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Accelerating Change: The Potential of Capital Market Actors in Addressing Modern Slavery — Recommendations for Business
Dr Sofia Gonzalez De Aguinaga
Investors are key actors in addressing modern slavery in global value chains. The Bingham Centre recently conducted, in partnership with Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST), a research project exploring the role of capital market actors in addressing modern slavery. The findings from this project showed that investors, including pension funds, development finance institutions, private equity investors, and asset managers, are starting to address social issues including child labour and payment of wages, before and after investment as part of their responsible investment and ESG agenda. In particular, investors are using their leverage through collaborative engagements with businesses after investment to influence positive change. The evidence suggests this is a promising practice, but that investors face data challenges including availability, measurability, and reliability. Based on the findings from this study, we have provided recommendations for capital market actors and for policy makers. In this blog, we provide recommendations to businesses as important actors in the capital markets ecosystem.
1. Ensure compliance with normative and legislative frameworks on human rights and modern slavery and ensure governance structures and management systems effectively support this.
2. Build capacity on modern slavery risks, share practices, and learn from your peers.
3. Engage in public consultations and research calls to inform national and international standards, policy, and practice.
4. Capitalise on available resources to increase data disclosure to investors.
5. Collaborate with other businesses, investors, policy makers and international actors to address systemic issues.
6. Engage with CSOs that represent people with lived experience and seek to involve investors in these engagements.
Dr Sofia Gonzalez De Aguinaga* is a Research Fellow in Business, ESG and Modern Slavery at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre.
*With special thanks to David Wray, Deborah Drake, Malaika Oringo, and Maha Khan, who were part of this research project and who reviewed this brief and provided valuable contributions.
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