The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) published its 2025 global analysis of migrant worker abuse in global supply chains (February 2025). The analysis highlights where the abuse is happening, the types of abuse that are most frequently recorded and the context in which these abuses are taking place. It ends with recommendations to companies on how they can tackle this issue in their supply chains.
Human Level’s Take:
- The BHRRC reports that in 2024, migrant workers faced alarming levels of abuse, with 665 cases reported across various sectors and countries. The top 10 destinations for impacts include the USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and India, most of which are high-income nations. The impacts are most common in agri-food supply chains, construction and engineering, and manufacturing; and include violations of employment and safety standards, unfair recruitment, verbal and physical abuse, inadequate living conditions, restricted movement and expression, and even killings.
- Climate change, conflict, and discriminatory immigration policies are making migrant workers even more vulnerable. Extreme weather events are destroying livelihoods, forcing people to migrate, only to end up in dangerous working conditions—like extreme heat exposure—without proper protections or healthcare access.
- So, what are companies to do? Seven steps ahead: 1) commit to full and public supply chain transparency; 2) adopt a migrant worker-centred approach to identify salient risks to migrant workers; 3) implement policies to mitigate risks specific to migrant workers; 4) develop accessible and transparent operational level grievance mechanisms; 5) respond proactively to allegations of migrant worker abuse and committing to remedy harms; 6) recognise explicitly the harms inherent in state immigration policies and bridge the gap with international standards; and 7) collaborate to use the collective leverage of brands to press governments for greater protection.
Some key takeaways:
- Migrant worker abuse spans countries, sectors and types of abuse: Between 1 January to 31 December 2024, BHRRC recorded 665 cases of alleged abuse of migrant workers globally in its Migrant Worker Allegations Database (the Database). The migrant workers impacted in these cases include those moving internationally and within borders. While women workers were visible in only 32% of cases, factors including “hidden” feminised work, heightened fear of retaliation and incomplete data collection can hide the experiences of women workers. The Asia-Pacific region featured as the largest region of worker origin (in 56% of cases) and the top receiving region (in 37% of cases). All of the top origin countries (India, Bangladesh, Philippines, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam and Guatemala) are countries the Word Bank has classified as lower and upper middle income. On the flip side, 9 of the top 10 destination countries - USA (94 cases); Canada (26 cases); UK (61 cases); Italy (27 cases); Saudi Arabia (58 cases); South Korea (36 cases); Taiwan (23 cases); Australia (31 cases); and New Zealand (25 cases) - are countries the World Bank has classified as high income. The exception, India, was the destination country in 34 cases. Where companies could be linked to cases, these were more likely to be headquartered in high income countries - except for India, China and Indonesia. The top 3 sectors most frequently linked to migrant worker abuse were agri-food supply chains in 32% of cases, construction and engineering in 20% of cases, and manufacturing in 12% of cases. The 10 most frequently cited categories of abuse were violations of employment standards (408 cases); breaches of occupational health and safety standards (262 cases); unfair recruitment practices (241 cases); verbal or physical abuse (185 cases); barriers regarding access to remedy (170 cases); inadequate living standards (162 cases); restricted movement (139 cases); restricted expression (133 cases); violations of the right to life, including killings and deaths (89 cases); and discrimination (45 cases).
- Links with the climate crisis, conflict and migration policies: Three intersecting global crises - climate change, conflict, and discriminatory government immigration policies - exacerbated migrants’ vulnerability to exploitation. The climate crisis and extreme weather events were increasingly cited as a migration driver. For example, Indian workers deployed on the frontline in Ukraine, Nepali workers on construction sites under extreme heat in the Gulf, and sugar cane workers in the Indian state of Maharashtra all reported being displaced from their homes by extreme weather events or losing their livelihoods to climate change. Migrant workers in precarious or informal sectors in destination countries were disproportionately impacted as the lack of social security cover meant that they were unable to prioritise their health over a potential loss of income, and they were acutely exposed to the physical impacts of climate change. Climate change also exacerbates dangerous weather conditions for workers in destination countries, with heat exposure in the workplace or accommodation reported in 38 cases. 12 of these cases were linked to workers later dying. Heatwaves in India, South Korea and the United States left migrant workers in agriculture and the manufacturing, construction, entertainment and garment industries working under hazardous conditions, including air pollution. Workers in the Gulf routinely reported symptoms of heat-related illness. In relation to conflict, 2024 saw conflict zones expand and violence intensify. Local workers were forcibly displaced from their homes and companies sought to replace them with cheap migrant labour that are inadequately informed or trained to work in a conflict zone. In relation to discriminatory government policies, 2024 saw far-right populism gain momentum across the world. Migrants were increasingly targeted by xenophobic rhetoric and discriminatory policies, and temporary migration schemes exacerbated migrants’ vulnerability to exploitation.
- What can companies do? BHRRC provides several recommendations to companies:
- Commit to full and public supply chain transparency, including use of contractors, subcontractors, labour suppliers and recruitment agencies;
- Adopt a migrant worker-centred approach, in line with international standards of equality and non-discrimination across all grounds, to identify salient risks to migrant workers throughout supply chains. This includes 1) acknowledging the heightened risk of abuse for subcontracted and supply chain workers; 2) cascading binding standards throughout supply chains and working with suppliers to ensure they are upheld; and 3) consulting with key stakeholders including migrant worker-focused civil society groups;
- Implement policies to mitigate risks specific to migrant workers, including 1) committing to international standards that call for the implementation of the Employer Pays Principle; 2) implementing accessible and transparent operational level grievance mechanisms that are responsive to workers’ needs, including all supply chain workers; and 3) expecting and encouraging an enabling environment for migrant workers to join and form trade unions along supply chains;
- Respond proactively to allegations of migrant worker abuse, including 1) investigating concerns regarding working conditions for migrants; 2) privileging workers’ own testimony over audit and paper trails and setting the burden of proof on business partners to prove abuse did not occur; and 3) committing to remedy harms in consultation with impacted workers or their representatives;
- Recognise explicitly the harms inherent in state immigration policies and bridge the gap with international standards. For example, where recruitment fees are baked into temporary labour migration schemes, commit to cover all costs for workers’ to obtain their jobs in line with the Employer Pays Principle. Where sponsorship schemes rely on tied visas, commit to facilitate workers’ transfer to other jobs and companies as far as legally possible; and
- Collaborate to use the collective leverage of brands to press governments for greater protection of migrants, and human rights due diligence.
