The UNDP Finance Against Slavery and Human Trafficking (FAST) Initiative, in partnership with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), has launched a global study to guide investors on how to engage with survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking. This engagement is intended to improve human rights due diligence and support the development of grievance mechanisms that reflect real-world experiences. The study began in 2024 and will culminate in the publication of Investing the Rights Way: A Guide for Investors on Engaging with Survivors of Modern Slavery in autumn 2025.
The initiative is grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, providing investors with tools to identify and collaborate with survivors to enhance risk management and ethical decision-making. Modern slavery, which affects around 50 million people and generates $236 billion annually in illicit profits, remains largely invisible within global markets due to inadequate investor guidance and misleading sustainability claims.
Human rights due diligence is increasingly expected of investors under frameworks such as the OECD Guidelines and emerging regulations like the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. However, survivor involvement in shaping grievance mechanisms remains minimal. The forthcoming guide aims to close this gap by positioning survivor insights as essential for detecting exploitation and shaping responsible investment practices.
Survivors provide critical insights into how exploitation occurs and persists, especially in high-risk sectors such as mining, agriculture, tourism, and textiles. To support its research, the FAST Initiative conducted consultations with survivors, financial institutions, regulators, and civil society. These consultations documented the challenges survivors face in accessing remedy and highlighted the potential for investment practices to either cause harm or drive prevention.
One focal case study is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which holds the majority of the world’s cobalt reserves and faces significant mining-related human rights violations. A research team documented issues such as child labour, forced prostitution, and unsafe working conditions in the mining sector. The findings call for stronger investor action and more inclusive, survivor-focused due diligence mechanisms.
In June 2025, the FAST Initiative held a session at the UNODC Global Forum for Human Trafficking Survivors in Vienna. This session emphasized the financial sector’s role in supporting survivor empowerment and ensuring access to remedy, reinforcing that survivors must be recognized as rightsholders entitled to justice.
As the research concludes, findings affirm that investors have a crucial role to play in combating modern slavery. Survivor-informed investment strategies are both ethically necessary and aligned with long-term sustainability goals. The upcoming guide will provide practical recommendations, such as establishing transparent grievance mechanisms, integrating survivor insights into monitoring systems, and expanding financial access and education for survivors.
Following the guide’s release, a global dissemination campaign will promote its adoption across financial systems. Through survivor-centered reform and inclusive policymaking, the FAST Initiative is working to create a more ethical and transparent investment environment that actively contributes to ending modern slavery.
