Background

​​​

Asia-Pacific supply chains are operating in an era of unprecedented complexity–marked by shifting trade dynamics, climate-induced displacement, geopolitical tensions, and rapidly evolving human rights due diligence (HRDD) regulations. These pressures amplify the vulnerabilities of migrant workers, women, children and other at-risk groups, while exposing gaps in policy alignment, financial accountability, and enforcement capacity. 

​

This session brings together the International Labour Organization (ILO), The Remedy Project (TRP), and ERM to explore how policy alignment, financial leverage, and rights-based collaboration can help close implementation gaps and shift practice toward systemic prevention and remedy. It will also provide a regional overview and share good practices from trade-linked supply chains, including those in crisis-affected and/or post-conflict contexts. By combining International Labour Standards and the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, including freedom of association and collective bargaining (FOA/CB), with policy innovation and private-sector engagement, the session will highlight experiences, tools, and evidence that support the prevention—and, where needed, remedy—of forced labour in supply chains. The session explores dimension of leadership for addressing forced labour risks by taking a preventative approach rather than reacting to labour risks. It asks how organisations build adaptive capacity within their forced labour prevention strategies, particularly during crisis periods that heighten forced labour risks. Finally, it aims to provide a collaborative platform to reflect on what works and what doesn’t, and to identify ways to better align public policy, investor practice, as well as employers, workers, and grassroots action into approaches that are mutually reinforcing, crisis-resilient, and rights-based. The session aims to create a collaborative platform to reflect on what works, what doesn’t, and how we can align public policy, investor practice, social partners’ and grassroots’ action to create coherent, crisis-resilient, and rights-based systems for forced labour prevention. This session brings together three distinct yet complementary perspectives:

​

• ILO: The session will provide a concise regional overview and present good practices emerging from trade-linked supply chains, including contexts affected by crisis or post-conflict situations. It will introduce the connection between supply chain and trade practices and international labour standards, including the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work such as freedom of association and collective bargaining, and highlight the role of governments, employers, and workers in advancing compliance to prevent and eliminate forced labour and address situations linked to child labour.

• The Remedy Project:  TRP proposes a dialogue on forced labour prevention through crisis-resilient policy coherence. Effective forced labour prevention requires moving beyond regulatory responses toward integrated prevention frameworks that embed rights-holder perspectives into forced labour risk identification and mitigation strategies.  TRP advocates for coherent forced labour prevention leadership that takes a preventative approach rather than reacting to labour risks. In doing so, TRP proposes systematic integration of decent work indicators, business model analysis, and rights-holder-informed metrics specifically designed to identify and prevent forced labour conditions.

• ERM: ERM proposes a dialogue designed to map collaboration opportunities to safeguard migrant worker rights. ERM will put forward the financial mechanisms that can play a decisive role in combatting forced labour and labour rights violations faced by migrant workers, with ERM sharing their experience working with finance sector clients in employing these strategies. The session also aims to bring forward tangible actions that companies can take to increase migrant worker safeguards, from specific goals on ethical recruitment and employment to providing empowerment and support.

​​

Key Objectives

​​

• Present practical approaches—grounded in International Labour Standards and FPRW (including FoA/CB)—to prevent and eliminate forced and child labour in trade-linked supply chains while sustaining market access.

• Share regional and global regulatory frameworks — including free trade agreements with labour provisions — along with good practices on social dialogue, worker participation, and tripartite collaboration to address forced and child labour in trade-linked operations.

• To demonstrate how strengthening prevention strategies beyond compliance, by addressing underlying drivers of forced labour, not just measuring labour standards, can build organisational resilience and adaptive capacity during crises

• Promote integration of decent work indicators, business model analysis, and rights-holder perspectives to improve early identification and prevention of forced labour conditions. 

• Encourage multi-stakeholder collaboration that ensures rights-holder participation in designing to include their perspectives

• Facilitate dialogue and provide actionable recommendations for collaboration among stakeholders to address forced labour challenges.

​

Guiding Questions

​

• Deeper understanding of how to align evolving HRDD regulations with practical, rights-holder-centred prevention strategies in high-risk supply chains. 

• Practical examples of how gender-responsive and inclusive approaches can be systematically embedded into forced labour prevention frameworks. 

• Insights on using business model and decent work indicators to strengthen early detection and mitigation of forced labour risks.

• Practical insights into strategies to prevent and eliminate forced (and, where relevant, child) labour in export-oriented sectors, grounded in International Labour Standards and FPRW (incl. FoA/CB).

• Knowledge enhanced on how financial incentives and accountability mechanisms can accelerate prevention and remediation efforts, particularly for migrant and other vulnerable workers. 

• A short Session Call to Action (non-binding): 3–5 micro-commitments selected by participants via a quick poll, plus a QR-linked resource pack (ILO/TRP/ERM tools).

​

Expected Outcomes

​

• Through a dynamic panel discussion, participants will explore:

• How regional perspectives, trends, and good practices in the Asia–Pacific—particularly in post-conflict and crisis-affected areas—can inform supply chain action to prevent and eliminate forced labour.

• How regulatory frameworks can evolve in ways that are both coherent across jurisdictions and responsive to rights-holder realities.

• How financial incentives and accountability mechanisms can accelerate prevention efforts.

• How to contextualize pathways for eliminating forced labour in supply chains through the lens of international labour standards and fundamental principle and rights at work.

• How to strengthen prevention strategies beyond compliance, by addressing underlying drivers of forced labour.

• What systematic approaches can leaders adopt to ensure rights-holder perspectives—especially those facing intersectional vulnerabilities to forced labour—directly inform both forced labour prevention policy design and business model risk assessments?

 

Format

​

• The session will take the form of a hybrid panel discussion, with a combination of in-person and online contributions. It will feature expert insights and interactive exchanges, structured around thematic inputs from each organising partner and a moderated panel. Contributions are expected from high-level speakers across the UN system — including the UN Special Rapporteur on Forced Labour and Modern Slavery — and leading organisations working at the intersection of labour rights, business, and supply chains. The session is designed to encourage reflection, practical knowledge-sharing, and cross-sector dialogue on advancing the elimination of forced labour.

​

Session Partners