On September 4, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) released data on the issue of the abuse of migrants across global supply chains. In 2023 BHRRC recorded more than 600 cases of abuse, linked to 389 named companies.
The majority of identifiable companies linked to abuses were headquartered in North America and Europe, with USA, UK and Qatar-headquartered companies most frequently named.
“In 2023, our data revealed migrant workers endured illegal and exploitative recruitment fee-charging and debt, wage theft, employers taking advantage of precarious immigration statuses, as well as threats and physical abuse,” said Isobel Archer, Senior Migrant Rights Researcher, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, in a statement. “We hoped this wouldn’t persist into 2024, but figures from the first quarter of the year are already raising concerns as companies continue business-as-usual, allowing abuse to go unchecked. It is high time businesses recognized the consequence of their inaction and lack of safeguards.
“Migrant workers are often the invisible glue holding the global economy together. Yet, instead of being recognized for their value, migrant workers are subjected to a range of human rights abuses – often facilitated by government regulations and permitted to continue by multinationals at the top of supply chains, who are failing to monitor, investigate and remedy abuse sufficiently.
“Low-wage, temporary or undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable to labor rights abuse, while gender and nationality also shape the form and extent of abuse experienced by migrant workers. Companies must realize it’s simply not enough to publish general labor rights policies; they must recognize specific vulnerabilities and urgently respond to them by adopting tailored and migrant worker-centric risk assessment, due diligence and remedy processes.”
Several well-known brands have repeatedly been linked to allegations of migrant worker abuse in just the first half of 2024. Between 1 January and 18 June 2024, BHRRC recorded 324 allegations of human rights abuse against migrant workers globally, linked to 224 identifiable companies. Companies most frequently named in the cases were Giorgio Armani (4 cases), Jiangsu Delong (3 cases), Uber Eats (3 cases) and Deliveroo (3 cases).
BHRRC data from the first half of 2024 revealed:
- Allegations were most commonly linked to companies headquartered in the USA (66 cases), followed by the UK (35), Saudi Arabia (16), New Zealand (12), Australia (9), China (9), India (8), and Singapore (8).
- Meanwhile, migrants who were exploited in the tracked cases were more likely to be from the Global South: workers from India were the most commonly impacted (49 cases), followed by workers from the Philippines (38 cases), Bangladesh (30 cases), China (21 cases) and Indonesia (17 cases).
- The most common form of abuse was wage theft (occurring in 99 cases), followed by occupational health and safety violations (94 cases), recruitment fee-charging (88 cases), barriers accessing remedy (80 cases), and intimidation (73 cases).
- The United Kingdom was the most common destination country of abuse (41 cases), followed by the USA (40 cases), Saudi Arabia (20 cases), South Korea (18 cases), and India (18 cases).
The top five sectors most frequently linked to migrant worker abuse:
- Agriculture & fishing (73 cases): Most cases occurred in the USA (22), followed by the UK (14) and Canada (10). Workers from Mexico were most commonly impacted (10), followed by Indonesian workers (9) and workers from India (8 cases). Occupational health and safety violations (26) were the most common abuse, followed by barriers accessing remedies (23) and wage theft (21).
- Construction & engineering (59 cases): Most cases occurred in India (10), followed by Malaysia (5), Saudi Arabia (5) and France (5). Workers from India (14), Bangladesh (7) and the Philippines (6) were most commonly impacted. Occupational health and safety violations were the most common abuse (30), followed by wage theft (17) and recruitment fee charging (14).
- Manufacturing (42 cases): Most cases occurred in Poland (12 cases), followed by Italy (7) and South Korea (5). Workers from the Philippines (13), China (6) and Pakistan (4) were most commonly impacted. Workers most commonly experienced occupational health and safety violations (17) recruitment fee charging (12), and unreasonable working hours and a lack of leisure time (11).
- Hotels, restaurants and leisure (31 cases): Most cases occurred in Saudi Arabia (5 cases), the UK (5 cases) and New Zealand (5 cases). Workers from Brazil (6), Indonesia (4), Nepal (3), Philippines (3) and China (3) were most commonly impacted. Abuses most commonly experienced were wage theft (14), unreasonable working hours (7), and barriers accessing remedy (7).
As far as which groups were more vulnerable to abuse, the report said that undocumented workers faced specific risks due to their precarious status. These workers were most commonly reported experiencing occupational health and safety violations, intimidation, and unreasonable working hours. The abuse of undocumented workers was most frequently recorded in agriculture and fishing, and construction.
Issues faceed by women included intimidation, barriers accessing remedy, contract substitution, unreasonable working hours, recruitment fee charging, and wage theft. The abuse of women workers was most frequently recorded in manufacturing and cleaning and maintenance sectors.
