Participants in the Transnational Law Symposium included (l-r) Joe Martinez (Cierto), Laura Germino (Coalition of Immokalee Workers), and Tristan Forster (FSI Worldwide), who discussed the difficulties with hiring workers ethically within a recruiter model.
By Bob Needham
Michigan Law
Activists, academics, and other experts in the fight against forced labor convened at Michigan Law recently for the annual Transnational Law Symposium.
Titled “Forced Labor, Trafficking, and Recruitment: Measuring Progress in the Movement for Equitable Supply Chains,” the conference addressed numerous issues tied to slavery and human trafficking. The event marked 25 years since the approval of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol.
The conference was organized by Professors Chavi Keeney Nana, Luis C.deBaca and Bridgette Carr; it was sponsored by the Center for International and Comparative Law, along with Thomson Reuters, Humanity United, and The Omidyar Group. Symposium sessions covered topics including ethical recruitment, possible uses for artificial intelligence (AI), and the role of government in the fight.
A sampling of takeaways from speakers at the event:
—————
1. The U.S. is at risk of stalling progress in the fight against trafficking.
The symposium opened with a brief video address from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had tapped C.deBaca to lead the Obama administration’s anti-trafficking efforts. She argued that funding cuts and a lack of leadership threaten the momentum that the movement has built up.
“We’ve made progress to stop abuse and exploitation, but we have a long way to go before we see the end of modern slavery. While most countries have anti-trafficking laws on the books, enforcement is still uneven and too many perpetrators go unpunished. Too many victims are unseen and unheard,” Clinton said.
“What really concerns me is America’s receding leadership in this fight. …Unfortunately, recent funding cuts have taken away many of the tools that made America’s global leadership possible,” she said.
“Until the United States [government] is ready again to reclaim its role, the rest of us must keep pushing forward. We have to develop new tools and fresh ideas for prevention, incorporate survivors’ voices in policymaking, drive higher goals to rid our supply chains of these abuses, and demand that governments worldwide live up to their own commitments to punish the perpetrators of abuse and protect survivors.”
—————
2. The movement has grown over the last 25 years.
C.deBaca—a professor from practice and the principal Department of Justice drafter of the US Trafficking Act—introduced a fireside chat with Alicia Ley, co-director of the Survivor Alliance, and Annick Febrey, co-founder of the Better Trade Collective. His first question asked about key shifts they have seen in the field.
Febrey noted that the focus has broadened from sex trafficking, specifically, to a broader concern with all forced labor. “We’re still coming to understand the scope of forced labor in private-sector supply chains,” she said. She also noted a “bigger tent,” of people drawing attention to and working to counteract the problem—expanding from governments and civil society to include businesses and workers as well.
Ley added that efforts to fight the problem have expanded into areas like prevention, remedy, and safer recruitment. “We have a better understanding of the scope, and we’re framing it in a better way as a public health and human rights issue,” she added. “Consumers now are really thinking about having access to cleaner supply chains.”
—————
3. Ethical recruitment faces considerable challenges.
One panel discussion addressed the difficulties associated with hiring workers ethically in a world where typical practices often involve recruiters who require payment from people seeking a job.
Panelist Tristan Forster, founder of FSI Worldwide—a consultancy in fields that include labor supply—said getting businesses to engage is often extremely difficult. Even when they are shown that ethical practices can benefit their reputation and their bottom line, “So many people have a vested interest in the status quo,” he said.
Laura Germino, co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the related Fair Food Program, spoke about the need to prevent abuses from happening rather than address them after the fact. Her group, based in South Florida, found success in stemming unethical practices by partnering with the national employment service in Mexico for hiring guest workers.
“Let’s get to prevention,” she said. “We can’t just keep fielding complaints.”
Joe Martinez, the co-founder and CEO of Cierto, which recruits, trains, and places farm laborers, added that getting workers to speak out against unethical employers can be very difficult.
