Tag: human trafficking

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FCPA Compliance Report

FCPA Compliance Report – Fighting Forced Labor with Supplier Due Diligence

Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest-running podcast in compliance. In this episode, Tom welcomes Ragini Bhalla, head of content and PR for Creditsafe, focusing on the North American region, and Steve Carpenter, Country Manager for Creditsafe in Canada. Their discussion centers around a new Canadian law designed to combat human trafficking forced labor, and child labor within supply chains. Throughout the conversation, they shed light on the practices of various multinational corporations, emphasizing the need for cohesive anti-slavery reporting and measures across different jurisdictions. It becomes evident that addressing these critical issues requires collaboration and comprehensive efforts from all parties involved.

A key to compliance with ethical sourcing and compliance with this new Canadian law is through a company’s Supply Chain. Companies must ensure their supply chains are free from forced labor and child labor, and Credit Safe provides services to help. The Canadian Forced Labor Law and the UK’s Modern Slavery Act are steps toward making companies accountable for their actions, but governments must also work with countries like India, Bangladesh, and China to create real change. Non-compliance can lead to fines, customer trust loss, and potential stock dips, and due diligence checks and audits are necessary for companies to protect the integrity of their supply chains. Ethical sourcing is a complex issue requiring collaboration between governments, companies, and experts.

 

Creditsafe is in a unique position to assist companies comply with laws making illegal human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor. In this podcast, you will learn how to investigate your suppliers in a way that enhances your business operations. Once again, this demonstrates that effective compliance leads to more effective business processes, leading to greater profitability.

 Key Highlights

·      Fighting Forced Labor

·      ESG Supply Chain Auditing

·      Canadian Compliance Law

·      Reputational Risk of Non-Compliance

·      Ethical Sourcing

Resources

Ragini Bhalla on LinkedIn

Steve Carpenter on LinkedIn

Creditsafe

Tom Fox

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

LinkedIn

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Compliance Week Conference Podcast

Gwen Hassan on Assessing a Growing Risk Area – Human Trafficking and Forced Labor

In this episode of the Compliance Week 2023 Speaker Preview Podcasts series, Gwen Hassan discusses some of her presentations at Compliance Week 2023,  “Assessing a Growing Risk Area – Human Trafficking and Forced Labor.”

Some of the issues she will discuss in her presentations are:

  • How increased enforcement of anti-forced labor and anti-human trafficking laws, the emergence of new due diligence and trade laws, and heightened inquiries from customers and other business partners are combining to make forced labor prevention compliance a priority for a broad range of companies;
  • Recent enforcement against the apparel and solar industries and identification lessons learned for other industries that are coming under increased scrutiny by media, NGOs, regulatory authorities, and other stakeholders; and
  • Recommendations for where and how to start developing a human trafficking prevention program for your organization.

I hope you can join me at Compliance Week 2023. This year’s event will be May 15-17 at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC. The line-up of this year’s event is simply first-rate, with some of the top ethics and compliance practitioners around.

Gain insights and make connections at the industry’s premier cross-industry national compliance event offering knowledge-packed, accredited sessions and take-home advice from the most influential leaders in the compliance community. Back for its 18th year, compliance, ethics, legal, and audit professionals will gather safely face-to-face to benchmark best practices and gain the latest tactics and strategies to enhance their compliance programs. And many others to:

  • Network with your peers, including C-suite executives, legal professionals, HR leaders, and ethics and compliance visionaries.
  • Hear from 75+ respected cross-industry practitioners who are CEOs, CCOs, regulators, federal officials, and practitioners to help inform and shape the strategic direction of your enterprise risk management program.
  • Hear directly from the two SEC Commissioners, gain insights into the agency’s enforcement areas, and walk away with guidance on remaining compliant within emerging areas such as ESG disclosure, third-party risk management, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and more.
  • Bring actionable takeaways from your program from various session types, including ESG, Human Trafficking, Board obligations, and many others, for you to listen, learn and share.
  • Compliance Week aims to arm you with information, strategy, and tactics to transform your organization and career by connecting ethics to business performance through process augmentation and data visualization.

I hope you can join me at the event. For information on the event, click here. Listeners of this podcast will receive a discount of $200 by using code TF200 on the link here.

