Overseas Companies: Indigenous Peoples

(asked on 21st March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of considering the principle of free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous communities as a legal requirement for companies incorporated in the UK but operating overseas in and around indigenous lands.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 29th March 2022

The Government is fully committed to promoting and protecting human rights for all individuals, including indigenous people. The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. In response to the Guidelines, the UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan and we continue to develop our approach in line with Modern Slavery Act 2015. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act places a requirement on businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more, to publish an annual modern slavery statement setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. To further bolster our commitment to tackle modern slavery, in January 2021, the UK Government announced that financial penalties will be introduced for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. We have also enhanced Companies Act reporting (2013, 2016) and the UK is signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multi-National Enterprises, which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

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