ABSTRACT
The first two chapters of the book have already highlighted the importance of trade in today’s world and how the final consumer of a good or service bears a certain responsibility for working conditions and other social aspects along the supply chain of these products and services. These social implications of international trade are receiving increasing interest in the public media, a prominent example being the Guardian’s stories and discussions on slavery in the seafood supply chain that ran throughout 2016. a However, it is often the working conditions in specific factories or countries that are under the spotlight. Additionally, it often requires a tragic event, such as the collapse of a badly constructed factory building or an increased suicide rate among employees before attention is drawn 34to working, and sometimes also living, conditions of the people who are directly affected. In these cases an individual supply chain that links the final consumers in developed countries to the place of the tragedy is uncovered and publicly discussed. Efforts are often made to rectify the situation for the local population that is directly affected (see, for example, the case of the Thai fishing industry, also reported in the Guardian, 2016). What often remains in the dark is that most products in our highly globalised world rely on thousands, if not millions, of supply chains. Social injustice can occur at any given point along any of these supply chains. The same story applies to social justice endeavours that occur along supply chains or the social good that comes from trade. However, we are perhaps even less likely to hear of the benefits of global trade, or of wrongs rectified, which undoubtedly do not have the urgency nor perhaps the same media appeal as its tragic consequences.