“How do we encourage workers to be brave and use their voice when they’re [afraid of] the consequence?” he asked.
—————
4. AI can help—up to a point.
A recent project of Michigan Law’s Human Trafficking and Immigration Clinic served as a case study for a discussion on the potential value of artificial intelligence in fighting forced labor.
Professor Bridgette Carr, co-director of the clinic, framed the question as: “Are there ways that we can use the power of technology to grab information that is overwhelming all of us and try to see in ways that we haven’t built in the past?”
Two 3L students, Ankit Raghunath and Karma Karira, described a clinic project they had worked on to trace recruiters who are using unethical practices to particular farms and then to retail outlets that buy from those farms. The students used a wide variety of publicly available data, from government documents to social media posts. The students related how the work was at times repetitive and time consuming, which got the team to wonder if AI technology might help.
Professor Seth Guikema of U-M’s College of Engineering explained how large language model (LLM) technology can indeed assist in this sort of project, streamlining some of the work the students had been doing by hand. “We can start to automate a lot of these processes and get through this faster,” he said. “What it’s not great at is the creative aspect; the students can really think, and an LLM doesn’t think.”
—————
5. Both government and business have the potential to prevent forced labor.
One symposium discussion took a classic debate format to consider whether government or the private sector is better positioned to end forced-labor practices.
Professor Stephanie Richard of Loyola Marymount University Law School argued for government action, noting that lobbying by the business community has prevented comprehensive federal legislation. “Regulating foreign labor recruiters is an imperative to prevent trafficking, and government is the only actor with the authority, infrastructure, and accountability to do it at scale,” she said. “We don’t need more voluntary pledges. We need binding policy, and we need it now.”
Kristen Abrams of Abrams Advisory said that innovative solutions like AI will come from the private sector, which brings together workers, managers, and customers. “Business holds the lever; businesses are touching all of these individuals, whether through recruiting systems, purchase orders, or contracts,” she said.
“Government is going to set the floor, create the rule of law. …Government can do it, but they haven’t done enough. Business is what’s going to make that rule work—companies and investors together.”
Michigan Law
Activists, academics, and other experts in the fight against forced labor convened at Michigan Law recently for the annual Transnational Law Symposium.
Titled “Forced Labor, Trafficking, and Recruitment: Measuring Progress in the Movement for Equitable Supply Chains,” the conference addressed numerous issues tied to slavery and human trafficking. The event marked 25 years since the approval of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol.
The conference was organized by Professors Chavi Keeney Nana, Luis C.deBaca and Bridgette Carr; it was sponsored by the Center for International and Comparative Law, along with Thomson Reuters, Humanity United, and The Omidyar Group. Symposium sessions covered topics including ethical recruitment, possible uses for artificial intelligence (AI), and the role of government in the fight.
A sampling of takeaways from speakers at the event:
—————
1. The U.S. is at risk of stalling progress in the fight against trafficking.
The symposium opened with a brief video address from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had tapped C.deBaca to lead the Obama administration’s anti-trafficking efforts. She argued that funding cuts and a lack of leadership threaten the momentum that the movement has built up.
“We’ve made progress to stop abuse and exploitation, but we have a long way to go before we see the end of modern slavery. While most countries have anti-trafficking laws on the books, enforcement is still uneven and too many perpetrators go unpunished. Too many victims are unseen and unheard,” Clinton said.
“What really concerns me is America’s receding leadership in this fight. …Unfortunately, recent funding cuts have taken away many of the tools that made America’s global leadership possible,” she said.
“Until the United States [government] is ready again to reclaim its role, the rest of us must keep pushing forward. We have to develop new tools and fresh ideas for prevention, incorporate survivors’ voices in policymaking, drive higher goals to rid our supply chains of these abuses, and demand that governments worldwide live up to their own commitments to punish the perpetrators of abuse and protect survivors.”
