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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Drawing on research into medical gloves global value chains (GVCs), this article examines the interacting roles that states differently positioned in GVCs have played in preventing and eliminating forced labour. Our case study, based on a worker survey and semi-structured interviews across GVC actors, focuses on forced labour in the Malaysian medical gloves sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, linking production in Malaysia, end markets in the UK (primarily through procurement for the National Health Service), and migrant-sending countries, especially Nepal. We analyze the intermeshing effects of the different roles of states, operating at either the horizontal or vertical level of GVC governance, in terms of contributing to issues of forced labour. We identify three state roles in the Malaysia-UK medical gloves chain: producer state (Malaysia), migrant-sending state (Nepal) and regulator-buyer state (UK). We also identify some of the most persistent barriers to resolving forced labour in the value chain. Our research illustrates that Malaysia’s complex regulatory, political and institutional dynamics most directly influence forced labour in gloves production, but Nepal’s migration policies and the UK’s healthcare procurement practices also create forced labour risk in Malaysia. Advancing Gereffi and Lee’s (2016: 25) notion of “synergistc governance” and Jessop’s (2016) strategic-relational approach (SRA) to the state, we thus argue that the creation of sustained and positive regulatory synergies among states differently positioned in GVCs is necessary for the prevention and elimination of forced labour.
Author(s): Brown JA, Hughes A, Bhutta MF, Trautrims A, Trueba M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Competition & Change
Year: 2024
Volume: 28
Issue: 5
Pages: 581-603
Print publication date: 01/10/2024
Online publication date: 08/08/2024
Acceptance date: 09/07/2024
Date deposited: 09/07/2024
ISSN (print): 1024-5294
ISSN (electronic): 1477-2221
Publisher: Sage
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294241272190
DOI: 10.1177/10245294241272190
Data Access Statement: The data from the research underpinning this paper can be obtained, following an embargo period at: https://data.ncl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Tackling_modern_slavery_in_the_medical_gloves_sector/17836538/1
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