This project, which is funded by the British Academy and involves academics in Politics, Law and the Management School, will answer that question by focusing on one commodity (cocoa) and one manufactured good (garments) across four low and middle-income countries (Dominicam Republic, Ghana, Bangladesh and Myanmar).
The research will trace the effects of UK initiatives to promote sustainable, equitable and ethical supply chains under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Specifically, it seeks: to demonstrate the development impacts of new requirements on businesses to report about slavery in the context of multiple types and modes of ethical supply chain governance; to deliver the first comparative evidence regarding the role of the UK’s transparency agenda in wider challenges over workers’ and children’s rights; and to develop new analysis and instruments (indicators) for addressing SDG 8.7 and helping companies improve working conditions in their supply chains.
For further information, contact Professor Alex Balch