// Asos has extended its partnership with Anti-Slavery International for three years to 2025
//The human rights organisation will advise Asos on its human rights strategy, which will be published by the end of the year
Asos has extended its partnership with Anti-Slavery International, which gives the online retailer advice, guidance and critique on ethical trade and tackling modern slavery.
The fashion etailer has worked with Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest human rights organisation, since 2017 but the new three-year partnership extends their relationship to 2025.
Asos said the organisation acted as its “critical friend” and would help it delivery its Fashion with Integrity programme, which guides it approach to being a responsible business that delivers positive benefits for people and minimises its impact on the planet.
The retailer plans to unveil its human rights strategy by the end of the year as part of Fashion with Integrity.
A core priority within Anti-Slavery International is to bring about stronger legal frameworks to address the global systems that enable forced labour in supply chains.
This entails ensuring people have rights to decent work and companies are obliged to take meaningful action to eliminate slavery in supply chains; and strengthening access to remedy and justice for workers, in particular people in situations of slavery and forced labour.
The partnership will focus on this and Anti-Slavery International will use best practice and learnings from Asos in its advocacy and campaigning work around modern slavery.
READ MORE: How will Asos change now that CEO Nick Beighton has departed?
In addition, Asos will focus on one or more of Anti-Slavery International’s strategic areas of ending child slavery, migration and trafficking, and modern slavery and climate change and will help develop new solutions to these challenges within its supply chain.
Asos responsible sourcing director Simon Platts said: “Our new, three-year partnership with Anti-Slavery International builds on the solid foundation of collaboration and ‘critical friendship’ that we’ve established in our work together since 2017.
“With dedicated resource and the opportunity to work together to drive change at scale, this new agreement takes things to the next level – and we’re so excited to be hitting the ground running in 2022.”
Anti-Slavery International chief executive Jasmine O’Connor said: “Our ‘critical friendship’ with Asos means that we can continue our work together to push for a fairer, more sustainable fashion industry that no longer relies on forced labour.
We know that the fashion industry has a huge impact on people and planet, and we are looking forward to working with Asos for much-needed industry wide change.”
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