Using U.S. Laws to Hold Corporations Accountable for Forced Labor in Asia and the Pacific

“GLJ-ILRF’s Legal Fellow, Johanna Lee, will give a talk on Using U.S. Laws to Hold Corporations Accountable for Forced Labor in Asia and the Pacific on March 30th at 12:30PM Thai time. The seminar will be hosted by the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University. Advance registration is not required. Please use the QR code to join or watch Live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPSRMAHIDOLUNIVERSITY

The problem of forced labor in global supply chains across various industries, from manufacturing to agriculture and fishing to domestic work, is widely documented. The adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011 signaled the growing recognition worldwide of the critical role that corporations must play in ensuring that human rights are respected in their business engagements. Nonetheless, holding corporations accountable for labor abuses of workers has continued to be challenging over the past decade due to the opacity of supply chains and the absence of strong legal mechanisms at the international or national levels. In response, human rights and labor rights advocates in the United States have persisted by coming up with creative ways to utilize existing U.S. laws to promote corporate accountability, such as the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and consumer protection laws. Several recent examples of cases involving workers in Asia and the Pacific illustrate ongoing efforts to expand the frontier of law to ensure justice for survivors of labor trafficking worldwide.”