Background

​​​

Human rights concerns and environmental risks in global supply chains are rising, with issues such as forced labour, child labour, and unsafe working conditions still present in some contexts. Companies face increasing expectations from stakeholders and regulations to understand and address these risks. While social audits are increasingly used by businesses as part of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) to identify gaps, monitor practices, and engage with suppliers, audits face challenges in fully capturing every aspect of supply chain risk but still provide actionable data and insights. This session will share lessons from over 100,000 Sedex supplier worksites, highlight practical approaches for maximizing the use of audits, and explore ways companies are improving their practices to manage risks and achieve sustainable improvements.​

Key Objectives

​​​​

• Understand the ideal scenarios, real-world realities, and challenges in the context of social audits, drawing on insights from over 100,000 Sedex supplier worksites and the experiences of the supplier, TATWIN

• Explore how these challenges have been addressed and understand what social audits can and cannot achieve

• Discuss ways to enhance the use of social audits and consider additional tools or approaches that complement social audits to help businesses identify and address risks more effectively

​

Guiding Questions

​​​​

• Given the strengths and challenges of social audits, how can they be used most effectively to support human rights due diligence?

• Companies face challenges such as limited resources and time—how can these situations be improved to maximize the impact of social audits?

• There is no single “perfect” tool—what other approaches or combinations of tools could help businesses more effectively identify and address human rights risks?

​

Format

• BHR Mythbreaker Session

​

Session Partners