DEC-JAN8 WITH THE WORLD LOCKED DOWN, TECHNOLOGY MUST HELP CONTINUE THE FIGHT AGAINST MODERN SLAVERYBY DARIAN MCBAIN, EXECUTIVE ADVISOR, CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND SUSTAINABILITY, THAI UNION GROUP PCLIN MY OPINIONThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought supply chains into focus--from questions about how goods get from A to B to concerns about shortages and panic buying. Less attention, however, has been directed to the people at top of these supply chains. The workers who harvest produce, fish the oceans and make our products have been largely forgotten despite the growing risks in this area. We face, in many ways, a perfect storm for modern slavery and labor abuse. The pandemic has increased uncertainty for workers at the top end of the value chain, many of whom are migrants and rely on continuous employment to stay in the country and support their families back home. The uncertainty faced by these workers has been reflected through a steep drop in remittances around the world. Through the course of 2020, remittance flows in East Asia and the Pacific are projected to fall 11%, with a further decline of 4% forecast for 2021. With remittances contributing $500bn to developing economies every year, the financial impact of this sharp decline could also push more people to search across borders for jobs at just the time when employment is scarce and avenues for legal migration limited.
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