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive Update

In this solo episode of Hidden Traffic Podcast, host Gwen Hassan dives into the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) adopted by the European Council, which replaces the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The CSRD requires companies, both public and private, to report on a wide range of sustainability-related topics, including human rights, anti-corruption, modern slavery and human trafficking prevention, and environmental protection. Gwen will explain the impact of this directive on businesses and provide valuable insights into what companies can do to meet its requirements. 

The CSRD directive aims to increase disclosure requirements for companies and prevent greenwashing. It will also require subsidiary level reporting and auditable information about supply chain, due diligence and human trafficking prevention. The CSRD applies to a larger number of public and private companies and will increase cost. Companies should start preparing as soon as possible to meet the requirements.

 

The CSRD requires companies to report on a wide range of sustainability-related topics – including human rights, anti-corruption, modern slavery and human trafficking prevention, and environmental protection – and provide information about their strategy, targets, governance policies, incentives and risks. The European Commission will adopt standards for reporting under the CSRD by June of next year. The directive will become effective on January 1, 2026, with a 2028 opt-out date for small and micro entities. Large entities and their parents will have to comply immediately.

 

The recent development of the Forced Labor Protection Act in Africa highlights the issue of outsourcing services to low-cost countries and the potential liability companies can face for labor violations and human trafficking in their supply chain. A former content moderator in Kenya filed a lawsuit against both the outsourcing company he worked for and Meta, a social media giant, alleging that he was subjected to viewing graphic and violent material that caused him post-traumatic stress disorder. The court ruled that the case against Meta can move forward, highlighting the need for companies to take responsibility for practices in their supply chain, even if they were not aware of them. This could result in a strict liability standard for many types of companies.

 

Resources

Gwen Hassan on LinkedIn

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Rock and Roll Against Human Trafficking with Noel Thomas

Noel Thomas is CEO of Zero Trafficking, a data company bringing innovative data, analysis, and training solutions to the frontlines of anti-trafficking. He joins host Gwen Hassan to discuss how Zero Trafficking is using technology in the fight against human trafficking. 

Prior to founding his company, Noel toured the world as the bass guitarist of a rock band. It was during one of these tours in 2007 that he first got exposed to the issue of human trafficking through a flyer aiming to raise awareness. It inspired him to learn more about human trafficking and join the efforts to eradicate it.

Rather than manually looking for human trafficking online, Noel and the task forces he worked with thought of a better way to bring technology into the space. They quickly realized that corporations like social media platforms, banks, and even real estate developers could also benefit from this data; they could use it to up their compliance and mitigate the risks involved with human trafficking. 

 

Resources

Noel Thomas on LinkedIn

Zero Trafficking

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Using Technology for Human Rights with Vera Belazelkoska

 

How do you create a system where you are continuously and effectively listening to your key stakeholders in an inclusive manner? Vera Belazelkoska is Director of Programs at Ulula, a social enterprise startup that provides organizations with digital tools and expertise to monitor the human rights impacts in their global supply chains. She joins host Gwen Hassan to discuss how Ulula is helping companies amplify the voices of people who don’t always get to talk to the social auditors. 

 

 

Ulula designs technology solutions to help companies do better in many areas. They are dedicated to building, configuring, and successfully implementing different innovative tools to help organizations monitor human rights issues, labor rights impacts, and community rights in global supply chains. Supply chain transparency is part of it, but they also focus on the accountability aspects. 

 

Corporations are being held to increasingly high standards across different jurisdictions to ensure that they do everything in their power to identify human rights violations they may be complicit in along their supply chain, and then remediate them.

 

Resources

Vera Belazelkoska on LinkedIn 

Ulula

 

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Ending Human Trafficking through Research and Information Networks with Rebekah Enoch

 

Rebekah Enoch is Program Director at Human Trafficking Search, an organization aiming to raise awareness and contribute to preventing and eliminating human trafficking worldwide. She joins host Gwen Hassan to share how Human Trafficking Search is fighting human trafficking through education.

 

 

Human Trafficking Search is an electronic clearinghouse of information about the many faces of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, child labor, and labor exploitation. “We really try to encompass every level of that conversation so that if you are someone who works in the field or an aspect of the field, you can find materials for any research you’re doing to inform what you’re working on,” Rebekah explains. Even laymen who just want to be informed can access easily digestible information from their website.

