Our Year in Review. Report

Transcription

1 2017 Our Year in Review Report

2 INDEX 1. Message from the Chairman 2. Summary of 2017 Achievements 3. Members 4. Our Tools 5. The Mekong Club in the Media 6. Events 7. Our Team 8. Awareness and Advocacy 9. The Pledge

3 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN (December 20, 2017) As the Mekong Club continues to grow, it is opportune to reflect on our successes over the past 12 months. Hence, our first Year in Review. I hope you will find time to read this report carefully. As I reflect on 2017 as Chairman and Board member, my own highlights for the year would be these: During the past 12 months, we have continued to lead and inspire the private sector in Asia to step up and get involved in the fight against modern slavery. We have done so through our association work, which has brought together 50 companies from 9 sectors during 11 working group sessions. Moreover, we started engaging the broader FinServ community by launching the Asia-Pacific chapter of the Bankers Alliance against Trafficking initiative. Thanks to the insights gathered during these sessions, we have conceptualised, developed and launched new tools, such as a multi-language e-learning toolkit, an interactive map for assessing commodity and country-related modern slavery risk, a remediation toolkit, and more. We have started disseminating our Relationship Manager training programme and continued working on the Risk Assessment Matrix project with the major step forward of gaining access to companies social audit datasets. We have also launched our members-only portal, which offers all these tools through a flexible, user-friendly and engaging online platform. For the first time, we held a cross-sector event titled Hong Kong s Corporate Response to Modern Slavery on 15 June This was the first joint session for the Mekong Club association members and was attended by 26 professionals representing 18 different organisations from 6 different sectors. This event s main objective was to bring our members together to discuss how to advance the anti-slavery agenda of the Hong Kong business community. The deliverable identified was a pledge that companies could sign up to. This was the inception of our Business Pledge Against Modern Slavery initiative which we launched on November 14th, and has been signed by 6 major organisations already. The Mekong Club has developed partnerships with major organisations, such as the United Nations University and United Nations for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons (Victim Identification App project); Thomson Reuters and Fair Trade Association (e-learning toolkit); Thomson Reuters Foundation (Asia-Pacific Bank Alliance); and more. The Mekong Club strengthened its presence in 2017 thanks to our consistent presence in the press and at major speaking events. Our organisation was mentioned and featured in 40 articles, newsletters, websites and interviews. Our team spoke at over 30 major global, regional and local events including conferences, panels and seminars in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific and Australia. This year, we released our second report following our Business Response to Slavery survey. Moreover, in August, we introduced the Must-Read Monthly Digest, containing a selection of relevant media articles, as an additional service to members and launched our new website in December. Finally, 2017 was a year when our organisation grew with more association members as well as new contributors, including advisers, consultants and pro-bono collaborators. Everyone in our team made a valuable contribution towards making this year one of major breakthroughs and achievements. With my best wishes for a successful 2018, David Hall-Jones Chairman The Mekong Club The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 3

4 SUMMARY OF 2017 ACHIEVEMENTS

5 SUMMARY OF 2017 ACHIEVEMENTS Mekong Club Association Tool Development Awareness and Advocacy Leadership The Business Pledge Data Collection and Analysis Working Groups Working Group meetings Asia/Pacific Bankers Alliance Mekong Club membership Completion of on-going tools New Tools identified and completed Presentations to Businesses in Hong Kong Presentations to non-businesses in HK Outreach Other Countries Media Coverage News Digest Newsletters EDM Submissions Ambassadors Meetings/Events Business Pledge Interviews Signatories Annual Survey Business Pledge Agains Modern Slavery tracking format Analysis of audit methods and questions to detect forced labor 4 working groups 11 meetings 1 meeting 27 members (6 new) 5 tools initiated: Remediation Toolkit Best Practice Repository Banking Typology Repository Risk Assessment Matrix Victim identification Smartphone App 7 Tools Completed: Ending slavery e-learning course Relationship Manger Training Commodities/Countries Risk Map Resource Guide for Banking Ending slavery: A Resource Guide for Business Infographics for Banking Knowledge Hub Private Sector: 2173 people trained Working groups: 233 people trained General Training: 4144 people trained Australia: 1477 participants Bangladesh: 172 participants Macau: 1158 participants Singapore: 721 participants Thailand: 642 participants Italy: 45 participants France: 13 participants Brussels: 95 participants Japan: 297participants USA: 776 participants UK: 14 participants 40 media events/articles 5 submissions 4 Newsletters 8 EDMs 2 Ambassadors 6 total Pledge design and launch completed 5 completed 6 companies 2017 Business Response to Slavery Survey completed Tool Developed Analysis in progress The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 5

