Assessing the Risk of Labour Exploitation in Legal Business Supply Chains

This report presents the main outputs of the INVERT project (Identifying compaNies and Victims in the Exploitation phase to disRupt the financial business model of adult and child labour Trafficking), funded by the European Union and coordinated by Transcrime. The initiative addressed the need for new approaches and technologies to tackle the business models sustaining human trafficking for labour exploitation purposes.

The analysis provides a profile of ownership structures and chains of buffer companies used to conceal exploitation and supply low-cost labour. To address the phenomenon, two sets of risk indicators were developed, focused on the company and victim levels, integrated into a risk assessment prototype tool for public authorities.

The report also includes an exploratory mapping of risks of labour exploitation in the province of Milan, identifying hotspots of high-risk companies in the fashion sector. This application highlights the potential of adopting risk-based technologies to set clear investigative priorities while avoiding the dispersion of resources.