—————
2. The movement has grown over the last 25 years.
C.deBaca—a professor from practice and the principal Department of Justice drafter of the US Trafficking Act—introduced a fireside chat with Alicia Ley, co-director of the Survivor Alliance, and Annick Febrey, co-founder of the Better Trade Collective. His first question asked about key shifts they have seen in the field.
Febrey noted that the focus has broadened from sex trafficking, specifically, to a broader concern with all forced labor. “We’re still coming to understand the scope of forced labor in private-sector supply chains,” she said. She also noted a “bigger tent,” of people drawing attention to and working to counteract the problem—expanding from governments and civil society to include businesses and workers as well.
Ley added that efforts to fight the problem have expanded into areas like prevention, remedy, and safer recruitment. “We have a better understanding of the scope, and we’re framing it in a better way as a public health and human rights issue,” she added. “Consumers now are really thinking about having access to cleaner supply chains.”
—————
3. Ethical recruitment faces considerable challenges.
One panel discussion addressed the difficulties associated with hiring workers ethically in a world where typical practices often involve recruiters who require payment from people seeking a job.
Panelist Tristan Forster, founder of FSI Worldwide—a consultancy in fields that include labor supply—said getting businesses to engage is often extremely difficult. Even when they are shown that ethical practices can benefit their reputation and their bottom line, “So many people have a vested interest in the status quo,” he said.
Laura Germino, co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the related Fair Food Program, spoke about the need to prevent abuses from happening rather than address them after the fact. Her group, based in South Florida, found success in stemming unethical practices by partnering with the national employment service in Mexico for hiring guest workers.
“Let’s get to prevention,” she said. “We can’t just keep fielding complaints.”
Joe Martinez, the co-founder and CEO of Cierto, which recruits, trains, and places farm laborers, added that getting workers to speak out against unethical employers can be very difficult.
“How do we encourage workers to be brave and use their voice when they’re [afraid of] the consequence?” he asked.
—————
4. AI can help—up to a point.
A recent project of Michigan Law’s Human Trafficking and Immigration Clinic served as a case study for a discussion on the potential value of artificial intelligence in fighting forced labor.
Professor Bridgette Carr, co-director of the clinic, framed the question as: “Are there ways that we can use the power of technology to grab information that is overwhelming all of us and try to see in ways that we haven’t built in the past?”
Two 3L students, Ankit Raghunath and Karma Karira, described a clinic project they had worked on to trace recruiters who are using unethical practices to particular farms and then to retail outlets that buy from those farms. The students used a wide variety of publicly available data, from government documents to social media posts. The students related how the work was at times repetitive and time consuming, which got the team to wonder if AI technology might help.
Professor Seth Guikema of U-M’s College of Engineering explained how large language model (LLM) technology can indeed assist in this sort of project, streamlining some of the work the students had been doing by hand. “We can start to automate a lot of these processes and get through this faster,” he said. “What it’s not great at is the creative aspect; the students can really think, and an LLM doesn’t think.”
—————
5. Both government and business have the potential to prevent forced labor.
One symposium discussion took a classic debate format to consider whether government or the private sector is better positioned to end forced-labor practices.
Professor Stephanie Richard of Loyola Marymount University Law School argued for government action, noting that lobbying by the business community has prevented comprehensive federal legislation. “Regulating foreign labor recruiters is an imperative to prevent trafficking, and government is the only actor with the authority, infrastructure, and accountability to do it at scale,” she said. “We don’t need more voluntary pledges. We need binding policy, and we need it now.”
Kristen Abrams of Abrams Advisory said that innovative solutions like AI will come from the private sector, which brings together workers, managers, and customers. “Business holds the lever; businesses are touching all of these individuals, whether through recruiting systems, purchase orders, or contracts,” she said.
“Government is going to set the floor, create the rule of law. …Government can do it, but they haven’t done enough. Business is what’s going to make that rule work—companies and investors together.”
––––––––––––––––––––
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