abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb

這頁面沒有繁體中文版本,現以English顯示

文章

2023年9月11日

作者:
The Guardian

UK: Mandatory anti-slavery declarations risk becoming ‘box-ticking exercise’, say MPs

Campaigners and MPs have said anti-slavery declarations made mandatory by Theresa May risk becoming “a pointless box-ticking exercise” after it emerged that ministers took assurances from one previously slavery-linked company on trust.

Ministers gave IGT, a US gaming corporation that is the technology partner to the national lottery operator, Camelot, a clean bill of health even though the company previously reported significant potential slavery risks in its supply chain and had not said whether these had been eliminated.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it was not responsible for scrutinising companies’ anti-slavery claims.

Under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, helmed by May when she was home secretary, larger companies that operate in the UK are obliged to publish an annual statement connected to modern slavery.

Anti-slavery groups have said that while this has to be approved by the board of directors, the law does not oblige them to set out what exposure they have to slavery or how they are trying to reduce this.

In its 2017 statement, IGT went further than the statutory obligations, saying an analysis of its suppliers found 9% had a high risk of exposure to modern slavery and 18% a medium exposure risk, likely to be a factor of the metals used in gaming technology, the mining of which are sometimes linked to forced or child labour.

Subsequent annual reports cited efforts to tackle the issue, including more scrutiny of suppliers and a hotline to report concerns, but gave no details about how or whether this had been successful in reducing the exposure...

However, when the Conservative MP Tim Loughton asked the DCMS for its assessment of IGT’s exposure to modern slavery, the junior minister Stuart Andrew replied that the company had stated it “did not have any convictions, breaches or risks in relation to modern slavery”.

A spokesperson for IGT said the company had “improved our practices aimed at reducing modern slavery risk in our supply chain since 2017”, continually monitored its supply chain to this end and was committed to reducing any potential connections to slavery.

Asked if IGT had carried out any post-2017 audits of its exposure, or whether it agreed with the DCMS assessment that it now had no risks connected to slavery, the company did not respond.

Sian Lea, the human rights manager at Anti-Slavery International, said the lack of compulsion in the 2015 act for companies to tackle slavery exposure in supply chains was “hugely problematic”.

She said: “The UK must keep up with the stronger laws around the world. We urgently need laws that hold companies accountable for their failure to prevent human rights and environmental harm and that stop goods made with forced labour from being on the UK market.” ...

隱私資訊

本網站使用 cookie 和其他網絡存儲技術。您可以在下方設置您的隱私選項。您所作的更改將立即生效。

有關我們使用網絡儲存技術的更多資訊,請參閱我們的 數據使用和 Cookie 政策

Strictly necessary storage

ON
OFF

Necessary storage enables core site functionality. This site cannot function without it, so it can only be disabled by changing settings in your browser.

分析cookie

ON
OFF

您瀏覽本網頁時我們將以Google Analytics收集信息。接受此cookie將有助我們理解您的瀏覽資訊,並協助我們改善呈現資訊的方法。所有分析資訊都以匿名方式收集,我們並不能用相關資訊得到您的個人信息。谷歌在所有主要瀏覽器中都提供退出Google Analytics的添加應用程式。

市場營銷cookies

ON
OFF

我們從第三方網站獲得企業責任資訊,當中包括社交媒體和搜尋引擎。這些cookie協助我們理解相關瀏覽數據。

您在此網站上的隱私選項

本網站使用 cookie 和其他網絡儲存技術來增強您在必要核心功能之外的體驗。