The International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Walk Free estimate that in 2021, there were 50 million people living in conditions of modern slavery, including 28 million being subjected to forced or compulsory labour. The Asia-Pacific region has the highest prevalence of forced labour of any region in the world, with four out of every 1000 people estimated to be subjected to forced labour.
Modern slavery in its many forms — forced labour, debt bondage and the worst forms of child labour, among others — continues to affect millions around the world. Whilst global supply chains generate financial growth, employment, skill development and technology transfer, the presence of pervasive human rights violations, such as modern slavery, significantly hinders Sustainable Development.
Business participants of the UN Global Compact have made the commitment to our Ten Principles including:
- Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights
- Principle 2: Businesses should make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses
- Principle 4: Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour
- Principle 5: Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labour
The UN Global Compact Network Australia supports Australian participants to meet the Ten Principles and broader commitments made under the UN Global Compact, through the delivery of publications, training and network engagement.
Modern Slavery Impact Initiative
From 2020 to 2023, the UN Global Compact Network Australia is conducting a Modern Slavery Impact Initiative (MSII) to support Australian businesses to respond to modern slavery risks within their operations and supply chains. The MSII delivers training, awareness raising and guidance on how to identify and respond to risks of modern slavery in a manner that is aligned to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and connects, leads and supports Australian participants of the UN Global Compact to meet their human rights and labour rights commitments.
The MSII is supported by grant funding under the Australian Government National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery 2020-2025.
In 2023, the MSII will deliver programming designed to assist both corporate and SME participants with their modern slavery risk management efforts.
Current Publications or Projects
The following projects are currently in progress. If you would like to learn more about a particular publication or project, please contact our Manager, Human Rights, Chris Caskey.
| Title | Type | Status | Opportunity for Collaboration |
| Responding to potential instances of Modern Slavery Safely and Effectively | Publication | Scoping and Research | Yes |
Modern Slavery Community of Practice (MSCoP)
To help Australian businesses navigate new developments and share learnings in a safe space, the UN Global Compact Network Australia (UNGCNA) hosts a Modern Slavery Community of Practice (MSCoP) for business members. To ensure the MSCoP programming is targeted and relevant for all attendees, we run three separate streams (Optimising, Implementing and SME).
Each stream within the UNGCNA Modern Slavery Community of Practice comprises a small, interactive group that meets at least bi-annually and operates under the Chatham House Rule.
The purpose of the Community of Practice is:
- To connect participating UNGCNA members and enable learning and discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing Australian business relating to identifying, managing and communicating modern slavery risks.
- To identify and share leading modern slavery interventions to enable members and other Australian-based organisations to improve their modern slavery risk management program, in line with the principle of continuous improvement.
- To support members in preparing for further regulatory movement on modern slavery and human rights due diligence.
2023 MSCoP sessions
The Modern Slavery Community of Practice is an invitation-only community. It is offered exclusively to business participants of the UN Global Compact Network Australia.
| Optimising Stream | Focus: Providing an Effective Remedy | October (Date TBA) | Virtual | TBA |
| Implementing Stream | TBA | November (Date TBA) | Virtual | TBA |
| SME Stream | TBA | December (Date TBA) | Virtual | TBA |
For more information on joining our Modern Slavery Community of Practice, please contact us.
Bite-sized Learning
The UN Global Compact Network Australia is releasing a series of Bite-sized Learning videos unpacking key modern slavery risk management issues and trends for Australian businesses across 2022 and 2023.
Publications
To support businesses to increase their understanding and capacity to implement effective modern slavery due diligence processes, the UN Global Compact Network Australia (UNGCNA) is producing a series of publications as part of the MSII. These publications are also designed to support businesses to better report under the Australian Modern Slavery Act.
Modern Slavery Impact Initiative: Publication Series
From 2021 to 2023, UNGCNA is producing a series of Modern Slavery focussed publications to assist businesses with identifying, managing and mitigating modern slavery risks within their business. Publications released to date include:
| Cover | Title | About | Link |
 | Business integration of Human Rights Due Diligence in Australia: Modern Slavery and Beyond | Since the introduction of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act (Cth) in 2018 over 7,000 businesses have prepared and filed a modern slavery statement with the Online Register established by the Australian Government. While modern slavery remains a severe risk to people working within the operations and value chains of Australian businesses, this report has been designed to provide businesses a broader view of the range of human rights impacts with which they may be involved. This publication also provides practical examples of actions that businesses can take to expand their focus to assess and address broader human rights impacts in addition to modern slavery in line with the UNGPs. | Publications Library |
 | Modern Slavery Risk Management: A playbook for Australian SMEs | This publication is designed to help small to medium-sized | Publications Library |
 | Modern Slavery within Maritime Shipping Supply Chains | This publication is designed to help Australian businesses uphold their responsibility to respect the human rights of seafarers within their supply chains, including freedom from modern slavery in all its forms. It was written by the UN Global Compact Network Australia (UNGCNA) in partnership with the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), with support from the Australian Branch of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Australian Inspectorate. | Publications Library |
 | Effective Modern Slavery Grievance Mechanisms: A Case Study Publication for Business | This publication aims to increase Australian businesses’ understanding of effective grievance mechanisms that can address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and to equip businesses to establish and operate these mechanisms. This will support businesses to describe their actions to respond to modern slavery risks, including remediation processes — a requirement of the Australian Act. | Publications Library |
 | Effective Modern Slavery Grievance Mechanisms: A Guidance Note for Business | This publication aims to provide practical advice to support businesses at all stages of designing and implementing effective business-led grievance mechanisms to hear and address complaints about modern slavery in their operations and their supply chains. The guide may be particularly useful for businesses reporting either voluntarily or compulsorily under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (Australian Act), as well as businesses implementing key voluntary standards. | Publications Library |
Upcoming events
| Name | Date | Location | Time | Registration |
| Living Wage Roundtable | TBA | In person, Sydney | TBA | TBA |
Regulatory engagement on Modern Slavery
As a leading voice and platform for learning and action, UN Global Compact Network Australia has built a strong reputation for supporting businesses to tackle modern slavery and regularly engages with government and regulatory bodies on the design and operation of modern slavery laws and regulations in Australia. Select public submissions relating to modern slavery can be found below:
- UNGCNA submission to the Review of the Modern Slavery Act (December 2022)
- GCNA submission to the inquiry into the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020 (March 2021)
- GCNA submission on the Department of Home Affairs Draft Guidance for Reporting Entities (June 2019)
- GCNA submission to the inquiry into an Australian Modern Slavery Act (April 2017)
Get Involved
Register your interest to be involved in the Modern Slavery Impact Initiative or to join our nationwide Modern Slavery Community of Practice at secretariat@unglobalcompact.org.au.
