Hard landscaping and materials supplier Marshalls has appointed Emma Crates, a former business journalist and modern slavery researcher, as group business and human rights manager, while Nasriah Jamaludin, becomes business and human rights executive.
In a statement, the company said has been proactively working to improve human rights in its global supply chains for almost two decades and the appointments will help strengthen its work in this area of its business.
Crates most recently worked as prevent policy lead for UK Independent Anti-Slavery commissioner Dame Sara Thornton DBE QPM. In this role, she led private sector engagement, collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders, including government, businesses, investors and NGOs, to promote best practice in addressing forced labour risk in supply chains.
Crates has written several reports on business and modern slavery for the Chartered Institute of Building and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. Her specialist interests include the construction and agricultural sectors, transparency in supply chains and investor strategy.
Business and Human Rights Executive Jamaludin speaks English, Malay, Indonesian and Mandarin. At University, she represented her native Singapore on international youth forums, leading in international relations. She later taught English in Henan province in China. After graduating with a Masters in Culture, Society and Globalisation from the University of York in 2020, Jamaludin worked for an e-commerce organisation.
In their new roles, Jamaludin and Crates will analyse and address human rights risk in Marshalls’ UK operations and international supply chains, support audit functions, and lead worker and supplier engagement initiatives. They will also support the business to capture and share vital data.
Speaking of her appointment, Crates said: “I’m delighted to be part of Marshalls, a company that continues to invest in and expand its human rights strategy at home and abroad. I look forward to exploring and developing best practice in due diligence and data collection in the rapidly evolving human rights space.”
Jamaludin added: “I’m excited to be joining Marshalls and working with exceptional professionals. I look forward to being part of its mission to create a sustainable future through positive change.”
These new roles are based within a team run by Elaine Mitchel-Hill, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and human rights director at Marshalls. Of the appointments, she said: “I am thrilled to have two people of such excellent calibre join our team. This further strengthens our ability to understand human rights risks in our operations and supply chains and work with procurement colleagues and suppliers to uphold international standards.”
Human rights work at Marshalls”
The company has been proactively working to improve human rights since 2005. It was the first company to achieve BRE ELS 6002 for ethical labour sourcing, an accreditation it retains six years later. As well as working globally, Marshalls also runs programmes to tackle modern slavery in the UK. It launched its sector-wide Power of Logistics programme in 2019, which empowers people across businesses to spot and report the signs of slavery, with a particular focus on logistics teams.
Marshalls is long-standing ILO (International Labour Organisation) Child Labour Platform member and have been a signatory of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) since 2009.
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