6 MEMBERS

7 MEMBERS AND LEADS Summary of Members Apparel and Footwear Financial Services Retail Hospitality Other Sectors MEMBERS 1. Clarks 9. Bank of America 17. AS Watson 20. MGM Macau 22 Winston Strawn 2. Adidas 10. ABN AMRO N.V. 18. Coop 21. Peninsula 23. Baker McKenzie 3. Disney 11. EY 19. Lidl 24. Philip Morris International 4. MGF Sourcing 12. HSBC 25. Anna Whitlam 5. Li & Fung 13. KPMG 26. FleishmanHillard 6. H&M 14. Standard Chartered 27. Sedgwick-Richardson 7. Kering 15. Commonwealth Bank 8. VF 16. Macquarie Member companies that joined in 2017 are highlighted The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 7

8 SUMMARY OF 2017 ACHIEVEMENTS Summary of Working Group Session Attendees WORKING GROUP FinServ MEMBERS ABN AMRO N.V. Standard Chartered EY HSBC Bank of America Commonwealth Bank Macquarie OBSERVERS Citibank St James Place Lexis Nexis Thomson Reuters China Construction Bank BNP Paribas Hang Seng Atkins McKinsey Apparel & Footwear Adidas Disney Li & Fung H&M MGF Sourcing Kering VF Clarks Philip Morris International Speedo J Crew BSCI-FTA Crystal group Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd. Retail AS Watson Lidl Coop Rewe Far East Carrefour ALDI TGA Sourcing WM Morrison Global Sourcing Hospitality MGM Macau Peninsula Mandarin Oriental ONYX group Intercontinental The Mira Langham Hotels Sands China Cross-Sector Sedgwick-Richardson Winston & Strawn Baker McKenzie FeishmanHillard The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 8

9 ENDING MODERN SLAVERY: A RESOURCE GUIDE FOR BUSINESS LEADERS OUR TOOLS

10 OUR TOOLS The Mekong Club releases new tools every year with the aim of helping companies to address modern slavery more efficiently. Each tool has been developed with businesses for businesses, as the result of an engagement process with sector-specific or cross-sector working groups. Since our association inception in 2015, we have launched 12 tools, including interactive maps, training programmes and e-learning courses in several languages. An overview is offered in the table below. OPEN SOURCE TOOL NAME DESCRIPTION SECTOR Awareness Raising The Mekong Club offers 60 to 90-minute presentations on what slavery is and how it relates to the private sector with the aim of helping participants understand the issue and inspiring them to get more involved. Cross-sector Resource Guide This resource guide explains what slavery is, clarifies common terms and definitions, describes the criminal chain and outlines what current responses are being used to address this global phenomenon. Cross-sector Risk Assessment Matrix Victim Identification App This online dashboard helps brands to assess the risk of forced labour associated with specific products in a given country or province, in order to prioritise their audits and investigations where modern slavery is more likely to exist within their supply chains. The app provides audio recordings of pre-screening questionnaires tailored to different trafficking scenarios in several languages. It has three main purposes: to help front-line responders overcome language barriers, to allow potential victims to communicate without speaking, and to reduce the costs and bias that are linked to the use of interpreters. The same concept can also be used to enhance workers interviews during audits Cross-sector Front-line The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 10

