Impact of Covid-19 on management to eradicate modern slavery from global supply chains: A case study of Indian fashion supply chains

现代奴隶制描述了在经济贫困的情况下对人进行极端剥削的情况，使他们别无选择，只能接受任何有偿工作；而且经常支付离奇的招聘费来确保这一职位。现代奴隶制早于新冠肺炎，并被发现在印度以及国际品牌和零售商的印度服装和时尚供应网络中特别普遍。英国等高附加值出口市场对疫情的经济和政治反应，以及印度等制造业国家的当地反应，可能会增加这些工人在现代奴隶面前的现有脆弱性。鉴于英国和其他国际市场服装和时尚零售业大幅下滑，时尚品牌和零售商以不可抗力为由，取消了对交付产品的付款，并推迟或取消了与孟加拉国、柬埔寨、印度、斯里兰卡、土耳其等许多发展中国家制造商的合同订单。由于这些公司的决定和这些国家的经济封锁，时尚供应商面临的压力比以往任何时候都要大。因此，时装厂的工人很有可能面临更大的现代奴隶制问题风险。对于一个与现代奴隶制问题广泛相关的行业来说，新冠肺炎对数百万工人的福利、福祉和合法权利的影响可能是该行业有史以来最戏剧性的。根据2015年《现代奴隶法》，英国年营业额超过3600万GB的时尚品牌和零售商必须调查和监控其全球供应链面临现代奴隶制风险的程度。需要处理现代奴隶制事件，并每年报告在根除现代奴隶制方面取得的进展。尽管该项目团队之前的研究发现，英国时尚业在遵守MSA方面有一些良好的做法，但该行业相对较低的价值和较差的盈利能力，以及对复杂的全球供应链的依赖，使该行业及其相关工人因不遵守MSA而面临高风险问题。英国时尚市场的快速大幅削减导致订单取消或推迟，这极有可能给品牌及其供应商遵守《现代奴隶法》的能力造成更大的压力。该项目的目标是使用从英国时装学院/英国国际发展部资助的一个最近完成的项目中整理的基线数据，来评估印度的服装行业和供应商对新冠肺炎大流行的反应以及相关的封锁策略，以及对行业内工人的短期和长期影响。通过使用新冠肺炎前的调查结果，并与相同的合作伙伴和行业利益相关者合作，可以直接比较新冠肺炎前和新冠肺炎期间的情况，以确定工人风险增加的领域。通过识别这些风险，可以确定改善指导和政策制定的机会，以减轻这些风险。通过了解疫情如何影响英国时尚品牌及其供应商之间的关系，以及品牌消除现代奴隶制的承诺和资源，将探讨疫情对全球供应链中工人保护的潜在长期影响。我们将从这一点得出关于MSA的适当性的影响。

Modern slavery describes cases of extreme exploitation of people in economically deprived situations that leave them with no choice but to take any paid job; and often paying an outlandish recruitment fee to secure the position. Modern slavery pre-dates Covid-19 and has been found to be particularly prevalent in India and within Indian clothing and fashion supply network for international brands and retailers. The economic and political responses to the pandemic in high value export markets such as the UK, as well as local responses in manufacturing countries such as India, are likely to increase the existing vulnerabilities of these workers to modern slavery.Claiming force majeure in light of the significant down turn for clothing and fashion retail in the UK and other international markets, fashion brands and retailers have cancelled payments for delivered products and have also postponed or cancelled contracted orders placed with manufacturers in many developing countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey and elsewhere. As a consequence of these corporate decisions and the economic lockdowns in these many of these countries, the pressure on fashion suppliers is more intense than ever before. As a consequence, there is a high likelihood that workers in fashion factories will be exposed to greater risks of modern slavery issues. For an industry associated with a very wide range of modern slavery issues, the impact of Covid-19 on welfare, well-being and legal rights for millions of workers could be the most dramatic the industry has ever seen.Fashion brands and retailers in the UK with an annual turnover in excess of £36 million are required through the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) to investigate and monitor the extent to which their global supply chains are at risk of modern slavery. Incidences of modern slavery need to be addressed and progress in eradicating modern slavery reported annually. Although previous research by this project team found that there are pockets of good practice within the UK fashion industry for adherence to the MSA, the relatively low value and poor profitability of the sector, and its reliance on complex global supply chains leaves the industry, and its associated workers exposed to high risk issues for non-compliance to the MSA. The rapid and deep cutbacks in the UK fashion market leading to cancellation or postponement of orders are highly likely to create even more tension in the ability of brands and their suppliers to adhere to Modern Slavery Act.The objective of this project is to use baseline data collated from a recently completed project funded by the British Academy/DFID to assess how the industry and suppliers in India have reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown strategies and the short term and long term implications for workers within the industry.By using the pre-Covid-19 findings and working with the same partners and industry stakeholders, a direct comparison between pre and peri-Covid-19 can be made to determine areas of increased risk for workers. By identifying these risks, opportunities for improved guidance and development of policies can be determined to mitigate these risks.The potential longer-term impacts of the pandemic on the protection of workers in the global supply chain will be explored by understanding how it has affected the relationships between UK fashion brands and their suppliers and the brands' commitment and resources to eradicate modern slavery. We will draw implications from this on the appropriateness of the MSA.