“CJC responds to new report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, welcoming calls for MHREDD and “failure to prevent””, 24 July 2025

The Corporate Justice Coalition strongly welcomes the new report on Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains, by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Published today (24 July 2025) the new report builds on recommendations first made in 2017, calling for the government to introduce mandatory human rights due diligence and a “failure to prevent” mechanism into domestic law. 

We agree with the inquiry’s key finding that the UK’s existing piecemeal and ad hoc domestic law framework for addressing forced labour is “inadequate”… As a result, “the UK is failing to keep pace with international comparator states”. 

We also firmly support the key recommendations as delivered by the committee: In particular, we agree that, within the next year, the Government must: 

1. Introduce mandatory human rights due diligence duties for businesses; 
2. Establish effective regulatory arrangements to ensure compliance with the new rules for mHRDD…
3. Establish a right for those who have suffered forced labour to bring a claim for civil liability…
4. Implement the recommendation of the 2017 report by creating a civil cause of action of “failure to prevent forced labour”…

We recognise that this 2025 report is focused specifically on the issue of forced labour in supply chains but we assert that… new mandatory due diligence legislation should be accompanied with a corporate duty to prevent all human rights abuses including the right to a clean healthy and sustainable environment – not just forced labour…