National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2013. Living-Learning Programs/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)
The promotion of transparency and accountability is at the centre of strategies to prevent and address labour exploitation and trafficking. The instruments adopted for this end are diverse, including awareness campaigns, certificates of fair work, and licenses, and they involve various actors such as workers, employers, companies, labour providers, consumers, and the general public.
According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies have a responsibility to “avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities”, and also to “prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products, or services by their relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts”. Increasing transparency in supply chains would ensure employees, consumers, and general public have information about companies’ efforts to prevent human rights violations. This would allow consumers to have greater confidence in the products and service they buy, and, simultaneously, would allow companies to raise awareness and understanding of their respective obligations.
