I consider it something akin to trading in blood diamonds / conflict diamonds. I'll have to research the legal framework by which conflict diamonds were outlawed. I wonder if the same could be done for slave-mined mica?
From a brief search, it looks like the most obvious convention against child labor and debt bondage which would apply in this case is C182 [1] to which 180 of 187 member countries have signed. Notably, India is the only large country which has not.
IKEA, for instance, got burned by prison labour and have been strong on CSR ever since. [1] They use the iWay framework [2] and other supplier certification [3]
But aren't these simple business standards which lead to standardized contract language and hand-washing?
I'm looking for the regulatory framework which treats employing slave-labor in your supply chain as a civil offense with potentially massive punitive damages.
But yes, you're right, greenwashing is always a danger.
Slavery is a good place to start, it is claimed that there are more slaves in the world now than every in human history, for example see - ‘Sea Slaves’: The Human Misery That Feeds Pets and Livestock [1]
In 2015 the UK passed the Modern Slavery Act [2] which gave the biggest companies (turnover £36m+) a legal responsibility and sets out a set of punishments and reparations if they fail to address slavery in their supply chains.
The Supply Chain managers of the future are having CSR drilled into them now as part of their education (I know, I'm part of it). We must hope they are not crushed by the wheels of the corporate machines.
Thanks for the pointers! I was really optimistic following the link, but reading more...
The draft bill included no measures to counter the use of slave
labour abroad as the Home Office believed that asking businesses
to audit and report on modern slavery in their supply chains
would be an “additional burden”. However, campaigning resulted
in a supply chain clause being added to the bills so that “big
business will be forced to make public its efforts to stop the
use of slave labour by its suppliers”.
And further...
There are, however, no legally binding requirements to conduct
due diligence on supply chains and there are no criminal or
financial penalties for non-compliance.
So, again, I ask the universe... why the fuck not?!
There is quite a difference already even between the EU and US permitted chemicals.