Detecting forced labour in ready-made garment supply chains

Project overview

With forced labour a prevalent issue across the world, there is an increasing need for effective tools to assess, identify, and address risks at the production level.

Through this project, GoodWeave set out to build on a previously developed framework for rapidly detecting forced and bonded labour in supply chains. The approach was refined, adapted and piloted on supply chains of the ready-made garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh.

This project explored a risk-based approach and new data sources to improve the detection of forced labour, and generated lessons and recommendations that schemes that include forced labour criteria in their standards can learn from

Learnings

Key learnings of the project and recommendations for other schemes include:

Significant risk factors linked to forced labour included abuse of vulnerability, deception, physical and sexual violence, intimidation and threats, withholding of wages, abusive working conditions and excessive overtime.
Some worksites likely have issues with intimidation and threats, but these were often unmeasurable or undetectable due to lack of effective grievance mechanisms. Requirements for effective grievance mechanisms are the key to mitigating many of the risk indicators of forced labour.
Use of the risk assessment as an audit preparation tool enabled assessment teams to have in-depth discussions with workers, and more effectively determine root cause and seek corrective action.
The ILO Forced Labour Indicators, ISO style risk matrix, and user-friendly checklist tools are transferable to any sector or geography.

Download the full learning report below.

Download project outputs

Learning Report - Forced Labour Assessment Methodology | GoodWeave

Sustainability systems are uniquely positioned to advance human rights protections for workers in global supply chains through the identification and verification of risks and instances of forced labour.

This core and often elusive step of due diligence is critical to ensure compliance with emerging human rights legislation and credibility of sustainability labels and claims in the global market.

In September 2023, GoodWeave set out to develop and pilot an innovative and efficient risk-based approach to detect forced labour in supply chains. This report sets out the project's approach, outcomes, learnings, and recommendations for other ISEAL members working to improve forced labour detection through supply chain monitoring.

Learning Report - Forced Labour Assessment Methodology | GoodWeave

Sustainability systems are uniquely positioned to advance human rights protections for workers in global supply chains through the identification and verification of risks and instances of forced

Report

PDF

636.55 KB

Annex 1: Supply Chain Evaluation Checklist - GoodWeave

Annex 1: Supply Chain Evaluation Checklist | GoodWeave

Sustainability systems are uniquely positioned to advance human rights protections for workers in global supply chains through the identification and verification of risks and instances of forced labour. This core and often elusive step of due diligence is critical to ensure compliance with emerging human rights legislation and credibility of sustainability labels and claims in the global market.

In September 2023, GoodWeave set out to develop and pilot an innovative and efficient risk-based approach to detect forced labour in supply chains.

Read the learning report which sets out the project's approach, outcomes and learnings.

This assessment checklist was designed as a guidance tool for investigations and interviews, and to document results and findings of the factory assessment. It was designed using the GoodWeave standard and guidelines as a base, then it was then edited to align with the ILO indicators.

Annex 1 - Supply Chain Evaluation Checklist - GoodWeave

Sustainability systems are uniquely positioned to advance human rights protections for workers in global supply chains through the identification and verification of risks and instances of forced

Form

Spreadsheet

79.26 KB

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