Hope for Justice’s Norway team is running a webinar series to inform people about protecting human rights and reducing exploitation in supply chains and their own operations.
The webinars are designed to support businesses to meet their obligations mandated by Norway’s new Transparency Act, which came into force in July 2022.
About 90 people attended the first two webinars in November, with the third and final session due to take place next week. The next webinar will assist businesses with their reporting requirements under the new law by highlighting five steps they should take now.
Marie Nordby, Slave-Free Alliance’s Business Development Manager – Human Rights Specialist in Norway, said: “The reason for increasing legislation, such as the Transparency Act in Norway and the UK Modern Slavery Act, is to promote businesses’ respect for basic human rights and decent working conditions. A solid sustainability strategy must include social responsibility and social sustainability, and in various ratings for ethical business standards this is a requirement.”
Jeanette Schulz Årvik, our Senior Advisor on Human Rights in Supply Chains, added: “The starting point for the new legislation is that you should focus on the areas where there is the greatest risk of human rights violations. Then, you must also assess the influence you have and take proportionality into account, so that the work is feasible and meaningful.”
Nadia Ullah, Legal Advisor at the Norwegian Consumer Authority – an independent administrative body, administered by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs in Norway – is a guest speaker for the upcoming webinar. She will share the latest information about trends and issues that have been reported by the companies they have guided in their work with the Transparency Act to date.
Rachel Hartley, Training and Technical Team Lead for Slave-Free Alliance, said: “One of the common challenges that UK businesses faced after the introduction of the UK Modern Slavery Act was not having enough supply chain visibility, which hindered their ability to engage with legislation. My advice for Norwegian businesses would be to undertake supply chain mapping to achieve a sufficient level of transparency.”
The next 90-minute webinar is on Friday 16th December, from 9.30am (Norway time). Find out more and sign up here.
