What is Modern Slavery?
Modern slavery is a hidden crime that violates fundamental human rights and deprives individuals of their liberty through exploitation for another party’s personal or commercial gain. At its core, it refers to circumstances where people are trapped in abusive conditions they cannot refuse or escape, due to intimidation, violence, manipulation, deceit, or the misuse of authority.
Examples of Modern Slavery
Modern Slavery can take many forms. Some examples include human trafficking, slavery, domestic servitude, forced labour, child labour, forced or servile marriage, the sale and exploitation of children and debt bondage. Anyone can be vulnerable to modern slavery. However, those most vulnerable are often people living in poverty, migrants, minorities, women and children.
Our stance on Modern Slavery
Coates Group recognises the horrific reality of modern slavery in our world today, which continues to affect over 40 million people globally. Coates Group firmly opposes modern slavery in all its forms.
We continue to strengthen our position against modern slavery through the creation and ongoing implementation of our own Modern Slavery Statement. This statement outlines our stance and supporting actions we are committed to taking:
Internal education and awareness building
Setting clear expectations with our suppliers
Proactively managing our supply chain partnerships
Escalating any suspicion of modern slavery practices
By doing our part to putting an end to modern slavery, we bring more awareness to the issue at hand and hold ourselves accountable to source products and services from suppliers who comply with all laws and regulations and support fundamental human rights.
Furthermore, we are committed to addressing and ending modern slavery by working with partners who ensure fair, dignified workplaces and conditions are put in place for their employees and those we engage with. We also hold our partners accountable for identifying, mitigating, and remedying any potential modern slavery risks within their operations and will not hesitate to terminate our relationships with those that do not comply with our stance on modern slavery.
Each year, Coates will be providing an updated statement on Modern Slavery that describes our actions to address the risks associated with this crime.
