Our client, a leading food retailer, needed to better understand the dynamics of the labour market in a conflict-affected region in its fresh produce supply chain. Specifically, they were concerned about the treatment of migrant workers and wanted to better understand the key risks, challenges and opportunities relating to human rights and responsible recruitment in the sector.
It was critical to understand, in practice, how migrant workers in the fresh produce sector were being treated and how this compared to both legal compliance in that market, as well as internationally recognised labour and human rights standards.
To do this, we began with desk research to build a picture of the political, labour and human rights context in the country and in the sector. This also included, critically, the migration routes. This drew from multiple sources of national and international official data, information and reports from NGOs, academia and trade unions. Leveraging our network, we identified and consulted relevant experts, including grass-roots based organisations with in-depth knowledge of the local labour market. All this meant we could share a balanced and even the lived experiences of migrant workers in the sector.
This formed the basis of a gap analysis and set of practical recommendations to address the issue and how to improve their due diligence of suppliers to avoid human rights abuses in the future.
Our client now has better visibility of the risks facing workers in a highly complex and scrutinised market in their supply chain and recommendations on how to tackle them. Armed with this they had an action plan to meet their commitment to respect human rights.
