LONDON: Businesses are coming under increased public scrutiny over the use of slavery in their supply chains, making forced labour one of the greatest risks to their brands’ reputation this year, a research firm said today.

Legislation in countries like Britain and the United States requires businesses to report on their efforts to eradicate forced labour and trafficking from their supply chains. Britain’s law came into force in 2015.

This increased public reporting empowers consumers and rights groups to put pressure on companies to promote ethical business activities, said British firm Verisk Maplecroft which identifies emerging risk areas for companies with global supply chains.

“The trend toward mandatory reporting means that the public can now more easily scrutinise and compare the actions businesses take — or do not take — to respect workers,” Alexandra Channer, principal human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft said.

“Maplecroft expects public benchmarking of business practices to increase in 2016, as part of a wider shift from voluntary to mandatory reporting of human rights due diligence,” the firm said.

Although many businesses have developed ways to monitor working conditions in companies supplying them directly, they have less awareness of suppliers further down the supply chain, the firm said in a report.

Nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour, which generates about $150 billion a year in illegal profits, as per the ILO.