If there’s one thing some businesses and public bodies hate more than scandals, it’s putting in the effort to prevent them in the first place. Suppliers using forced labour, toxic chemicals poisoning communities... deforestation, you name it -- if they think they can get away with it, they’ll try.
And Britain’s Modern Slavery Act lets them. A government committee recently said the 2015 law just isn’t working as it should.
That’s why a coalition of activists, trade unions and NGOs is coming together to demand a better law.
Tell the UK Parliament to support a law against human rights abuses and environmental destruction in supply chains everywhere.
Getting a law that’ll truly hold businesses and public bodies accountable for their impact is going to take a massive effort.
But we don’t need to start from scratch. UK law already force bosses to prevent tax evasion and bribery. So we can build on that -- if only our politicians will support it.
Experts say the UK needs a new law to make a “failure to prevent” mechanism for corporate human rights abuses, modelled on the duties found in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and the Bribery Act 2010.
Tell the UK Parliament to end corporate impunity.
For 10 years, SumOfUs has been campaigning to stop big businesses behaving badly, and supporting communities and workers resisting corporate abuses. This is what we’re here to do.
(Image credit: Paul Martín del Campo / Otto Pastias)
More information
The Guardian. 4 July 2021.
Corporate Justice Coalition. 15 December 2020.