Beyond paper compliance: why supply chains struggle to confront forced labour

Forced labour is too often treated as an isolated crime carried out by rogue suppliers or traffickers. In reality, it is a systemic feature of globalised production, leaving 27.6 million people currently trapped in forced labour, according to the International Labour Organization. Governments in the UK, Australia, and the EU have introduced mandatory transparency and due diligence measures, while companies have invested in audits, supplier codes of conduct, and disclosure reports. Yet these measures have not fundamentally reduced exploitation, and modern slavery incidents continue to occur in supply chains. Forced labour is a predictable outcome of business models that rely on downward pressure on prices and labour costs. When buyers impose contracts below production costs, demand unreasonably short lead times, or shift recruitment costs onto workers, suppliers are driven into exploitative practices and modern slavery incidents are more likely to occur. Risk management systems are not designed to address these structural drivers. Instead, they protect companies against financial vulnerability, supply chain disruptions, and reputational and legal exposure. This means they fail at two crucial points; before modern slavery incidents occur at the prevention and detection phases, and after modern slavery incidents occur at the remedy and response phases.