Human Rights Due Diligence: The Role and Process of Procurement

Watch this free webinar to learn about the role and process of procurement to support organisations to manage their human rights and environmental compliance risks and demonstrate how a responsible business approach delivers for all supply chain stakeholders. Learn from experts from civil society about the expectations and implications, from legal experts about the legislative requirements, and from commercial organisations about best practice in procurement.
_______________________

Procurement (the act of obtaining something) is at the heart of responsible sourcing practices. Unconsidered and incoherent procurement practices, based only on purchasing the lowest priced goods or services, expose one’s organisation to human rights and modern slavery risks. The risk is especially prevalent for those organisations with extended, global supply chains as modern slavery is evidentially most prevalent in Africa and the Asia and Pacific region.

The risk is becoming more acute due to several current and pending Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) legislative proposals. In Germany, a coalition of more than 130 civil society organisations, which already successfully campaigned for a supply chain law, has called for “an even stronger EU supply chain law that creates mandatory human rights and environmental standards for companies across Europe”.

The EU supply chain law the coalition refers to is the European Union (‘EU’) Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. The proposal aims to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour throughout global value chains with regard to companies’ environmental and human rights impacts. Canada, Japan, and New Zealand have all called for or begun the process of introducing HRDD legislation.

In the U.K., more than 30 British companies, investors and business associations have called on the U.K. government to introduce an HREDD law. Specifically with regard to procurement, in June 2022, reforms have been proposed within the Procurement Bill to “shake up our outdated procurement system, so that every pound goes further for our communities and public services”.

One in every three pounds of public money, some £300 Billion a year, is spent on public procurement. “The Bill will reform the UK’s public procurement regime, making it quicker, simpler, more transparent and better able to meet the UK’s needs while remaining compliant with our international obligations.

“It will strengthen the approach to excluding suppliers where there is clear evidence of their involvement in Modern Slavery practices, and running throughout each part of the Bill is the theme of transparency. We want to deliver world-leading standards of transparency in public procurement, and this Bill paves the way for that”.

The requirements of the U.K. Modern Slavery Act (2015) Section 54 Transparency in Supply Chains (TISC) require in-scope companies to publish a modern slavery and human trafficking statement each year. The statement should set out what steps organisations have taken to ensure modern slavery is not taking place in their business or supply chains. The procurement process – and the mapping of one’s supply chain are inherently fundamental to “know and show” modern slavery impacts.