At the end of May, CJC joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights to host the event “Levelling the playing field for UK companies: Mandatory supply chain due diligence to protect human rights and the environment” in Parliament.

Parliamentarians can get more info at our drop in-event on 17 May 2023 1230-1400 in Westminster.

Yaeno Fernandez Amano, Fellow at Anti-Slavery International, explores the latest polling results regarding modern slavery and supply chains.

The failure to hold to account criminally UK companies (and companies which operate in the UK and/or have UK listings) which are complicit in human rights abuses abroad stands in stark contrast to more promising developments in countries such as France, with the Lafarge case, and Sweden with the Lundin case.

Policy briefing analysing the evidence base on the effectiveness of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.

Under Schedule 17 of the UK Environment Act, certain businesses will be required to prove that their products are “deforestation-free” and compliant with local laws, but respect for indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights – in particular their land rights - has not been expressly required.

As developments around mandatory human rights due diligence laws are taking place rapidly across Europe, the report considers the legal feasibility of introducing into UK law a corporate duty to prevent human rights harms.

Commodity supply chains are trashing forests and trampling human rights. Clare Oxborrow from Friend of the Earth explains why the government’s new Environment Act will fail to protect communities and why it must take effective action to regulate UK companies.

Tesco, John Lewis and others say it would prevent scandals such as poor conditions at Boohoo suppliers.

A new legal opinion on Boohoo’s Leicester supply chain finds the fast fashion brand could have been held liable under a UK mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law called for by rights groups.

The UK's new Environment Act 2021 (the "Environment Act") introduces a prohibition on the use of "forest risk commodities" in UK commercial activities, unless those commodities have been produced in compliance with local laws. It also introduces due diligence and reporting obligations in relation to "forest risk commodities".

Almost 30 organisations have joined forces to call for the UK to follow in the footsteps of its European partners by introducing corporate accountability laws requiring companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence across their supply chains.

Nick Beighton, chief executive of Asos, comments on the need to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act. The UK must go further and introduce new laws to compel businesses to take meaningful actions to prevent modern slavery. The UK must adopt mandatory human rights due diligence legislation.

This brief sets out the key requirements for strong and effective human rights due diligence legislation and practices to address the business drivers of forced labour along the supply chain.

It’s abundantly clear that despite repeated scandals and inquiries — and share prices fluctuating in line with each new development — the problems of Boohoo and other companies tackling abuses in supply chains, whether in the UK, China or anywhere else, remain far from solved.

Report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the UK’s commitment to human rights.