Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation in Europe and the Identification of Rural Victims of Modern Slavery and Forced Labour within the Agri-horticultural Supply Chain

Abstract

Since 2017, Germany, Norway and France all passed or began to implement some form of Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (mHRDD) reporting for businesses. MHRDD legislation intends to hold businesses accountable for failing to identify and act upon actual and potential risks to workers within their own operation and within their supply chains. These developments are signs of progress to hold businesses more accountable in tackling modern slavery, but it is unclear what, if any, impact this will have on victims of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) in the agricultural sector. Modern slavery within the European Agri-horticultural supply chain is usually mediated via organised crime, or involves vulnerable migrants recruited through informal labour intermediaries. The bottleneck structure of the Agri-horticultural supply chain in Europe means that the last business step of the food supply chain prior to consumers (food retailers) are usually several steps removed from the rural producers of agricultural products themselves. This study compared the three laws by identifying the food retailers with the top 90% of market share in each country, identifying if they are subject to reporting requirements under the applicable mHRDD law, analysing if the mHRDD reports produced by the food retailers address the risk of MSHT in their agri-horticultural supply chain, and analyses if rural victims of MSHT in their agri-horticultural supply chain would have any legal recourse to compensation under the applicable laws. The findings here suggest that mHRDD can theoretically positively impact the lives of rural victims of MSHT in the long term, especially since the relatively small number of end retailers compared to farms creates a streamlined checkpoint through which most agri-horticultural products flow. However, the laws are not likely to be effective in aiding current rural victims of MSHT in the agricultural sector to accessing remedy for abuses, nor will they address the downward pressure on the supply chain created by food retailers.

Keywords: modern slavery, human trafficking, human rights due diligence, organized crime, agri-horticultural supply chain

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Rights: Giada Volpato