The Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) has partnered with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to publish a human trafficking and slavery due diligence and reporting toolkit. The report provides companies with guidance on meeting the requirements of legislation such as the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA), and disclosing their efforts to stakeholders effectively.
The report notably identifies Assent’s platform as a key solution for mitigating human trafficking and slavery risk. Among other reasons, it highlights its use of the Social Responsibility Alliance (SRA)-developed Slavery and Trafficking Risk Template (STRT), which is the most recognized and adopted surveying template in the industry. It also shows industry associations and coalitions now understand broad corporate social responsibility (CSR) surveys only capture a small piece of the modern slavery story, and defined human trafficking and slavery solutions such as the STRT are necessary to mitigate risk effectively.
Assent’s library of resources on human trafficking and slavery is also identified by the toolkit.
Building Robust Human Trafficking & Slavery Disclosures
The release follows criticism that typical human trafficking and slavery disclosures are often ineffective, failing to provide the information stakeholders need to gain a meaningful understanding of the company’s actions. Most are far below the standard issued by prominent legislation; 86 percent of the disclosures published on the web failing to include proper key performance indicators (KPIs), such as those derived from supply chain due diligence.
While the toolkit highlights the importance of due diligence, its most valuable function is to facilitate reporting through a library of tools that companies can leverage to enable cost-efficient, accurate due diligence. It also shares guidance on how to develop a report that satisfies the concerns of investors, consumers, enforcement bodies and other stakeholders, and maps requirements to corresponding GRI standards.
Of the eight resource themes categorized by the toolkit, Assent resources are featured in six, including:
- Governmental expectations on requirements for reporting related to modern slavery.
- Helps to involve stakeholders and reporting on stakeholder engagement.
- Help creating due diligence systems and develop policies.
- Support reporting on due diligence and policies.
- Support reporting on progress of implementing due diligence mechanisms.
- Support reporting on evaluation of effectiveness of actions.
Establishing Human Trafficking & Slavery Materiality
Although not included in the report, Assent also has guides and other resources outlining the reasons companies should report on modern slavery, and how to determine materiality (topics that encompass the remaining two categories).
Find out more about Assent’s Human Trafficking & Slavery Solution, and take steps toward meaningful change in your supply chain.
Meanwhile, the Assent Compliance Platform and Human Trafficking & Slavery Module is identified as a solution that provides “valuable input and guidance for reporting on effectiveness of actions.” Due diligence data acquired by the software can also be used to satisfy GRI KPIs. This is key for companies in scope of impactful legislation such as the UK MSA, which requires companies to demonstrate their year-over-year progress eradicating modern slavery through quantitative figures.
The Assent Compliance Platform & Your Supply Chain
The Assent Human Trafficking & Slavery Module can evaluate your suppliers and aggregate them based on risk level, enabling you to accurately report on risk areas. The solution leverages the industry-standard STRT to acquire, validate and centralize data from all corporate business units through one solution. The data can be used to provide information that is lacking in many companies’ due diligence reporting efforts.
For more information about how Assent can add value to your human trafficking and slavery due diligence program, contact our experts today.
