It’s an uncomfortable fact that many of the products consumed in vast quantities by high-income countries – coffee, clothes, mobile phones, palm oil – are produced in low-income countries where forced labour is part of the supply chain.
An Australia Institute report found that Australians are the biggest purchasers of new clothing in the world per capita The Walk Free Foundation, which aims to eradicate modern slavery and maintains a Global Slavery Index, calculates that G20 countries imported $US468 billion worth of goods at risk of modern slavery.
The EU’s regulations also tightened up its reporting processes to identify supply chain vulnerabilities and created a facility to encourage whistleblowers.We have criminalised all forms of modern slavery and have specifically tried to address the vulnerability of Pacific migrant workers in our region.