11 OUR TOOLS MEMBERS - ONLY TOOLS TOOL NAME DESCRIPTION SECTOR Ending Slavery E-Learning course Remediation Toolkit The e-learning courses comprised of two modules, offering a total of 15 short videos, 14 infographics, 10 quizzes and 2 reference manuals. They offer businesses a flexible yet effective way to learn about modern slavery. Materials are available in English, Vietnamese, Burmese, Cantonese and Mandarin. The Mekong Club Remediation Toolkit aims to help companies address forced labour incidents in a comprehensive and strategic way. It is comprised of four core sections: preparation, communication, investigation and remedy. It is accompanied by a legal guide for seven Asian jurisdictions. Cross-sector Apparel/ Retail Knowledge Hub The Knowledge Hub is a comprehensive online resource centre on modern slavery. News articles, reports, website addresses, blogs and more are updated every month and searchable through both keyword-based and advanced search options. Cross-sector Resource Guide and Infographic for Banking Relationship Manager Training These resources offer an insight into slavery and its links with the financial services sector. The manual includes an analysis of the problem and associated risks, and an explanation of emerging responses banks are using to fight financial crime related to human trafficking and slavery. The two infographics focus on data sources and adverse media screening keywords. The Mekong Club offers a three-hour workshop to help key departments within financial service providers understand how to identify modern slavery red flags and deal with suspicious transactions and clients moving through their system. FinServ FinServ Commodities/ Countries Risk Map Best Practice Repoitory Banking Typology Repository The Commodities/Countries Risk Map aims to support professionals in collecting information related to modern slavery risk for certain countries and commodities in a simple yet comprehensive way. The map is an interactivedashboard that gathers data from official sources to generate country or commodity-based reports. As legislation continues to expand and more companies put in place interventions to tackle the issue of modern slavery, it is important to learn from existing efforts that are already in place. The best practice repository is a collection of one-page profiles of promising, ongoing private sector programmes that focus on this issue. Financial institutions analyse typologies to pursue investigations, compare scenarios and follow patterns that identify suspicious activities linked to trafficking and slavery. The typology repository offers guidance for banks on a number of possible slavery scenarios, highlighting key patterns as well as ways financial institutions can inadvertently become involved in criminal activities. Cross-Sector Cross-sector FinServ The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 11

12 THE MEKONG CLUB IN THE MEDIA

13 THE MEKONG CLUB IN THE MEDIA In 2017, our organisation was mentioned and featured in 40+ articles, newsletters, websites and interviews. The table below contains a selection of these articles. For the complete list, please visit the Our News page on our website. TITLE PUBLICATION DATE AUTHOR Embracing the public good The Peak Magazine December 2017 Other Hong Kong Confidential Pod-cast Hong Kong Confidential December 2017 Other Tackling Modern Slavery within Global Supply Chains Financier Worldwide December 2017 Other Fighting Human Slavery: Why the Private Sector Should Care RMG Times November 2017 Matt Friedman Where were you? asked Gita The Financial Express Bangladesh November 2017 Matt Friedman Matt Friedman: A Catalyst For Change Daily Sun - Bangladesh November 2017 Other Hong Kong is showing way for Asia to fight modern slavery Fighting slavery remains a global challenge, whatever the numbers say SCMP September 2017 Other SCMP September 2017 Zoe Fortune We are all failing in the fight against human trafficking The Nation July 2017 Matt Friedman, other Human-trafficking is a global crime, and the world must join the fight to end it SCMP July 2017 Other Hashtag Impact Podcast 19 May 2017 Hashtag Impact May 2017 Other How can human trafficking front line responders use technology? Thomson Reuters Foundation April 2017 Other Sweatshop simulation for CNN CNN March 2017 Matt Friedman, other Linking information and action in the fight against human trafficking Open Democracy January 2017 Matt Friedman The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 13

