Major companies wield enormous power over the global economy. Yet new evidence shows they are still failing to address the human rights abuses that leave millions of workers vulnerable to exploitation and modern slavery.
A new assessment by the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) evaluated 2,000 of the world’s most influential companies. It found that together, the companies generate USD 53 trillion in revenue and account for 54% of global emissions. Additionally, they directly employ 107 million people, and support a further 550 million livelihoods through their value and supply chains. Alarmingly, the findings show that companies continue to take weak and inconsistent action on human rights due diligence, falling far short of what is needed to prevent forced labor.
As the Business and Human Rights Centre warns, “too many companies fall behind,” “too many companies fall behind,” underscoring the need for urgent action from the world’s most powerful businesses to drive meaningful change.
Key findings
The report’s findings expose how deeply conditions linked to modern slavery remain embedded in global business models:
Only 1 in 10 companies assess how human rights impacts relate to their business model.
Modern slavery thrives in business models that rely on extreme cost-cutting, outsourcing, and informal labor. Without addressing these structural drivers, companies cannot credibly claim to prevent exploitation in their supply chains.
Supply chain transparency remains a blind spot with only 24% of companies disclosing the names and locations of key suppliers.
Lack of transparency perpetuates exploitative practices. Hidden supply chains allow abuses like forced labour to persist undetected. Transparency is essential for accountability, and if companies fail to do so, trafficked and exploited workers remain invisible.
Most companies continue to improve on human rights, but nearly one in four regressed since their last assessment.
For people at risk of exploitation, backsliding can mean the loss of safeguards that once offered some protection. It also shows that companies neglect human rights when voluntary commitments replace enforceable standards.
Corporation inaction on wages and affordability is worsening the global cost-of-living crisis. Less than 5% of major companies pay a living wage, and less than 3% support suppliers to do so.
This is perhaps the most concerning finding. Poverty wages are a known driver of modern slavery, forcing workers into debt, informal labor, and exploitative recruitment practices that traffickers routinely exploit. As the world’s largest companies increasingly shape both wages and prices, their sustained inaction make exploitation an unavoidable outcome.
Voluntary action is not enough
Taken together, these findings show that modern slavery is not a fringe issue—it is sustained by everyday corporate practices that prioritise profit over people. Voluntary commitments and ethical pledges have failed to protect workers from exploitation across global supply chains.
That is why Freedom United is calling for mandatory human rights due diligence laws that require companies to identify, prevent, and address exploitation in their operations and supply chains. Ending modern slavery means putting people before profit—and making respect for human rights a legal obligation, not an optional extra.
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