Modern Slavery as the New Moral Asset for the Production and Reproduction of State-Corporate Harm

Abstract

The rise of the humanitarian narrative in relation to modern slavery has enabled corporations to profit from large-scale human exploitation with public consensus. Nation-states have legislated on modern slavery on the premise of protection, which has led to the entities involved evading or being exempt from responsibility for such practices by working with their suppliers to combat such practices despite evidence that their supply chains are linked to, or create further, vulnerability for workers. Other third parties praise such mechanism as transparent, reinforcing a moral consensus that is proving difficult to critique. By using the case study of the manufacture and import to Australia of medical gloves, this article unveils the perverseness of the moral, benevolent state-corporation narrative.

Crimes estatais-corporativos e violações de direitos humanos: um ensaio sobre a relação simbiótica entre Estados e corporações

“…Crimes estatais-corporativos e violações de direitos humanos: um ensaio sobre a relação simbiótica entre Estados e corporações regramento jurídico nacional e internacional para maximizar os lucros por meio de sua mobilidade de sua produção e explorar as condições de mercado mais propícias dos países anfitriões, onde a lei e a regulamentação são limitadas e os custos de conformidade são menores (Marmo & Bandiera, 2022).…”

“…Supostamente, para combater a escravização, a partir da defesa de um sistema de governança humanitária, Estados e corporações articulam mecanismos de soft law e responsabilidade corporativa, para se posicionarem como atores benevolentes que atuam de forma engajada no combate à escravidão. No entanto, na prática, iniciativas de legislações nacionais sobre o tema, não só mantêm as condições que permitem que a escravização aconteça nas cadeias de suprimento do Sul global, como apoiam a elaboração de um consentimento frente ao problema, ao desviar a atenção das corporações como ator responsável por esse crime (Marmo & Bandiera, 2022).…”

State-corporate crimes and human rights violations: an essay on the symbiotic relationship between states and corporations

“…In this context, transnational corporations leverage their privileges in national and international legal frameworks to maximize profits by mobilizing their production. They also exploit favorable market conditions in host countries, where laws and regulations are limited, and compliance costs are lower (Marmo & Bandiera, 2022).…”

A systematic literature review of modern slavery through benchmarking global supply chain

“…Forced labour is prevalent in global supply chains. However, companies endeavour to progress toward respect for those standards and their suppliers' operations (Bansal and Wyss, 2013;Marmo and Bandiera, 2021). Companies are encouraged to ethically verify their entire production process before sourcing any product (Yusuf et al, 2014;Bodenheimer, 2018).…”

“…Accordingly, through information technology, supply chain visibility is a supported visualisation and monitoring of all supply chain processes, from the supplier to the end customer (Martinez, 2015). However, it is expected for business organisations to ensure progress toward respect for those standards within their own and their supplier's operations (Marmo and Bandiera, 2021). Today, all major global brands have labour codes of conduct or are part of multi-stakeholder ethical alliances.…”