The Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (an international initiative funded by the governments of the UK and Bahrain) published No Country is Immune: Together to End Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking (March 2025). The Global Commission also developed an accompanying framework for prevention of modern slavery.
Human Level’s Take:
🌍 Modern slavery and climate change are deeply intertwined - and both are on the rise. A complex web of crises—climate change, conflict, and economic instability - is increasing vulnerability to forced labour and embedding modern slavery deeper into global supply chains. High-emitting industries like palm oil, logging, mining, brick making and fisheries make significant use of people in modern slavery. If slavery were a country, it would have a population of 40 million people and would be the third largest emitter of CO2 in the world!
🌱 Tackling climate change, environmental degradation, conflict, and inequality means tackling modern slavery too. Each drives the other. Any serious response to these global threats must include action on forced labour.
🔍 Human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the most powerful tool companies have. Grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, HRDD helps businesses identify, prevent, and address forced labour in their operations and supply chains. But it only works if it's fully embedded—prioritised by Boards and CEOs, backed with dedicated resources, and supported by transparent reporting. Strong policies on purchasing practices, recruitment, living wages, freedom of association and worker voice are critical.
🤝 The Global Commission recommends strong action. Companies need to build stable, long-term supplier relationships, go beyond compliance with disclosure laws, and invest in remediation. Transparency is key—disclose suppliers, map risks into second and third tiers, and place worker voices front and centre. And as modern slavery risks intensify with environmental decline, companies need to take urgent steps to reduce their climate footprint across their supply chains.
Some key takeaways:
- Modern slavery is still on the rise, despite global efforts: In 2021, an estimated 50 million people in 2021 were trapped in forced labour or forced marriage worldwide, with women, girls, and children disproportionately affected. The number increased by 10 million between 2016 and 2021. Asia and the Pacific had the highest number of people in modern slavery, while the Arab States had the highest prevalence rate, with 10.1 out of 1,000 people in modern slavery. Some trends vary by region; for example, most victims in North America (75%) and South America (74%) were trafficked domestically, while in Gulf States 43% of victims originated in South Asia and East Asia. Modern slavery is driven by a “complex web” of interconnected challenges that destabilise governments and drive increased migration, from climate change to armed conflict to socio-economic shocks. Many governments continue to address these crises separately from modern slavery efforts, but the Global Commission points out that these challenges feed one another and should be addressed holistically. For example, research has shown a relationship between climate change, modern slavery and human trafficking: high-emitting industries like palm oil, logging, mining, brick making and fisheries make significant use of people in modern slavery. One estimate indicates that, if slavery were a country, it would have a population of 40 million people and would be the third largest emitter of CO2 in the world. In addition, as global crises intensify, individuals’ resilience to shocks decreases and vulnerability to modern slavery increases. These interconnections are embedding modern slavery more deeply in supply chains and making it more difficult to eradicate the issue.
- Leveraging human rights due diligence to address forced labour risks: According to the Global Commission, human rights due diligence (HRDD) — grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights — is the most effective tool for companies to combat forced labour risks in their operations and supply chains. For HRDD to be effective, it needs to be meaningfully embedded in the company and in its full value chain. The report recommends a number of actions for companies to do this. Key actions include making forced labour an “expressed priority” for the Board, CEO and C-Suite; making human rights policies visible in company strategy and business models; explicitly outlining the business case for embedding human rights standards; having dedicated, adequately resourced human rights teams; using a risk-based, remediation-focused due diligence approach; establishing policies that combat forced labour on issues like purchasing, recruitment, living wages, freedom of association and worker voice; reporting on the effectiveness of human right standards; establishing a remediation programme for instances of forced labour; and having effective mechanisms to engage workers. At its core, workers should be at the centre of HRDD and companies should explore worker-driven models and the power of contracts to drive responsible practices in the supply chain.
- A closer look at tackling forced labour in the supply chain: The report also highlights key actions for companies to take when it comes to combating forced labour in their supply chains. Good practices include: establishing stable supply chains and long-term supplier relationships that facilitate understanding the true costs of decent work and living wages; proactively complying with modern slavery disclosure regulations; implementing strong due diligence systems to the second and third tiers that involve workers in identifying and remediating poor conditions; disclosing all suppliers; and ensuring that production practices and raw material extraction do not contribute to climate change and environmental degradation, which are amplifiers of modern slavery. The accompanying prevention framework developed by the Global Commission can be a helpful tool for companies to guide their due diligence efforts. The framework outlines key risk factors that can increase the likelihood of modern slavery in a particular place, which can inform how companies prioritise the highest-risk sectors and countries in their supply chains.
