Automation Will Lead To The Abuse Of Labour In The Asian Garment Industry.

A new risk assessment forecast indicates that the start up of robot manufacturing industry will lead to significant unemployment in Southeast Asia, which may lead to the abuse of slavery and labor force in the global supply chain, especially in the garment, textile and footwear industries.

In Verisk Maplecroft's annual human rights outlook, automation is at the top of its 5 issues.

In the next 20 years, manufacturing centers in Kampuchea, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam estimated that 56% of the workers will lose their jobs due to automation. The risk of unemployment is increasing, resulting in a rising risk ratio of slavery and trafficking in the supply chain.

In the 5 countries of ASEAN (ASEAN-5), garment, textile and footwear industries are particularly affected by automation risks.

The Verisk Maplecroft's Human Rights Outlook report on automation in the first place of the 5 issue is identified as a major challenge to reveal the reputation, operation and supply chain of today's and future multinationals.

The report predicts that the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that in the next 20 years, 56% of the workers in Kampuchea, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam will lose their jobs due to automation, and the risk of slavery and trafficking in the supply chain will soar.

These countries, known as ASEAN-5, have long relied on low skilled labour and highly violated labour rights, especially in the face of automatic elimination.

At present, all these are rated as high-risk countries by Verisk Maplecroft's modern Modern Slavery Index, and their ranking and rating will deteriorate even when they feel the full impact of automation.

The report stresses that manufacturing centres in Southeast Asia will not face the challenges posed by automation alone.

However, the analysis singled out the region based on the importance of pnational corporations in the global supply chain of consumer goods, retail, hotel and ICT industries.

"These unemployed workers who do not meet the skills or social security buffers will compete in the future in the increasingly potential environment of low wage and low skilled jobs," said Dr Alexandra Channer, director of human rights at Verisk Maplecroft.

If the government does not take concrete measures to adapt and educate future generations to work with machines, it may be a competition for many workers.

In order to study the impact of automation on supply chain workers, Verisk Maplecroft applied its industry specific labor risk index to ILO across 21 countries.

Research data show that these industries are most likely to be faced with the risk of being replaced by automation.

Retail and manufacturing are considered the most risky industries, and agriculture, forestry and fisheries, construction and hospitality are also highly risky industries.

The report considers Vietnam as the most risky country in the 5 studies, of which 67% of Vietnamese workers estimate that 36 million will seek alternative livelihoods in a highly exploited environment.

In view of the exploitation baseline and the number of affected workers in the 5 ASEAN countries, the report concluded that the risk of slavery and trafficking could increase substantially.

Verisk Maplecroft thinks that the 5 countries of ASEAN are garments, textiles and shoes.

There will be special risks due to automated import.

These industries employ 59% of the manufacturing workers in Kampuchea and employ 39% in Vietnam.

Therefore, any result of unemployment from the industry will affect most of the labour force in the manufacturing sector, most of which are women.

In Vietnam and Kampuchea, over 85% of clothing, textiles and footwear work is faced with high risk of automation, of which more than 76% are women.

This means that about 2 million 600 thousand Vietnamese women and about 600000 Kampuchea women will lose their jobs and are highly at risk of labor exposure.

Compete in the competition.

The report says that as fewer women are in the workforce - or more women are forced to enslave - these countries will also be unable to achieve gender equality advocated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Channer continued: "companies are adopting progressive automation technology, but the consequences that millions of workers in the branded supply chain are facing may be very serious.

Responsible procurement departments in particular need to identify and understand the adverse effects of automation on human rights and cooperate with non-governmental organizations and governments to mitigate the impact of automation on the supply chain. "