By Ruth Peacock
Modern slavery is rising worldwide. An estimated 50 million people are trapped in slavery, 28 million of them in forced labour. Women and children are disproportionately affected.
Last Sunday, on the 12th World Day against Human Trafficking, Pope Leo renewed the church’s “urgent call to confront and bring an end to this grave crime against humanity”. He also warned of emerging forms of “cyberslavery”, in which victims were coerced into drug-smuggling and online fraud.
He called for prayer and awareness, but increasingly, faith leaders and investors argue that moral conviction must also be exercised in the marketplace.
Dr James Corah of CCLA, an investment management company serving churches, charities and local authorities, says churches have a distinctive role to play through shareholder influence. Faith investors, he argues, should push companies to put human flourishing at the centre of their business models.
“Most, if not all, companies will have slavery somewhere in their supply chains,” he says, reflecting the scale and complexity of global production.
“There is no company that can match the breadth or depth or the purity of the church in the topics it looks at. Once the worst ones are screened out, the obligation is on investment managers to take their values to the boardrooms and try to get them to change.”
To support that effort, CCLA has published its first modern slavery global benchmark, assessing 111 global companies on how effectively they identify, address and prevent slavery in their supply chains.
Only five companies — Samsung, Cisco, Microsoft, Nestlé and BHP — were judged to have achieved strong progress in finding, fixing and preventing modern slavery. Almost half scored only average marks, with many focused on minimum compliance rather than actively identifying risk or ensuring remedy for victims.
Dr Corah argues that the current system does not sufficiently incentivise companies to look for exploitation. Under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, large organisations must publish annual statements outlining steps taken to prevent slavery in their supply chains — but it remains lawful to report that no steps have been taken. Transparency is required, but enforcement is limited.
Globally, there is no single binding United Nations framework, only a set of agreed standards and targets. CCLA’s benchmark therefore assesses companies against UK legislative requirements and international guidance, measuring performance in finding, fixing and preventing abuse.
CCLA manages £15 billion in assets, 64 per cent from charities and many Christian denominations, and a further 23 per cent from parishes, dioceses and organisations associated with the Church of England. It hopes the annual benchmark will both encourage improvement and equip church investors to challenge underperforming companies directly.
Across denominations, churches are strengthening their response. The Church Investors Group, which has 70 members from many denominations, has signed up to the “Find It, Fix It, Prevent It” campaign, sharing knowledge and setting targets to root out modern slavery.
The CofE’s Clewer Initiative equips parishes to identify victims and support survivors. The Methodist Church publishes its own modern slavery statement, requiring suppliers to maintain anti-slavery policies and pay the real living wage.
In the Catholic church in England and Wales, dioceses and religious orders adopt ethical investment policies grounded in Catholic social teaching on human dignity. The Catholic Trust for England and Wales says decisions to invest or disinvest must reflect that commitment, including in relation to human trafficking and exploitation.
The scale of modern slavery presents a moral challenge to churches worldwide. Dr Corah said church investors should care about their returns, but also the ability to use investment markets to drive change.
The benchmark enables investors to identify companies that can do more in finding, fixing and helping victims of slavery.
Dr Corah says there has been an explosion in the types of investors who are interested in this, remaking the industry to drive change: “Faith consistent investment is one of the most vibrant parts of the ethical investment movement right now.”
