Background

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Businesses that operate in and source from Asia-Pacific are exposed to modern slavery in their value chains. With emerging global legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence and bans on products made with forced labor, including in the US, Canada, and the EU, multistakeholder collaboration and meaningful partnerships between corporate business, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and workers is critical to effectively prevent and address the impacts of labor exploitation in business operations and supply chains.

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Since 2020, the Global Business Coalition against Human Trafficking (GBCAT) – a BSR-led coalition of businesses committed to combating human trafficking in company operations and supply chains - has worked to build the capacity of corporate suppliers on forced labor. Following a landscape assessment of existing collaborative efforts and initiatives in Southeast Asia focused on forced labor conducted in 2023, BSR is organizing a series of workshops in Southeast Asia between September and December 2024. The workshops will facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues to map business efforts to address modern slavery risks in their SMEs supply chain in Southeast Asia and identify common gaps and priorities to foster effective human rights due diligence efforts, including through more effective data sharing.

 

The first workshop will take place as a pre-forum session, and will explore the challenges and opportunities for brand and supplier engagement and collaboration on forced labor and the role of SMES in the forced labor data ecosystem.

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The target audience for the workshop includes corporate suppliers, multinational companies and selected policymakers. These include companies with or within supply chain in Southeast Asia, suppliers and buyers, including global multinationals with regional presence and supply chains in the region as well as companies headquartered of Southeast Asia. 

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The workshop will be held under the Chatham House Rule. The event is co-hosted by BSR/GBCAT and USAID and is in-person only.

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​To attend the event, please register at the following link.

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Objectives

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The objectives of the workshop are to: 

• Identify common challenges and opportunities for suppliers to identify, prevent, mitigate and address any risk of involvement with forced labor

• Determine priority actions to support suppliers to identify and mitigate forced labor risks 

• Foster transparency, trust and common objectives beyond traditional means of social auditing 

• Understand the role of SMEs and smaller businesses in the forced labor data ecosystem and identify opportunities for collective action

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Questions

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• What are the specific challenges in prevention, monitoring and remedy of forced labor that current collaboration initiatives in the region are not addressing?

• What opportunities exist to strengthen suppliers’ efforts to identify, prevent, mitigate and address any risk of involvement with forced labor?

• What are the priorities for supplier engagement on forced labor in the region? What is most needed from suppliers’ perspective?

• How can more meaningful trust, transparency standards and engagement be fostered between brands and suppliers beyond traditional means of social auditing? What areas require the most attention?

• What are the technological barriers faced by SMEs in identifying and responding to forced labor risks and other human rights impacts?  

• How can SMEs feed into the data landscape on forced labor risks?  

• How should SMEs and smaller businesses partner with brands, buyers and governments to contribute to an effective data ecosystem on forced labor?

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Speakers

• Jon Amis, Supply Chain Risk Management Senior Consultant, USAID

• Samir Goswami, Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Management, USAID

• Claudio Formisano, Global Lead, Human Trafficking and Forced Labor, BSR

• Alice Pease, Manager, Human Rights, BSR

• Roberta Pinamonti, Associate Director, BSR