to bring a case in UK courts with the burden on companies to prove they had adequate procedures in place to prevent forced labour.