Around the world millions of people are victims of modern slavery. The complexity of today’s global supply chains means that consumers are often unknowingly contributing to the exploitation of others. Modern slavery is therefore an urgent challenge, which is why Amnesty International worked to help bring about the transparency in supply chain provisions under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Act requires organizations doing business in the UK with a total turnover of £36m or more to report on the steps that they are taking to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place in their global supply chains.

This is a statement made by Amnesty International’s International Secretariat on its own compliance with the requirements of section 54 of the Act. It sets out steps that Amnesty International’s International Secretariat has taken to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place in our supply chains and any part of our own business. The statement follows the framework prescribed by the CORE coalition of NGOs to which Amnesty International contributed, as well as covering all the areas set out at section 54(5) of the Act.

OUR KEY FINDINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• Our suppliers consist predominately of professional consultancies and service providers to support both our substantive human rights work and the operations which support that work. These services are provided almost exclusively by way of direct service provision without extensive supply chains. As such, our supply chain model is therefore generally low risk.
• In conducting a risk assessment of our suppliers we identified some examples of more complex supply chains and goods or services of higher risk which require further investigation.
• We recognize that our internal working practices represent a potential risk area due to the fact that our staff carry out the majority of our work. Although we have strong processes and policies in place, a review specific to modern slavery risks is required.
• We consider that our current processes, in particular our ethical procurement policies and processes, represent a good basis to manage risks associated with modern slavery. However we have identified areas for further investigation and improvement and therefore plan to further develop our approach by taking the following steps:
  •  further investigate and engage with higher risk suppliers on the issue of modern slavery;
  • review and update ethical procurement processes to take account of modern slavery risks;
  •  review and update other key policies and processes including those relating to our internal working practices to ensure that the risks of modern slavery are appropriately managed; and
  • develop and implement a set of specific key performance indicators and related monitoring in relation to modern slavery

Download our 2016 statement here.