It Will Take Deeds, Not Words, to End Human Trafficking

By Scott Luton, Founder, CEO, and Host at Supply Chain Now

One of the things we say all the time at Supply Chain Now is, “Deeds, not words.” We believe that our actions are the true evidence of our standards, and our team and audience know that we are a value-led organization. It isn’t the easiest way to run a business, but we couldn’t do it any other way.

When we decided to turn the Atlanta Supply Chain Awards into the Supply Chain and Procurement Awards, a virtual, global event taking place on May 18th 2022, we knew that philanthropy with purpose would be central to our efforts.

Making the decision to partner with Hope for Justice was easy; but figuring out how to stay true to our ‘deeds, not words’ ethic was a bit more challenging. So we started by educating ourselves… what really is the scope of the human trafficking / modern slavery crisis in the world today – and what can supply chain professionals do about it.

The numbers are shocking.

• 25% of all victims of human trafficking are children.
• On average, over 400,000 people are living in conditions of modern slavery every day – in the United States of America
• The U.S. Department of Labor has identified 148 goods from 76 countries made by forced and child labor
• Reports of online enticement grew 97.5% during the pandemic (2019 vs 2020, NCMEC, 2021)
• 65% of all underage human trafficking victims are recruited on Facebook

The more we learn, the harder it is to ignore the severity of this worldwide problem. We recently learned that human trafficking touches closer to home than any of us realized.

Dr. Kendra Taylor, CEO and President at KEYfficiencies, recently joined us for a Supply Chain Now livestream. She shared that in 2014, Atlanta was identified by the Urban Institute as a hub of child sex trafficking. Atlanta is a distribution, manufacturing, and warehousing hub – something those of us who live and work here are very proud of - but unfortunately, all of that movement also creates opportunities for people with very bad intentions to commit these horrific crimes.

Every member of the Supply Chain and Procurement Awards planning committee has children. It is hard to read statistics like the ones in this article and not be moved.

Now that you are probably as bothered as our team has been, I’d like to remind you: deeds, not words.

What can any of us do about the overwhelming problem of human trafficking?

1. Like we have, you can learn. Follow Hope for Justice on your social media channel of choice to read the latest warnings and stories of people being liberated out of trafficking and modern slavery. The global movement to eradicate slavery and human trafficking is fueled by efforts to increase awareness of the travesties.
2. Make sure that human rights violations are featured as prominently as sustainability and supplier diversity in your Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives.
3. Work with supply chain partners to ensure they are an active part of the effort, driving visibility and oversight as many tiers into the supply chain as possible.
4.  Find out which of the products/services purchased by your company on a regular basis are at the greatest risk of violating human rights – even if it is many tiers and miles away from your headquarters or production locations.

Those are some of the steps you can take on an ongoing basis to ensure that your supply chain is not unknowingly supporting human trafficking.

But there is more.

• You can join us for the Supply Chain and Procurement Awards, to hear from speakers with firsthand knowledge of the fight against human trafficking
• You can nominate yourself, team, or company for one of nine awards, each of which reflects our team values and supports Hope for Justice – 100% of all nomination fees will be donated to them
• You can sponsor the awards, aligning your team, brand, and value proposition with ours – firmly against human rights violations wherever they may be.

We believe in the power of active supply chain management to address many of the world’s problems, and we have seen what a dedicated group of people can achieve.

Please join us for this effort, join us as we celebrate the achievements of procurement and supply chain professionals and the providers that empower them, and join us as our words AND our deeds help us take a stand against human trafficking.