Apple and Unilever win Stop Slavery Award

(November 14, 2018) – As of the  an initiative of the  and Anish Kapoor. Judges of the Award, which recognises businesses that have set a gold standard in efforts to eradicate forced labour from their supply chains, agreed that Apple’s supplier responsibility programme ‘is leading  in every category.’ The Stop Slavery Award was also presented to Unilever, who won for the outstanding leadership of its CEO. 

Both winners were announced at the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s annual human rights forum,  at a ceremony on November 15, in London, where they were presented with individual sculptures designed by world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor. 

Standard Chartered PLC and Thai Union Group PCL were Highly Commended, and were presented with Stop Slavery Awards framed prints, also designed by Anish Kapoor. 

The Judging Board especially highlighted Apple’s supplier engagement and monitoring. It was also recognised for its ‘extremely robust’ audit programme, which includes annual audits and spot audits. Judges praised its wide variety of industry collaborations, the fact that it openly shared its learnings with the public and its innovative solutions to push forward its supplier responsibility programme.

International consumer goods company Unilever was presented with a Stop Slavery Award for the leadership of its CEO in the fight to clean one of the highest risk supply chains in the world. Judges noted its ‘highly complex, global and high-risk supply chain, including the use of palm oil in many of its products’ and praised its participation in the Consumer Goods Forum, where it facilitates industry collaboration. Judges added that Unilever ‘shows a commitment to continuous improvement, especially in the palm oil industry.’

Standard Chartered PLC was highly commended for working directly with clients to increase awareness and address issues that may arise. Judges found its reporting to be ‘one of the most transparent of the applicant companies’ and 

praised its process to detect human trafficking and financial crime. The multinational banking and financial services company was also honoured for collaborating to share expertise and developing toolkits to be used within the financial industry to disrupt the financial flow to human traffickers.

Thailand-based producer of seafood-based products Thai Union was highly commended for leading the way in protecting migrant workers’ rights and ensuring responsible recruitment. It was praised for providing training to migrant workers on their labour rights, for its grievance mechanism, and for working with government to strengthen legislation around modern slavery.

‘This year’s Award shows a giant leap in the fight against slavery,” said Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We simply cannot stamp out human trafficking and forced labour without the co-operation of the business sector.

“The fact that some of the world’s largest companies such as Apple and Unilever have demonstrated best practice in attempts to rid their vast and complex supply chains of slavery proves that other businesses really can step up their game in tackling this issue. Our winners richly deserve recognition of the progress they’ve made. We want this to continue, and to see business leaders all over the world taking action.”

“We work hard to make sure everyone across our company, and our supply chain, is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Paula Pyers, Apple’s Head of Supplier Responsibility.  “We are deeply honoured to receive this award and will never stop in our mission to raise standards and end forced labour wherever it exists.” 

“This recognition confirms that we are on the right path and gives us even more determination to continue our work, in partnership with others, to eradicate modern slavery,” said Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever. 

In addition, the Foundation announced the recipients of two Stop Slavery Hero Awards. Rochelle Keyhan was awarded ‘for creating an impact on a regional or global scale’. She was recognised for work building relationships with anti-trafficking stakeholders, from victim advocates to law enforcement, to create sustainable local solutions. Rochelle’s success in training hundreds of law and code enforcement officers to identify trafficking and build victim-centered cases, transforming some of the largest jurisdictions in the country, was highlighted. She was also awarded for her work with dozens of cities, counties and states to pass laws making it impossible for traffickers to hide behind storefronts. 

President of the Rescue Foundation Triveni Acharya was also awarded for her ‘outstanding work on the frontlines’ in rescuing, rehabilitating and repatriating victims of sex trafficking in India. Particularly impressive was her commitment to the cause, despite great personal risk.  She was recognised for the tremendous impact of her work in lives of almost 16,000 girls so far, and it was noted that because of her efforts, ‘traumatised girls have been counselled so well that they are able to live progressive lives by forgetting their past trauma and developing positive attitude.’ 

About the Stop Slavery Award

All corporate winners demonstrated leading practices across eight questionnaire categories: corporate containment, accountability and transparency, responsible
recruitment,	supplier/customer/business	partner	engagement,	grievance

mechanisms, monitoring and corrective action and stakeholder engagement including active government engagement. 

The Stop Slavery Award independent jury comprises:  Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner; Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch; Cyrus R. Vance Jr, District Attorney, New York County; John Ruggie, Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Patricia Sellers, International Criminal Lawyer; Kevin Hyland, Former UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO. 

The full shortlist for the Stop Slavery Award 2018 is: 

(In alphabetical order) 

ABP UK
Apple
Outland Denim
Standard Chartered PLC
Thai Union Group PCL
Unilever 

The selection process:

The selection process:

All applicants completed a questionnaire for either Service Companies or Goods Companies, based on an original questionnaire developed with experts in the field and in partnership with global law firm Baker McKenzie. It highlights best practice in corporate commitment, accountability and transparency, responsible
recruitment,	supplier/customr/business	partner	engagement,	grievance
mechanisms, monitoring and corrective action, stakeholder engagement and innovation.

Submissions to the Award were assessed by an independent third party, Uplift Worldwide, using specific criteria based on existing standards and best practices to score the applicants. 

Uplift Worldwide developed a decision matrix to assess the submissions and compared company responses to assessment criteria that identified a company’s practice as leading, base compliant, or lagging on a scale of 1-10 with individual weighting per question. The assessment criteria were developed using a combination of existing standards (e.g. UK Modern Slavery Act, US Federal Acquisition Requirements) and best practices (e.g. Know the Chain Benchmarking Methodology, Business Authentication Criteria).

About the Stop Slavery Hero Award

The Hero Award recognises individuals who have had significant impact in the fight to eradicate slavery – whether on the front lines, or on a global scale. Candidates were selected following a two-stage application process: firstly, a third-party nomination outlined how the candidate had demonstrated integrity and courage in their efforts to combat slavery and the tangible impact this had achieved at a local or global level. Candidates were then invited to provide details of their work and impact this had had on intended beneficiaries. 

The Stop Slavery Hero Award winners were selected by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 

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About the Thomson Reuters Foundation

The Thomson Reuters Foundation acts to promote the highest standards in journalism and spread excellence in the practice of legal pro bono across the globe. The organisation runs initiatives that inform, connect and empower people around the world: access to free legal assistance, media development and training, editorial coverage of the world’s under-reported news, and the Trust Conference.