What just happened?
In an investigation conducted by The Guardian, it was found that the UK government procured PPE kits from Chinese factories that employed North Korean women working under conditions of ‘modern slavery’.[1] The government received huge backlash and criticism from Human Rights activists for their lack of due diligence in coming up with policies and steps that instead of discouraging and tackling the problem of modern slavery, aided and contributed to it.[2]
What does this mean?
This incident is not only grossly problematic, but also ironic for a country like the UK which ‘progressively’ legislated a one-of-a-kind law in the name of UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015 to address and eradicate the problem of modern slavery.[3] More so, it recognized the role that complex supply chains could play in veiling the connection of global business with modern slavery all around the world.[4] The need of the hour could be understood with the acute necessity of PPE for healthcare and social workers in this crucial fight against a global pandemic. However, the consequence that such procurement of supplies bears on human rights conditions cannot be sidelined.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which distributes PPE items through PPE Dedicated Supply Channel, NHS Supply Chain and other channels, awarded a contract to Unispace Global Ltd., the UK government’s largest PPE contractor, which outsourced production to Dandong Huayang Textiles and Garment Co. Ltd.[5] The workers in the Chinese factories of Dandong are mostly women who work up to 18 hours a day with little or no breaks.[6]They are paid extremely low wages for the number of hours they work for, and about 70% of their wages are seized by the state of North Korea.[7] The workers are under constant surveillance and unable to leave the factories on their free will[8].
Since receiving severe criticism after the publication of these[LE1] reports, the UK government announced that it was going to launch an investigation into the matter.[9] While this is the obvious next step to be taken, it cannot disperse the irresponsibility or negligence, if you will, on the part of the government to ensure that legal and ethical standards are followed at every stage of all government contracts, especially during a time like this.
Written by Neha Singh
References:
[1] Pete Pattison, Ifang Bremer and Annie Kelly, ‘UK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour’ (The Guardian, 20 November 2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/20/uk-sourced-ppe-from-factories-secretly-using-north-korean-slave-labour> accessed 29 November 2020
[2] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, ‘UK: Guardian investigation reveals government sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean forced labour’ <https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/uk-guardian-investigation-reveals-government-sourced-ppe-from-factories-secretly-using-north-korean-forced-labour/> accessed 29 November 2020
[3] Anna Kirkpatrick, ‘The UK Modern Slavery Act-Recent Developments (Clifford Chance, 17 December 2019) <https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/business-and-human-rights-insights/the-uk-modern-slavery-act-recent-developments.html> accessed 29 December 2020
[4] ibid
[5] Pattison (n1)
[6] Michelle Russell, UK Investigates Slave Labour in China-Sourced PPE (Just Style, 24 November 2020) <https://www.just-style.com/news/uk-investigates-slave-labour-in-china-sourced-ppe_id140151.aspx> accessed 01 December 2020
[7] ibid
[8] ibid
[9] Russell (n6)
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