Reducing Modern Slavery in the Health Sector's Supply Chains for Personal Protective Equipment

我们由人权理事会资助的关于“利用供应链的全系统方法解决马来西亚医用手套工厂的现代奴役问题”的研究提供了强有力的证据，证明了2019冠状病毒病大流行期间医用手套行业存在强迫劳动问题，并提出了补救措施的机会。它侧重于确定劳工问题，特别是在马来西亚生产体检手套以及在大流行期间向联合王国国家卫生服务机构供应体检手套方面的强迫劳动指标。我们的研究以国际劳工组织关于强迫劳动的11项指标为框架，发现了COVID-19大流行之前和期间所有11项指标的证据，其中有证据表明，限制行动、隔离、恶劣的工作和生活条件以及过度加班等4项指标在大流行期间恶化。然而，这条供应链中的劳工问题是长期存在的。持续存在的强迫劳动问题表明，需要在供应链的各个环节采取政策、法律和商业措施，进一步解决现代奴隶制和恶劣的工作条件。后续影响和参与活动将促进和扩大我们关于解决医疗手套行业内外个人防护装备（PPE）供应链中的现代奴役问题和英国从马来西亚采购的建议的采纳。医疗手套项目的研究结果和建议可以为其他个人防护用品供应链（包括口罩、防护服和围裙供应链）如何解决现代奴役问题提供信息。此外，与英国以外正面临同样挑战的政府进行接触也有空间。与公共部门合作，改善商品的道德采购，有助于更广泛地利用政府采购促进社会公益。来自纽卡斯尔大学、苏塞克斯大学和诺丁汉大学的多学科团队，以及道德贸易咨询公司impact Limited，将与现代奴隶制和人权政策与证据中心合作开展这项工作。最初的研究引起了国会议员、媒体和工业界的兴趣，并被引用到内政部的第一份《现代奴隶制声明》中。然而，促进采纳这些建议的工作超出了原项目的范围，但这是推动积极变革的关键。我们提出了四个工作包，让供应链利益相关者参与到以减少现代奴役为重点的变革机会中。工作包将包括评估和比较研究项目为减少全球现代奴隶制而建议的不同机制，包括提高供应链透明度、劳工标准监测和审计、进口禁令（如美国和加拿大政府最近在发现强迫劳动时实施的禁令）、媒体的作用、申诉机制和纠正行动的改进计划。工作包1推进了我们以前的研究，以参与、支持和推进英国卫生部门个人防护装备供应链中最有效的工作，包括为采购人员制作一个提高认识的视频，该视频将从原始研究中开发出来。工作包2涉及农民工的生活经历，以确定在解决工人的不满方面什么是有效的，什么是无效的。工作包3涉及国际知识交流，以分享最佳做法，并创造机会，使不同的国家和地区政府方法协调一致，解决全球个人防护装备供应链中的现代奴役问题。工作包4的最后是一次国际多利益攸关方活动，讨论并确定最佳做法、影响和下一步措施。成功指标将包括具体公司和国家部门使用我们的资源和/或采纳我们建议的案例，以及由于知识交流而不断发展的政策和方法变得更加一致的案例。

Our AHRC-funded research on 'Tackling Modern Slavery in Malaysian Medical Gloves Factories Using a Whole-Systems Approach to the Supply Chain' provided robust evidence of forced labour issues in the medical gloves sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggested opportunities for remedies. It focused on identifying labour issues, specifically indicators of forced labour, in the production of medical examination gloves in Malaysia, and their supply to the UK's National Health Service (NHS), during the pandemic. Using the International Labour Organisation's 11 indicators of forced labour as a framework, our research found evidence of all 11 indicators before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, with evidence that four - restriction on movement, isolation, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive overtime - worsened during the pandemic. However, labour issues in this supply chain are longstanding. The ongoing issues of forced labour demonstrate a need for policy, legal, and commercial measures at all points in the supply chain to go further to address modern slavery and poor working conditions.Follow-on impact and engagement activities will facilitate and broaden the adoption of our recommendations for tackling modern slavery in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply chains within and beyond the medical gloves sector and UK procurement from Malaysia. Research findings and recommendations from the project on medical gloves can inform how modern slavery is tackled in other PPE supply chains, including those for masks, gowns, and aprons. Moreover, there is scope to engage governments beyond the UK who are grappling with the same challenges. Engagement with the public sector in improving the ethical sourcing of goods contributes to a wider agenda of leveraging government procurement for social good. A multi-disciplinary team from Newcastle University, the Universities of Sussex and Nottingham, and ethical trade consultancy, Impactt Limited, will conduct the work in partnership with the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre.The original research garnered interest from MPs, media, and industry, and is cited in the Home Office's first Modern Slavery Statement. However, working to facilitate the adoption of the recommendations was beyond the scope of the original project - yet it is key to advancing positive change. We propose four work packages engaging supply chain stakeholders in opportunities for change focused on reducing modern slavery. The work packages will involve evaluating and comparing different mechanisms recommended by the research project for reducing modern slavery globally, including greater supply chain transparency, labour standards monitoring and audits, import bans such as those recently imposed by US and Canadian governments when forced labour is found, the role of media, grievance mechanisms, and improvement plans for corrective action. Work Package 1 takes forward our previous research to engage with, support, and advance what is working most effectively in the UK health sector's PPE supply chains, including the production of an awareness-raising video for procurers to be developed from the original research. Work Package 2 engages with migrant workers' lived experiences to establish what is working and what is not working in terms of addressing workers' grievances. Work Package 3 involves international knowledge exchange to share best practice and foster opportunities for aligning different national and regional government approaches to tackling modern slavery in global PPE supply chains. Work Package 4 concludes with an international, multi-stakeholder event to debate and establish best practice, impacts, and next steps.Success indicators will include cases where specific companies and state departments have used our resources and/or taken up our recommendations, as well as where evolving policy and approaches have become more aligned because of knowledge exchange.