Introduction
Current forced labour assessments may be institutionalising harm reduction instead of eradication –but what if we’ve been looking at the problem the wrong way? This blog draws on research by The Remedy Project and their white paper ‘Are we fighting forced labour or just managing it?’ which proposes a framework that integrates decent work and business model indicators to improve early detection and prevention of forced labour. This framework is being tested through an ongoing case study series across high-risk sectors, offering evidence-based insights into more effective approaches to tackling exploitation.
Current assessments are rooted in ILO Forced Labour (ILO FL) Indicators, designed originally as diagnostic tools to monitor basic labour standards. They tend to capture only the visible and obvious issues like wage withholding or excessive overtime, while missing the broader, systemic ways in which forced labour manifests across supply chains. As a result, they are often reactive, detecting forced labour once it has occurred, rather than identifying the early warning signs that could enable prevention and better-timed interventions.
To address forced labour effectively, the report explores whether decent work deficiencies (e.g. lack of fair wages, job security, or grievance access) and business model indicators (e.g. purchasing practises, cost pressures, subcontracting) serve as more accurate early warning signals of forced labour than traditional forced labour indicators. With new regulations like the EU Forced Labour Regulation (EUFLR) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) on the horizon, this is a critical moment to rethink current practices and shift from surface-level compliance to systemic prevention and meaningful remediation.
Reframing forced labour assessments: addressing systemic drivers and current shortcomings
Forced labour stems from systemic drivers that extend beyond individual supplier misconduct, yet current indicators focus primarily on identifying observable signs of exploitation rather than addressing underlying root causes. Their static, checklist-style application misses the interplay of systemic vulnerabilities that enable forced labour to flourish. This narrow lens ignores how cost pressures, opaque supply chains, and weak governance structures actively foster exploitation.
The absence of decent work conditions is often an early warning sign of forced labour risk, yet it remains outside the scope of most current assessment tools. These tools do not evaluate whether decent work conditions, such as fair wages, job security, freedom of association, or access to grievance mechanisms, exist. Instead, they primarily record and confirm exploitation that has already occurred.
As a result, several critical systemic drivers are routinely overlooked:
- Business model pressures including cost pressures, rapid delivery demands, and opaque subcontracting arrangements create incentives for exploitation while obscuring accountability.
- Socio-economic vulnerabilities such as lack of access to social security, caste-based discrimination, and gender inequalities create conditions where workers are more susceptible to exploitation.
- Weak regulatory enforcement, limited grievance mechanisms, and absence of worker representation leave workers without protection or recourse when problems arise.
A new perspective: moving beyond reactive approaches
The white paper proposes expanding forced labour assessments to include:
- Decent work deficiencies as early warning signals examining the absence of living wages, job security, and worker agency that create vulnerability to forced labour.
- Business model indicators that assess pricing practises, lead times, supplier dependence, and procurement patterns that may incentivise or enable exploitation.
- Attribution of responsibility across value chains through equitable distribution of responsibility among brands, buyers, suppliers, regulators,
The ongoing case studies that test the framework’s effectiveness in real-world contexts, employ mixed methods including desk research and stakeholder interviews.
By tracking decent work deficiencies alongside business model pressures, this approach offers earlier and more accurate signals of forced labour risk. It creates opportunities for preventive interventions, more meaningful remediation, and supports a governance model that centres on structural change and worker agency.
Spotlight: sugarcane sector case study in Maharashtra
The first case study in the series, ‘The bitter price of sweetness,’ applied the framework to the sugarcane sector in Maharashtra, India – a region with well-documented forced labour challenges. The study revealed how gendered risks, informal labour networks, and recruitment debt traps create persistent vulnerabilities that are missed by current assessments.
Debt-driven recruitment creates dependencies that traditional assessments categorise as voluntary employment, despite workers having limited agency over their working conditions. Women workers face particular vulnerabilities through seasonal migration patterns and informal recruitment practices that leave them without legal protections. Despite performing over 60% of cultivation tasks, women workers remain systematically marginalised. Under the jodi (pairing) system, women are paid through their male partners, leaving them without financial independence or household decision-making power. They return to work within days of childbirth with no maternity benefits, are frequently exposed to sexual harassment and violence, and many undergo hysterectomies under pressure to keep working.
The study demonstrates how business model and decent work indicators provide a more accurate risk profile while creating opportunities for targeted and meaningful interventions. Rather than waiting for exploitation to occur, this approach identifies the conditions that enable forced labour to emerge.
What this means in practice:
- Improve procurement and pricing models so that cost efficiency does not come at the expense of workers.
- Strengthen enforcement and governance to ensure accountability is shared across the value chain, not shouldered solely by suppliers.
- Recognise workers as stakeholders in shaping solutions, not just subjects of monitoring.
Upcoming case studies will continue to test and refine this framework across additional sectors and regions, building a robust evidence base for prevention-focused approaches to forced labour.
Conclusion: from management to eradication
The shift we need is clear: move from documenting the presence of forced labour to preventing it by addressing root causes. A systems-based approach that integrates decent work and business model indicators rather than singularly measuring labour standards is more likely to enable prevention, strengthen remediation, and protects workers in the long term.
The path forward requires prevention over reaction, with indicators used to anticipate risks before exploitation occurs. And it means embedding decent work – fair wages, job security, and worker voice – as the foundation of responsible supply chains. It also demands shared accountability, where responsibility is distributed equitably across brands, suppliers, regulators, and other actors in the value chain.
Governments and policymakers can create enabling environments for decent work by reforming pricing and procurement policies, strengthening enforcement, and expanding social protections.
Companies and industry actors hold the operational levers that shape working conditions. They can reform procurement practices and pricing models so efficiency does not come at the expense of workers, invest in sector-level improvements such as education and health services, and ensure direct and fair employment relationships that bypass exploitative contractor systems.
Civil society, worker representatives, and trade unions are critical to amplifying worker voice, linking systemic pressures to lived realities, and ensuring workers are recognised as stakeholders in shaping solutions, not just subjects of monitoring.
By adopting this approach, stakeholders can move beyond managing symptoms to dismantling the conditions that allow forced labour to persist.
What’s next: We invite others to consider these findings, critically evaluate current frameworks and their effectiveness and engage in the broader dialogue about transforming how we address forced labour in global supply chains. To stay updated as new case studies are released, please follow The Remedy Project on LinkedIn.