Statement on Modern Slavery – Protecting Human Rights
This statement, approved by management of John Benjamins Publishing Company, sets out the approach the company has to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chain.
Our company
John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent, family-owned, academic publisher of journals, books and online resources in linguistics and the language sciences. The company is founded in the early 1970s and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As a Dutch company, we have to comply with relevant rules and regulations from Dutch and EU law.
Over the years JB has been firmly rooted in every imaginable subfield of Linguistics and Language Studies, building a significant list of titles as well as electronic reference works. JB publishes some 90 journals and 80-100 new book titles annually. All titles are available on its own platform https://www.jbe-platform.com/. The journals are mostly highly specialized, niche publications with 250-400 pages (10-20 articles) per year.
JB publications are selected under expert academic editorship and peer-reviewing by and for academic researchers and trainers, and include, in addition to works of pure research, excellent university-level course books. JB takes pride in maintaining a constant dialogue with the various academic communities to stay at the forefront of research developments and needs, and in serving as an academic exchange for scholars from every part of the world.
Our commitment to protect human rights
Modern slavery is the exploitation of another person for commercial or personal gain. It is an umbrella term for human trafficking, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced and bonded labour. The ILO Report from 2022 defines modern slavery as "situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or cannot leave because of threats, violence, abuse of power or coercion.”
We stand against all forms of slavery and human trafficking. We do not tolerate it in any part of our business, including with our suppliers. We acknowledge the risk of modern slavery as we operate within a global business environment with a diverse group of suppliers. In working in this global environment we are attentive to:
- Assess risks in our own operations and with our suppliers through consultations with key stakeholders;
- Encourage our staff to report any potential modern slavery issues if they become apparent;
- Prioritize key risk areas to monitor them closely and provide necessary steps.
At John Benjamins, all employees are expected to conduct business with integrity, which includes respecting human rights. This is supervised by the management of John Benjamins.
Our people
As an academic publisher located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, John Benjamins attracts and develops highly skilled professionals who can realize their career aspirations. Given the nature of our work and workforce, the risk is low for human trafficking and modern slavery in our direct operations. We employ approximately 20 people, all located in the Netherlands.
Our suppliers
John Benjamins collaborates with suppliers from Europe, Asia, the UK, and the USA. These suppliers come from various categories, such as technology (like software, cloud services, hardware, and telecom), indirect business (such as consulting and marketing), and direct business (including data/content and production services, printing/paper/binding, and distribution). When we utilize supplier resourcing, we meet with the suppliers before signing a contract to ensure they are conducting their operations responsibly.