Statement under UK Modern Slavery Act 2015
This statement is made in accordance with section 54(1) of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 on behalf of WSO2 (UK) Limited and constitutes WSO2’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 December 2023.
Our business, company structure and supply chain
Founded in 2005, WSO2 was initially an open source middleware company. Our business strategy has progressed beyond just building great open source software. Today, we offer a suite of application development and IAM technologies, available as open source or SaaS, enabling enterprises to create digital experiences quickly, easily, and securely. WSO2 has over 800 employees worldwide with offices in Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the USA and Singapore. WSO2 as a group is opposed to all forms of unethical business practices and we recognize the harmful effect that modern slavery has on individuals and society and we are committed to prevent and or minimize these illegal practices. We are also committed to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our business or in any of our supply chains. We also wish to ensure that there is transparency in our approach to tackling modern slavery.
WSO2 (UK) Limited is a subsidiary of WSO2 LLC, which is incorporated in Delaware, USA. While this statement is made in relation to WSO2 UK’s supply chain, we also apply the same supply chain principles and practices to our parent company WSO2 Holdings Inc., as well as other WSO2 affiliate entities located across the world including in the USA, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Australia, Germany, Singapore, India and the United Arab Emirates.
We are an office-based business and our supply chain mostly consists of third-party service providers that support and enable our business through marketing and events, audit and accountancy, janitorial, IT, HR, legal and company secretarial services. We also procure a limited amount of goods including food and beverages, office furniture and IT and telecommunication equipment.
Exposure to modern slavery and human trafficking risk
We have around 18 staff in the United Kingdom. Our staff are largely directly employed and are not in any category which is generally seen to be vulnerable to modern slavery in the UK. Further, we uphold high standards and ensure that our recruitment policies are fully compliant with the relevant employment laws and right to work checks in the countries we operate in. Accordingly, our focus is to ensure that the right policies and procedures are in place for our contractors and suppliers. For WSO2 UK most of our support services are purchased and acquired within the UK from established and reputed businesses. Each business unit responsible for purchasing services or goods exercises due diligence in accordance with our Modern Slavery and Human Tracking Policy.
Taking into account the nature of our business activities and our procurement practices, we consider the exposure of WSO2 to slavery and human trafficking risk to be low.
Our policies related to modern slavery and human trafficking
WSO2 has adopted a Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy, which sets out our zero-tolerance stance on slavery and human trafficking. It is focused firstly, on creating awareness amongst our various stakeholders on the issues of modern slavery, and then ensuring that we employ necessary diligence in our interactions with suppliers and contractors to prevent the occurrence of modern slavery. Additionally, all WSO2 employees responsible for purchasing goods or procuring services do so in compliance with the WSO2 Code of business conduct and ethics, which sets out the overarching principles which govern all our external interactions.
Further the Whistleblower policy and our Supply Chain Management policy is also relevant to how we address our zero-tolerance commitment to modern slavery. The Whistleblower policy enables any concerns or observations to be reported while the Supply Chain Management policy ensures that purchase and requisition of products and services are carried out in a streamlined manner which mitigates risks.
Due diligence and mitigating modern slavery risk
WSO2 exercises necessary diligence when making purchases from suppliers, particularly those whose goods and services may be acquired from high-risk countries. In order to do business together, we expect all suppliers to be ethical, responsible and to fully comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
Our suppliers are made aware of and, where necessary, provide written adherence to our Modern Slavery Policy. We are working on integrating this policy into all supplier agreements we enter into.
If a supplier’s practices are found unsatisfactory or non-conformant to our Modern Slavery Policy, we address these issues on a case-by-case basis, seeking advice from legal counsel where appropriate. We have not experienced any significant breaches of our Modern Slavery Policy to date.
Training
As employees from various business units can be responsible for the purchase of goods and services, we require that all employees across the board be made aware of our Modern Slavery Policy. We have incorporated Modern Slavery awareness into our induction programs for all new employees and also into our employee handbook. WSO2 culture is open, transparent and ethical and we are committed to ensuring that our supply chain reflects those values.
Padmika Dissanaike
Director