Eliminating modern slavery

It's great that you are eliminating any risks around modern slavery.

New Zealand has enacted laws prohibiting slavery, trafficking in persons and forced labour in New Zealand and is a party to a number of international treaties dealing with the topic.

Current legislation does not obligate businesses to look at their supply chain but new legislation for modern slavery and worker exploitation is under consideration. By taking action to identify risks now you are ahead of the curve.

Be sure to talk about this in RFPs and when talking about your commitment to sustainability. Also keep an eye on new legislation as it comes into force to check you are compliant. 

Here are some examples of the kinds of actions businesses like yours highlight when talking about eliminating modern slavery risks:

"We use internal policies and systems that focus on buying products and services from overseas businesses only if they provide assurances that their workers receive minimum standards or better."

"We complete audits and use independent third party offshore verifiers like [insert details here]

New Zealand has enacted laws prohibiting slavery, trafficking in persons and forced labour in New Zealand and is a party to a number of international treaties dealing with the topic.

Current legislation does not obligate businesses to look at their supply chain but new legislation for modern slavery and worker exploitation is under consideration. 

In the meantime, to meet current laws you must at minimum seek assurances that workers in your New Zealand supply chain are being provided with their employment rights.

Eliminate modern slavery risks across the board (including outside Aotearoa New Zealand) by using internal policies and systems that focus on buying products and services only from businesses that provide assurances that their workers receive minimum standards or better.

Best practice

XXXX insert other best practice action XXXX

Learn more

Mitigations for procurers to reduce risks in supply chains  - Employment New Zealand

Identify and minimise labour rights issues in your business - Employment New Zealand

Gain transparency throughout your supply chain - Ask Your Team

It is great that you have channels for workers to report issues like suspected modern slavery breaches, risks and lack of transparency in the supply chain.

This will increase your ability to identify and and eliminate risk and add an additional layer of assurance for your staff and customers. 

You should talk about these channels, both in RFPs and broadly to notify people that these channels are widely available for all to use. 

New Zealand has enacted laws prohibiting slavery, trafficking in persons and forced labour in New Zealand and is a party to a number of international treaties dealing with the topic.

Current legislation does not obligate businesses to look at their supply chain but new legislation for modern slavery and worker exploitation is under consideration.

Reporting channels are a great way to make sure workers in your supply chain can let you know know about modern slavery breaches or risks. This lets you act fast to identify and eliminate risks. When new legislation comes into force soon this will likely help you meet your legal liabilities. 

Best practice

Provide a hotline or whistleblowing channel to report employment issues. This can be operated in-house or through an external agency.

Learn more

Identify and minimise labour rights issues in your business - Employment New Zealand

Gain transparency throughout your supply chain -  Ethical Voice 

It's great you have a commitment in place to eliminate modern slavery. This is something you should share in RFPs and when talking about your commitment to sustainability. 

The more detail you can provided about how you are planning on or taking action towards meeting you commitment the more meaningful that commitment is.

Businesses, like yours, that are committed to eliminating modern slavery often mention that in their RFPs. For example: 

"We are committed to eliminating modern slavery from our supply chains. By [date] we will have a fully transparent and regularly audited supply chain both in Aotearoa New Zealand and offshore. We are committed to buying only from businesses that can show evidence that their workers receive at least New Zealand Employment rights. We have an employee voice tool available for all staff to anonymously report issues and risks."

It is not a legal requirement to have a commitment in place to eliminate modern slavery, provided you meet current new Zealand laws prohibiting slavery, trafficking in persons and forced labour in New Zealand.

However, it is a great thing to have as it shows your aspiration and values as a business. It also puts you on track to be compliant when new legislation for modern slavery and worker exploitation comes into force. 

Best practice

A commitment should be genuine with a plan for how it will be achieved. Set time frames can help e.g. achieving a target by a certain year. The more detail you can provide about meeting you commitment the more meaningful that commitment is.

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[GAP]