Leading by example: OSCE organizes meeting of ICAT and UN Procurement Task Force to co-ordinate efforts to prevent trafficking in supply chains

What if the seafood served in the cafeteria at your organization was caught and processed as a result of trafficked labour occurring on the other side of the world? Preventing labour exploitation in supply chains was the focus of a meeting organized by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for members of the Inter-agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) and the UN’s Procurement Task Force in Vienna on 10 December 2019.

This is the first meeting of this kind, bringing together the Task Force (for the Development of Joint Approach in Combating Trafficking of Human Beings in Supply Chain under the UN High-level Committee on Management) and ICAT with the goal of ensuring that none of the organizations purchase items that have labour exploitation in their supply chains.

Ways in which ICAT can support the procurement specialists in the implantation of the objectives of the Task Force were discussed, as well as specific measures and goals to be implemented. The meeting was acknowledged as being part of a broader effort by the OSCE to mobilize international efforts, and support OSCE participating States in promoting policies and practices to prevent human trafficking.

“International organizations have an essential role to play. They can provide expertise and guidance on national policies and can help to advance harmonization. They must also adopt and implement those procedures themselves,” said Valiant Richey, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

UN Security Council Resolution 2388 calls on UN systems to enhance transparency in their procurement and supply chains, while the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on Strengthening Efforts to Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings (2017) directed the OSCE Secretariat to look at its own supply chains and ensure that no goods or services from trafficked persons are being used.