 

They also conduct their own investigations, she adds. Recently, HTS published a report about how the green revolution in the Democratic Republic of Congo may be linked to cobalt mining. While this may not sound like a problem initially, cobalt mining in the DRC is driven by a host of issues around child labor and labor exploitation. 

 

Resources

Rebekah Enoch on the Web | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Developments in Human Trafficking and Forced Labor Prevention

 

In this solo episode of the Hidden Traffic Podcast, host Gwen Hassan discusses recent developments in human trafficking and forced labor prevention. She shares with listeners a snapshot of where Hidden Traffic is headed over the next few months as 2022 draws to a close.

 

 

There has been a flurry of activity around the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Gwen claims. It has been driving broader conversations among companies about their supply chains, serving as an impetus to examine where they source their products from and if they have been enabling entities that violate human rights. Even companies that are truly domestic have now started full-scale risk assessment processes for forced labor risk within their supply chain.

 

It really has stemmed from UFLPA work, because many of them are concerned they may have private label goods that are manufactured for them under a contract manufacturing arrangement overseas. They’ve become aware of the fact that they may be caught up in a forced labor situation, even if it’s not their own labor or their own manufacturing.

 

Resources

Gwen Hassan on LinkedIn

 

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Supply Chains and Risk Assessments with Mollie Sitkowski


 
Mollie Sitkowski is Trade Compliance Counsel at Faegre Drinker, where she handles import and export control and compliance work on behalf of the firm’s clients. She has assisted numerous clients in developing and implementing import and export compliance programs and offers continued training to the business areas that touch on import and export compliance. She returns in this episode to discuss key points about the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
 

 
Customs has been advocating forced labor risk assessments since the consumptive demand loophole that allowed companies to import goods made by forced labor was taken out. However, aside from companies in very high-risk industries such as textiles, most companies weren’t conducting these risk assessments. Mollie advises listeners to start mapping out supply chains and identifying ones with the highest risk – you can’t assess your risk without knowing your supply chain. 
 
Every company should have a supplier code of conduct, Mollie adds. The best practice would be flowing down the requirements from your first-tier suppliers to their suppliers, because the manufacturers also need to be on board and held responsible.
 
Resources
Mollie Sitkowski on LinkedIn
 

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The Hill Country Podcast

Deanna Eixman – The Healing Power of Art


Welcome to the award-winning The Hill Country Podcast. The Texas Hill Country is one of the most beautiful places on earth. In this podcast, Hill Country resident Tom Fox visits the people and organizations that make this the most unique area of Texas. Join Tom as he explores the people, places and activities of the Texas Hill Country. In this episode, I have local Hill Country artist Deanna Eixman. Highlights include:
·      Growing up and going to college at Baylor University. College studies.
·      Where did you live in Colorado, and how did that experience impact your art?
·      Why did you move to Hill Country?
·      Using art as a healing therapy? Working with victims of human trafficking.
·      How would you classify your work?
·      Landscapes and color seem like influences. If so, how?
·       What is your “Contemporary Realism Collection.”
·      What is “Now and Forever Collection”?
·      How about “Pet Portraits”?
For more information on Deanna Eixman and her art, click here.
Deanna Eixman Fine Art on Facebook
Deanna Eixman on Instagram

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Hidden Traffic Podcast

Closing the Accountability Gaps with Duncan Jepson


 
Duncan Jepson is Managing Director of Liberty Shared. Starting as a documentary filmmaker, he saw the stark contrast between the ones being filmed and the excited executives. He joins host Gwen Hassan to discuss how Liberty Shared is helping organizations take action against human rights violations. 
 

 
Liberty Shared’s main focus is data gathering and research and intelligence sharing –  gathering information about what happens on the ground then communicating that to individuals, groups, and organizations that can do something in response. “We’re not interested in statistics [or] estimations,” Duncan shares, “we’re interested in data as it is accurate and can produce actionable information and evidence.”
 
The system is flawed and incomplete, he adds. The global economy is profit-oriented, so much so that it operates at the expense of other people, and the chance of anyone being held accountable for their part in it is very limited. Liberty Shared is working to identify those gaps of accountability and close them as much as possible. 
 
Resources
Duncan Jepson on LinkedIn