Is there a link between businesses, human rights, and the environment?

Simple answer: yes.?

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The longer answer is that there is a clear link between all three of these, as can be seen in the UN's 2022 resolution affirming "the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment".??

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Under this banner, businesses should consider:?

• Reduction of emissions and environmental impact through-out their supply chain?
• The lifecycle of their products?
• Responsible use of natural resources, including water.??

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Businesses operating in, or with suppliers from the global south should be especially aware of climate change impacts, as extreme weather events become more common. Typhoons, hurricanes, or droughts can all cause significant damage to communities and to livelihoods. This is particularly true for those in the agricultural sector.??

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Extreme weather events can also result in the displacement of communities, often from rural areas to urban environments. These displaced people are then more vulnerable to infringements on their human rights, via modern slavery. This means forced labour, below minimum wage pay (if at all), dangerous working conditions, and twenty-hour days.?

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As those engaging in exploitative practices are - to say the least - also unlikely to abide by environmental regulation, there is unsurprisingly an overlap between industries with a high prevalence of modern slavery, and those causing significant environmental degradation.??

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In a circular fashion, industries under economic pressure as a result of a ecosystem decline are more likely to engage in forced labour practices. The Thai fishing industry, for example, catches about 14% of what it did in the 60s. Stemming from this economic pressure, it now exploits workers from neighbouring Cambodia and Myanmar, brought to Thailand under fraudulent contracts. They're then kept there through debt-bondage; workers are told they must pay off a debt incurred through travel, or recruitment fees.??

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This is a pattern that can be seen worldwide, including in countries with a relatively high level of law enforcement and low levels of corruption, like the UK, Norway, and Canada.?

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?What action can business take??

When businesses respect human rights, you demonstrate your commitment to building sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships with those who influence or are impacted by your operations. This includes customers, communities, workers, and investors - as well as governments in the countries in which you operate.??

It is important for businesses to do due diligence. This may involve:?

• Assessing whether a supplier's code of conduct is up to international standards, and whether this code of conduct is applied in practice.?
• Establishing if operations or supply chain activities are in an area likely to be impacted by climate change, e.g. extreme weather events, and committing to monitoring activities in areas identified as vulnerable.??

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Ask the right questions:?

• Do all your procurement agreements have clauses requiring your suppliers not to use modern slavery in their operations??
• Do you/they carry out checks??
• Are these checks physical, or written? If physical, are they carried out with notice, or at random? Are independent third parties used to validate???
• How can you triage your suppliers, and identify who is most at risk of using modern slavery? Do your checks match the risk??

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How can Ardea International help???

Ardea International understands that businesses must ensure that they establish robust due diligence procedures. We support our clients by helping them identify how to manage human rights impacts and risks, ensuring they meet legal compliance obligations and integrate best practices into their policies and procedures.???

You can get in touch with us at:?[email protected]????

?Ask a question for next week: https://forms.office.com/e/yfXyeEvahr

Useful resources to get you started:

[Web Page] Climate Change & Modern Slavery - Walk Free

https://www.walkfree.org/reports/climate-change-and-modern-slavery/

[White Paper] Which Sectors Have the Highest Prevalence of Modern Slavery in the UK? - Ardea International

https://www.ardeainternational.com/thinking/white-paper-which-sectors-have-the-highest-prevalence-of-modern-slavery-in-the-uk/

[Webinar Recording] Sustainability Reporting: back to compliance? With Peter Paul van de Wij & Elaine Cohen - Ardea International https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3ox-zYePbg

[Podcast] Planetary Health & Inspiring Inclusion with Laetania Belai Djandam - Ardea International

https://www.ardeainternational.com/thinking/planetary-health-and-inspiring-inclusion/

Bibliography:

Bales, K., Sovacool, B. K. (2021). From forests to factories: How modern slavery deepens the crisis of climate change. Energy Research & Social Science, 77, 1-9. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ludwig.lub.lu.se/science/article/pii/S2214629621001894

Brown, D., Boyd, D. S., Brickell, K., Ives, C. D., Natarajan, N., & Parsons, L. (2021). Modern slavery, environmental degradation and climate change: Fisheries, field, forests and factories. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 4(2), 191-207. https://doi-org.ludwig.lub.lu.se/10.1177/2514848619887156

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: resolution. (2022). UN Doc A/RES/76/300. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3983329?ln=en&v=pdf