Forced Labor Regulations
Modern slavery, a universal problem impacting every region in the world, manifests as human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, domestic servitude, child slavery, descent-based slavery, and forced/early marriage. These different forms of modern slavery include individuals being exploited, coerced, or tricked into losing their freedom. The 2022 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery revealed alarming figures - about 49.6 million people affected (27.6 million in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriages, with roughly 25% overall being children. Unfortunately, this marks a significant increase over the past five years, with 10 million more people facing modern slavery compared to the 2016 global estimates.
Forced labor challenges persist in business supply chains, especially in sourcing from countries lacking legal protections. Of the 27.6 million people trapped in forced labor, 17.3 million are in forced labor exploitation in the private economy, 6.3 million are in commercial sexual exploitation, and nearly 4 million are in forced labor imposed by state authorities.
The Investor Alliance has focused efforts to address state-imposed forced labor in the Uyghur Region, and serves to bring the voice of investors to advocate for robust worker and remedy-centered legislation to eradicate forced labor for example through trade bans of goods produced with forced labor. Please click on the tiles below to learn more about our work in the EU, the US and in other fora.