DECATHLON and combating forced labour
Krishna KUMAAR DHAMODARAN's account, as a production team leader and expert in combating forced labour.
The economic and social impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic have made the populations most at risk of forced labour even more vulnerable. According to the latest report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 27.6 million people worldwide were suffering under forced labour in 2021.
Despite there being an auditing process applied throughout DECATHLON’s value chain (for Rank 1 suppliers and some Rank 2 suppliers), each country has its own regulatory constraints which do not necessarily cover all of the company’s requirements in terms of human rights.
Driven in particular by the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, and then by the 2017 Duty of Vigilance, DECATHLON continues to strengthen its commitment to vigilance in three areas related to modern slavery:
- Forced labour: Suppliers’ employees offer their work or services of their own free will and without the threat of any form of penalty
- Responsible recruitment by its suppliers: The recruitment, transport, transfer, accommodation and reception of a migrant worker for the purpose of paid employment must take place without threat, without the use of force and without constraint
- Debt bondage: A person shall not work or provide a service in order to cancel a debt
These principles were restated in DECATHLON’s latest Modern Slavery Statement.
The company's requirements related to human rights and the fight against forced labour are specified in the Code of conduct as well as in the HRP audit grid. Since 2021, both of these also integrate dormitory and ethical recruitment guidelines. These guides are shared with all countries considered at the greatest risk according to Decathlon’s mapping.
In 2023, DECATHLON made further advances in its fight against forced labour:
- Using the DiginexAPPRISE app to better evaluate risks, interpret alerts and build remediation plans: 100 production sites used this tool in 202325 (100 in 2022). This year, DECATHLON's priority was to work more closely with the tool’s provider in order to enable quicker assessment and verification of alerts for the benefit of its internal assessors. The other priority in 2023 was to address alerts received in 2022 (three specific audits were led in India and Taiwan)
- Improving teammate and supplier skills: DECATHLON updated its e-learning programme to include a focus on legislation to combat forced labour, migrant labour recruitment and transparency in supply chains. Moreover, 60 suppliers were trained on ILO forced labour indicators in 2023 and a capacity-building week led by the NGO Verité was organised in Taiwan for Referents, with topics such as detecting and addressing alerts relating to forced labour as well as verifying results from the DiginexAPPRISE app
- Piloting a dedicated dormitory assessment grid to evaluate living conditions and support the existing HRP process continued in 25 dormitory audits across India, Taiwan, Pakistan and Vietnam. In 2024, the evaluation of dormitories will be seamlessly incorporated into DECATHLON’s HRP audit grid.
The Code of Conduct, Modern Slavery Statement, Vigilance Plan, guidelines for dormitories and ethical recruitment guidelines for suppliers and partners are available at: https://sustainability.decathlon.com/decathlon-annual-sustainable-development-reports
