Responding to Exploitation in Supply Chains

Overview:
This session equips participants with the tools, and frameworks to respond effectively to reports of human rights abuse. You’ll learn how to triage concerns, initiate secure internal responses, protect evidence, and maintain trust with internal and external stakeholders.

Aims:
To equip participants with the investigative mindset, procedural tools, and ethical judgement needed to respond effectively to reports or indicators of exploitation in supply chains.

Objectives:

1. Apply the investigative mindset using structured principles together, interpret, and challenge material without bias or assumption.
2. Develop and test working hypotheses to progress investigations in cases of limited or conflicting evidence.
3. Implement fast-track actions and Golden Hour principles to preserve critical material and support timely response.
4. Identify key roles and responsibilities within the investigation team, including the leadership, safeguarding, and documentation functions.
5. Triage notifications of potential human rights violations to assess whether an investigation is warranted and within scope.
6. Document investigative actions in a retrievable and justifiable format, with respect for data privacy and safeguarding protocols.
7. Engage with material held under third-party control, recognizing legal, strategic, and contractual considerations.
8. Recognize how safeguarding urgency can override procedural timelines and take immediate steps to prevent further harm.

Key Benefits:

• Practical, ready-to-use response protocols.
• Enhanced investigative judgment.
• Improved internal coordination during high-risk incidents.

Interviewing Victims of Exploitation

Overview:
Interviewing vulnerable workers and survivors requires care, skill, and a trauma-informed mindset. This workshop helps participants build trust, ensure informed consent, and gather accurate, actionable information without causing re-traumatisation. Ethical interviewing practices are central to this session.

Aims:

To develop the knowledge, mindset, and trauma-informed skills required to interview persons harmed in supply chains, ensuring safety, accuracy, and dignity throughout the investigative process.

Objectives:

1. Apply the ‘Do No Harm’ principle and recognize the importance of safeguarding, confidentiality, and ethical engagement in all victim interactions.
2. Identify and overcome barriers to communication, including linguistic, cultural, psychological, and gender-based challenges.
3. Distinguish between preliminary and comprehensive interviews, understanding when and how each should be used.
4. Plan and prepare interviews using structured frameworks, including the PEACE model and the interview plan template provided.
5. Conduct investigative interviews using trauma-informed techniques, such as active listening, open-ended TED questioning, and free narrative recall.
6. Utilize the cognitive interviewing method to improve the accuracy, depth, and reliability of witness accounts.
7. Document interviews accurately and systematically, ensuring material can be used ethically and legally within the broader investigation.

Key Benefits:

• Improve the ethical quality of investigations.
• Learn communication strategies rooted in empathy and respect.
• Reduce risks of re-traumatising survivors or mishandling disclosures.

 Safeguarding Workers at Risk

Overview:
This session explores how to assess risk, implement protections, and prevent harm to those most vulnerable in the supply chain. Participants will gain practical tools for identifying safeguarding needs, supporting whistleblowers, and engaging support services to reduce the likelihood of retaliation or continued abuse.

Aims:
To equip participants with the knowledge and practical tools to identify safeguarding risks, respond appropriately, and implement protective measures that uphold the rights and dignity of workers affected by exploitation.

Objectives:

1. Define safeguarding in the context of human rights investigations, including the distinction between safeguarding, remediation, and legal referral.
2. Conduct a risk assessment for persons harmed, witnesses, and third parties, recognising different categories of harm (physical, psychological, reputational, and institutional).
3. Identify appropriate safeguarding measures, including physical protection, medical care, psychosocial support, and legal guidance.
4. Prioritise safeguarding actions using urgency and proportionality principles, especially where risk escalates during investigation.
5. Identify and map local and international support providers, using tools such as the Global Modern Slavery Directory and open-source strategies.
6. Protect the identity of persons harmed or witnesses through pseudonyms, encrypted communications, and restricted file access.
7. Apply consent frameworks for adults and children, including written, oral, informed, and ‘Gillick competence’ protocols.
8. Navigate the ethical considerations of referral to authorities, ensuring that safeguarding remains victim-centred and trauma-informed.

Key Benefits:

• Proactive protection of vulnerable individuals.
• Confidence in managing victim risk.
• A holistic understanding of safeguarding as part of due diligence.

Correction & Remediation

Overview:
This session empowers participants to take decisive, ethical, and survivor-led action following investigations. Learn how to build Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), conduct root cause analysis, and design remediation strategies that go beyond compliance and support meaningful change.

Aims:
To enable participants to develop informed, ethical, and structured responses to human rights violations by designing corrective and remedial actions that address root causes, support persons harmed, and prevent future harm.

Objectives:

1. Differentiate between levels of company involvement and influence in human rights violations, and determine appropriate response strategies accordingly.
2. Conduct a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to uncover underlying drivers of harm and identify whether issues are isolated or systemic.
3. Design a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) with clear actions, accountability, deadlines, and indicators for progress monitoring.
4. Apply the principles of effective remediation, including timeliness, participation of persons harmed, and continuous improvement.
5. Define and implement appropriate reparations, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.
6. Navigate between judicial and non-judicial remedy mechanisms, including National Contact Points and grievance mechanisms aligned to the UNGPs.
7. Recognise when remediation requires engagement with wider stakeholders, such as legal representatives, NGOs, and state bodies, to ensure ethical and sustainable outcomes.

Key Benefits:

• Move from awareness to structured action.
• Enhance accountability through meaningful remediation.
• Support company credibility through transparent, ethical correction.

Monitoring & Reporting

Overview:
Learn to track, evaluate, and communicate post-remediation progress. This workshop focuses on designing ethical reporting structures, developing indicators, and using data responsibly to demonstrate compliance and support long-term organisational change.

Aims:
To enable participants to design, implement, and assess ethical monitoring and reporting systems that track remediation progress, ensure accountability, and protect the dignity and privacy of persons harmed.

Objectives:

1. Define the role of monitoring in the post-remediation phase and explain how it supports ethical investigation practice.
2. Use a Logical Framework (log frame) to link objectives, results, and indicators in the design of an Implementation Plan.
3. Develop SMART performance indicators that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and trackable to assess the impact of corrective actions.
4. Determine appropriate Means of Verification (MoV) for assessing progress, including data sources such as surveys, reports, and interviews.
5. Differentiate internal vs external reporting mechanisms, including board-level reporting, public statements, and statutory disclosures (e.g. modern slavery statements).
6. Draft an internal and external reporting outline that protects the identity of persons harmed while promoting transparency and continuous improvement.
7. Recognise the importance of debriefing and internal learning at the close of a case, and apply these insights to future investigations.
8. Identify signposting and support strategies for investigator wellbeing in recognition of cumulative trauma and operational fatigue.

Key Benefits:

• Turn remediation into measurable improvement.
• Strengthen transparency with ethical, evidence-based reporting.
• Prepare your organisation for audits and stakeholder reviews.