Glove industry: Aussie High Com reaffirms govt stand against 'modern slavery'
The Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur is in contact with Malaysian authorities and stakeholders from the local rubber glove industry on matters relating to modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour.
In an email to Malaysiakini, the Australian High Commission said its government has taken a strong stand against modern slavery in supply chains through its Modern Slavery Act, enacted two years ago.
The Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur is in contact with Malaysian authorities and stakeholders from the local rubber glove industry on matters relating to modern slavery, human trafficking, and forced labour.
In an email to Malaysiakini, the High Commission said its government has taken a strong stand against modern slavery in supply chains through its Modern Slavery Act, enacted two years ago.
"The Act requires entities to report on their actions to address modern slavery risks in all areas of their global operations and supply chains, including risks related to imported goods," it said, responding to queries linked to the latest allegations of forced labour against Malaysian glove manufacturer Top Glove.
Under the Act, entities based or operating in Australia with annual consolidated revenue of more than A$100 million (RM299 million) are required to report on their actions to assess and address possible modern slavery risks in their supply chains, it added.
"The Australian government expects Australian entities to work with overseas suppliers to address potential modern slavery risks," the High Commission said.
The US Customs Border and Protection (CBP) had last week enforced a detention order on subsidiaries of Top Glove, and Australia's ABC News yesterday quoted a CBP spokesperson as saying that the decision was "based on reasonable evidence of forced labour in the manufacturing process".
"The evidence reveals multiple International Labour Organisation (ILO) indicators of forced labour, including debt bondage, excessive overtime, retention of identification documents, and abusive working and living conditions," the spokesperson reportedly said.
Top Glove confirmed the detention order and said it aimed to resolve the matter within two weeks by reaching out to the CBP, its customers, and consultants.
"There is a possibility this may be related to foreign labour issues, which we have already resolved, save for one more issue with regard to retrospective payment of recruitment fees by our workers to agents prior to January 2019, without our knowledge," said the glovemaker.
ABC News in its report noted that Malaysiakini had since May exposed alleged attempts by Top Glove to unethically skirt around labour laws, including a scheme launched to back surging demand for rubber gloves amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
The report further quoted Business and Human Rights Resource Centre regional representative in Australia, Amy Sinclair, who said: "This really should be a very live issue for Australian companies who are importing from Malaysia, where we know that there are issues and we know there is a history of poor practices."
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