Modern slavery exists somewhere in the supply chain of every company in Britain today, according to Peter Hugh Smith, CEO of investment firm CCLA. “It’s an endemic problem and it’s not just happening in sweatshops in the Far East.”
Modern slavery is the severe exploitation of people by criminals for personal or commercial gain and includes human trafficking, forced labour and criminal and sexual exploitation. It is thought that around 40 million people around the world are victims – with 25 million of these in forced labour – forced to live and work in squalor, trapped as their earnings are siphoned off by criminals. A staggering number of these people appear in the supply chains of the companies listed on the capital markets.