14 EVENTS

15 EVENTS In 2017, the Mekong Club team was invited to speak at major conferences, forums and partner s regional event for a total of over 30 events. Besides participating in speaking sessions in Hong Kong on a regular basis, our team spoke at events in Japan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Washington D.C., Italy, Australia, Thailand, Korea and Macau. Some highlights are included in the table below. For a complete list of events hosted by the Mekong Club and/or external partners please visit the Events page on our website. EVENT TITLE AND TYPE MEKONG ROLE DATE WHERE PARTNER/ ORGANISERS International Bank Association Presentation December Tokyo, Japan International Bank Association Public Affairs Asia Gold Standard Award Ceremony Matt Friedman awarded Communicator of the Year and Mekong Club shortlisted for NGO Engagement for the yea November 2017 Hong Kong Public Affairs Asia Asia-Pacific Group Typologies Workshop Conference Presentation and panel discussion November 2017 Busan, Korea Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering Modern Slavery: The Issue of Our Time Breakfast seminar Presentation November 2017 Hong Kong French Chamber of Commerce CSR ASIA SUMMIT Conference Consumer Good Forum Responsible Sourcing Conference Thomson Reuters Anti-Slavery Summit Presentation and panel discussion Presentation and panel discussion Keynote speech and panel discussion September 2017 Bangkok CSR Asia September 2017 Bangkok CONSUMER GOOD FORUM August 2017 Hong Kong Thomson Reuters FinServ Intelligence Quarterly Roundtable Presentation July 2017 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Modern slavery and recruitment fees seminar Regional Employer Forum Presentation and panel discussion Presentation and panel discussion June 2017 Hong Kong Thomson Reuters April 2017 Singapore Baker McKenzie The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 15

16 OUR TEAM

17 OUR TEAM In 2017, our team grew and welcomed valued contributors in the fields of research, IT, supply chain sustainability and accounting. Below are the names and positions of our team members & advisors: Matt Friedman CEO Staff Mark Devadason Chair of the FinServ Working Group and Board Member Senior Advisor Business for Social Responsibility Phil Marshall Senior Advisor & Board Director Director - Research and Communications Group Louisa Noble Brand Consultant & Board Director Managing Director Sedgwick Richardson Silvia Mera Program Director Staff Dr Zoë Fortune Research Director Staff Paul Ling Tech Solutions Architect Staff Helen Ford Supply Chain Consultant Collaborator, Staff Stefan Lotz Research and Social Media Collaborator Ng Te Hooi (TeA) Accounting and Finance Staff This team has been supported by outstanding volunteers who contributed a total of 894 hours of pro-bono work in Some of the tasks they carried out included translations, editing and proofreading, IT, design, video editing, research, logistics and admin. The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 17

18 ADVOCACY AND AWARENESS

19 ADVOCACY AND AWARENESS As a direct result of the efforts being done by the Mekong Club, the Hong Kong corporate community: 1) has received the most awareness-raising training among any other city in Asia, 2) has been the most involved in multi-stakeholder activities to bring the private sector together to offer a united response, 3) has developed the most corporate tools available to help address the problem, and 4) has developed the first corporate pledge against modern slavery in Asia. The Mekong Club has also been the most active organization working across Asia to take this message to other corporate communities within a range of countries, including: Thailand, Bangladesh, China, Singapore, and Japan. Location Business Other Total Mixed Company Single Company Working Group Media NGO Faith School Government Participants Event Hong Kong 1, , , Australia , , Macau ,158 4 USA Singapore Thailand Japan Global (Webinars) Bangladesh Brussels South Africa Italy France London TOTAL 4,256 1, ,203 4, , The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 19

20 THE PLEDGE

21 The Pledge In June 2017, we held a cross-sector event titled Hong Kong s Corporate Response to Modern Slavery. This was the first joint session for the Mekong Club association members and was attended by 26 professionals representing 18 different organisations from 6 different sectors. This event s main objective was to bring our members together to discuss how to advance the anti-slavery agenda of the Hong Kong business community. The group concluded that creating a pledge that companies could sign up to was a sensible and practical deliverable. Therefore, the Mekong Club developed and launched the Business Pledge Against Modern Slavery initiative. The Business Pledge Against Modern Slavery is a short anti-slavery statement, supplemented by actionable steps that take companies on a journey from understanding the problem to eventually becoming a leader in the field. Each company participating in the Pledge: 1) Signs up and agrees to have its logo publicly displayed on the Pledge page; 2) Identifies categories in which it s taking action in the fight against modern slavery; 3) Tracks these categories alongside the Mekong Club; and 4) Contributes to the overall public score measuring the business community s aggregated impact. Signatories have the benefit of participating in a positive, collaborative initiative against slavery, and receiving confidential technical advice and support on areas where they can improve. Six major organisations have joined the Pledge so far: Winston & Strawn MGM Macau AS Watson VF Clarks Commonwealth Bank The Mekong Club 2017 Our Year in Review Report 21

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