"Coca-Cola, U.S. State Dept to use blockchain to combat forced labor," 17 March 2018

Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) and the U.S. State Department along with two other companies...are launching a project using blockchain’s digital ledger technology to create a secure registry for workers that will help fight the use of forced labor worldwide.

The State Department said this is the government agency’s first major project on this issue using blockchain, reinforcing the technology’s growing application for social causes.

Food and beverage companies are under pressure to address the risk of forced labor in countries where they obtain sugarcane. A study released last year by KnowTheChain (KTC), a partnership founded by U.S.-based Humanity United, showed that most food and beverage companies fall short in their efforts to solve the problem.

Brent Wilton, the company’s global head of workplace rights... “We are partnering with the pilot of this project to further increase transparency and efficiency of the verification process related to labor policies within our supply chain.

The new venture is intended to create a secure registry for workers and their contracts using blockchain’s validation and digital notary capabilities, said Blockchain Trust Accelerator (BTA), a non-profit organization involved in the project.

“The Department of State is excited to work on this innovative blockchain-based pilot,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Busby said...noting that while blockchain cannot compel companies or those in authority to abide by the labor contracts, it can create a validated chain of evidence that will encourage compliance with those contracts.