Below is an excerpt from GCNC’s Patron Supporter, Baker McKenzie’s report on “Managing Corporate Supply Chains: Challenges & Successes in the Fight to Combat Forced Labour and Human Trafficking”. The piece is to tribute to The Gender Equality Forum 2017, where Baker McKenzie is a Gold Sponsor.

A corporate leader’s nightmare scenario – discovering the existence of forced labour and human trafficking upstream in their company’s supply chain. In a world of complex supply webs, migrant workers, labour agents, sub-suppliers, and a constant squeeze on costs, such a scenario keeps corporate leaders and their stakeholders awake at night for good reason. No industry or region is fully insulated from the social deficit which has emerged
from the rise of the modern global economy, and all leading multinational corporations have come to recognize the risks associated with ever-expanding supply networks.

Baker McKenzie has consulted with many of our most valued global clients as well as other professionals in the corporate community in an effort to identify the challenges they face in managing their complex supply chains as they work to keep them free from trafficking and forced labour. Our hope is that the results of our interviews, research, and our own experience working with international organizations will provide valuable information on
best practices in this field, along with an honest assessment of the many challenges multinational corporations face as they work to navigate in this difficult area.

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