On 25 March 2024, International Day for the Remembrance of Victims of Slavery, the Property Council of Australia launched a ground-breaking new resource with Edge Impact, the 'Pathway to Respecting Human Rights and Addressing Modern Slavery Risks'.

This project is an outcome from the Property Council’s ‘Human Rights and Modern Slavery Working Group’, which has been meeting for over five years to consider how property and construction organisations can together tackle modern slavery.

Modern slavery describes situations where intimidation, threats or deception are used to exploit people and limit or remove their freedom. These situations may include debt bondage, deceptive recruiting for labour or services, forced labour, forced marriage, servitude, slavery, trafficking in persons, and the worst forms of child labour.

According to the Global Slavery Index, published by Walk Free, an estimated 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, an increase of 10 million people since 2016. Each day, people are tricked, coerced, or forced into exploitative situations that they cannot refuse or leave. Each day, we buy the products or use the services they have been forced to make or offer without realising the hidden human cost.

Francesca Muskovic, National Policy Director at the Property Council, says the risks of human rights abuses in property and construction are high, but the property industry is coming together and collaborating to tackle modern slavery.

“Our sector employs over 1.4 million Australians, surpassing both mining and manufacturing combined, and has a responsibility to address the social impacts of our actions, both domestically and abroad,” she explains. “Our supply chains are intricate, spanning various geographic locations and tiers. It’s crucial to comprehend human rights and modern slavery risks within them to promote ethical and sustainable practices. We hope this report helps the industry build on the great work already done in this space.

“Businesses have an important role to play in respecting and upholding human rights. The property industry coming together through collaboration around key topics, such as remediation and grievance mechanisms, is vitally important.”

Indeed, respecting human rights is everyone’s responsibility. This pathway is designed to give property and construction businesses and their suppliers practical and actionable steps for respecting human rights and tackling modern slavery, no matter the size of business or level of experience. Across ten clear steps, the Pathway sets out guidance, examples, case studies and actions, with links to 58 free online resources that organisations can use to ensure continuous improvement.

At their core, human rights are about treating everyone fairly and with dignity, giving them freedom to make choices in their lives. They are for everyone, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, or language spoken. Businesses have an important role to play in respecting and upholding human rights. This can be about making sure workers are treated fairly and have good working conditions to enable workplaces to be diverse, inclusive and safe.

Sadly, the risks of human rights abuses in property and construction remain high, despite efforts since the introduction of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018. This is due to many factors including the frequent use of sub-contractors and lower-skilled or migrant workers, long and complex supply chains, and the manual nature of work. Some challenges in this sector that may expose your business to human rights risks include:

Complex supply chains make it hard to know where goods come from and under what conditions they are made.

When businesses outsource and subcontract work and labour, the companies they use may not respect the rights of their workers.

The demanding nature of manual labour, long hours and tight deadlines could lead to unhealthy or unsafe practices.

It’s common to use migrant labour in construction and language barriers can affect a worker’s understanding of their rights.

Using raw materials from locations with a higher risk of human rights issues could lead to modern slavery occurring in your supply chain.

Abuses of human rights put people at risk of serious harm, and open your business up to risks that could have big financial, reputational, and operational impacts. For large businesses, there are also legal and ethical responsibilities that they must meet. Indeed, many property and construction suppliers are keen to collaborate to tackle modern slavery, but need support. An industry initiative like the Pathway brings together existing resources to form a valuable step-by-step approach. No need to reinvent the wheel, or confuse people with complex terms; just a simple, clear pathway to continuous improvement.

So whether your business is small, medium-sized or a large multi-national company, everyone has a responsibility to respect human rights. This pathway shares practical and actionable steps you can take and outlines your obligations based on the size of your business. It also helps you and your suppliers understand and manage these responsibilities in a simple and effective way. Together, we can make our industry one that respects human rights and works to eliminate modern slavery.

Download your free copy at https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Pathway-to-Respecting-Human-Rights-and-Addressing-Modern-Slavery-Risks.pdf

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