By integrating this dimension of the concept into existing and emerging supply chains,

businesses in a globalized economy obtain all kinds of products and services from enormously
intricate supply networks that can encompass a range of countries with diametrically opposite
legal systems and human rights and ethics practices. More than 450 million people practice
occupations of supply chain, as it presented by the International Labour Organization ILO. As
discussed in the previous section, intricate mounted global supply chain networks can provide
vital prospects for development when it comes to both the efficient economy and societal
elements; nevertheless, these structures are precipitous of grave human rights threats that are still
insufficiently addressed and managed by many organizations today (“Human Rights in Supply
Chains”, 2021).
These are some of the questions which need to be considered if we are to decline from
the present framework built on the dichotomy of the nature and the human beings (and therefore
human rights) indicated in the Fig. 1, and advance towards an actual respect for both people and
the Earth illustrated in the Fig. 2.
 Figure 1. The current background where even the dichotomy of environment and
humans’ impacts determinations relations and institutions for a disjointed legal regime of human
rights and the environment that is in two different legal systems.

Figure 2. A combined human rights and environmentalism perspective of the world

where the natural and human relations are symbiotic and might bear some implications towards
changing the institutions and relations of power as well as our concept of socio-economic
organization, business, and enterprise that will follow the principles of the respect of people and
planet.

There are serious ethical dilemmas within supply chain management and procurement
that is associated with human rights and they present themselves in various forms. Here are some
key ethical issues in this context:

1. Labor Rights: The principal challenge is the relationship between the companies and
employees in the supply chain. These are issues such as, forced labor, child labor,
ensuring the safety measures for the employees and providing a worthy wage for their
 work. Business entities are therefore obliged to check that suppliers of materials and
other inputs respect the human persons who work in their production line by respecting
ILS and/or local laws.
2. Supply Chain Transparency: Oversupply means that human rights abuses can be
committed without the knowledge of the buying company due to inadequate information
on supply chain. Ethical purchasing requires looking at the supply chain, beginning with
the procurement of raw materials, and going through manufacturing and distribution, in
order to ensure that people’s rights are not violated on the production process.

3. Conflict Minerals: Some chains include minerals that originate from conflicted affected
countries meaning the extraction of these minerals provides funding to armed conflict and
human rights abuses. Due to realisation for ethical procurement practices, companies are
forced to mark the source of the minerals and ensure that there are not fueling conflicts or
deaths.

4. Supplier Relationships: Ethical procurement includes equal treatment of suppliers and

should not allow unfair treatment of suppliers in the business. This entails negotiating
free and voluntary contracts, paying on time and not submitting to forceful pressures or
requests that would be unethical.

5. Environmental Impact: Although the main claim is that supply chain sustainability
concerns environmental issues, supply chain management does have secondary impacts
on human rights whereby environmental depletion leads to relocation of communities or
poor health among the workers and the public.

6. Community Relations: Business should also give consideration to how their business
affects the communities in the surrounding places that supply chain is found. This entails
such issues as; integrity of indigenous peoples’ rights, cultural resource conservation as
well as an endeavor to promote fair distribution of the benefits of economic activities.

Solving these ethical issues is possible only if the companies provide a multiple-layered
approach such as exclusive supplier scrutiny, constant audit, cooperation with stakeholders, and
strict adherence to the human rights’ policy in the supply chain. Some companies also
incorporate Fair Trade, the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), or Ethical Trading Initiative
(ETI) as benchmarks that govern the procurement activities and uphold ethical and human rights
policies.

There has always been technological breakthrough in all an

assimilation of business but supply chain management has always depended
on the involvement of people and where people are involved, there are
always issues of ethics, a spectrum of them in fact, as colorful as a rainbow.
Thus, the demand of the consumers and their concern for unethical
behaviors in supply chain has also resulted into high illumination of
corresponding forces including continuous pressure for low cost products and
consume high growth rate of fake products purchase. The material that will
be covered in this paper includes the ethical issues that may have arisen in
supply chain and the possible solution for them (Sharma & Tyagi, 2023).
 Figure 3. Supply chain management contaminated with labor standard and ethical issues.

The global supply chain can be described as an interrelated system through which
companies in the global supply system procure materials, manufacture goods, distribute the final
product, and sell it to end users. Over the decades, one of the major issues that companies face in
the supply chain is meeting high standards of labor and ethics. This critical issue has become
topical of late because of rising consumers’ awareness, support from non-governmental
organizations and stiff laws being passed. In this article, we will discuss some of the issues that
firms experience in this respect and some of the possibilities for preserving a respectable and
efficient supply chain (Sharma, 2023).

There are numerous and serious ethical dilemmas of supply chain management and
procurement concerning labor conditions. Here are some key ethical issues in this context:

1. Forced Labor: Another harsh ethical concern is when supply lines are tainted by forced
labor. This can be in the form of force, fraud or intimidation where employees are forced
to work circumstances they cannot turn down or quit. People can illustrate means
regarding the industries or places where there is high employment of forced labor or in
sectors like textile, agriculture, and manufacturing.
2. Child Labor: Moral issues come in situations where childhood, the ability to grow, and
integrity are taken away from children through work. Statistics could illustrate the rates
of child labor by regions or countries, or sectors in which children are mostly abused.

3. Unsafe Working Conditions: A lot of supply chain processes entail the exposure of the
workers to risky conditions that can compromise their well-being. Some could depict
actual events in workplaces, the rates of employees’ injuries or the absence of safety
measures in mining, constructions or manufacturing companies among others.

4. Wage and Benefit Disparities: As for other concerns it may involve low wages/bonuses,
non-payment or underpayment for overtime, no provision for health care or social
security. There could be comparisons of the minimum wages that should have been paid
according to the laws and the actual wages paid across some countries, areas, or niches.
 5. Discrimination and Harassment: Ethical concerns also include Gender, race, ethnic or
other types of discrimination and Workplace harassment also falls under ethical concerns.
Tables could report details of discrimination complaints or of employees’ harassment
cases at various industries.

6. Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining: The rights to organize and the
rights to bargain collectively are important ethical issues in the context of workers. It
could be presented in forms of percentages which depict how much of these rights is
honored or infringed in certain regions or fields.

Consequently, ethical concerns in SCM and procurement, especially those related to

labor, are societal concerns that cannot be solved individually at different levels of stakeholders
– business, state, civil society organizations, and customers. With ethical awareness, political
leadership, and respect for human rights starting from chain supplies, there will be formation of a
world economy that will respect the humanity of workers in those chains.

REFERENCES:

Human Rights in Supply Chains. (2021). Retrieved July 18, 2024, from
https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/05/30/human-rights-supply-chains/call-binding-global-
standard-due-diligence

Sharma, A. & Tyagi, D. (2023). Special Issue for International Conference on Emerging Role of
Leadership, Values and Ethics in Organizational Development, KIET School of
Management, KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad, UP, India. Retrieved July 18, 2024,
from chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.indusedu.org/
pdfs/IJREISS/IJREISS_2427_93203.pdf

Sharma, N. (2023). Navigating Labor Standards and Ethics in Supply Chain Management:
Challenges and Solutions. Retrieved July 18, 2024, from
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navigating-labor-standards-ethics-supply-chain-solutions-
sharma/