Bonavero Discussion Group: Can forced labour import bans raise labour standards in supply chains?

Lessons from the implementation of the US forced labour import ban
In April, the European Parliament approved a new regulation in the EU to prohibit the sale, import and export of goods made using forced labour. Evidence on the effectiveness of these trade instruments in addressing labour rights violations remains scarce, with the United States being the only country in the world today actively enforcing a law that bans the importation of goods made with forced labor. Jennifer Gordon discusses her recent report, The US Forced Labour Import Ban as a Tool to Raise Labour Standards in Supply Chains: Strategic Approaches to Advocacy, which examines the challenges and opportunities that labor and human rights advocates and trade unionists have faced in using this provision--Sec. 307 of the US Tariff Act of 1930--in the context of campaigns to address systematic violations of workers' rights in supply chains. The report, written for an audience of advocates and policymakers, offers a new framework for strategic approaches to Sec. 307, with the goals of targeting lead firms at the top of supply chains, changing the practices of major suppliers in the center, and building worker power at the bottom.
Speaker: Professor Jennifer Gordon
Discussants: Dr Sofia Gonzalez De Aguinaga, Dr Maayan Niezna