Uyghurs for sale: ‘Re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang

NGO, reports

The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority1 citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen. This report estimates that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.

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Better Together? The Peril and Promise of Aggregate Litigation for Trafficked Workers

Academic, reports

This Note proposes a new litigation strategy for vindicating the rights of trafficked workers. It argues that class actions, an increasingly popular mechanism for holding traffickers liable, are insufficient. Through an original analysis of federal class actions predicated on the Traf- ficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), I show that courts are reluctant to certify classes of traf- ficked workers and that class actions too often fail. As an alternative to class actions, this Note suggests that state attorneys general invoke their common-law parens patriae power to bring suits against traffickers under the TVPA. This strategy would preserve many benefits of the aggregate- litigation model while sidestepping the challenging procedural terrain of the modern class action.

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Federal Human Trafficking Civil Litigation: 15 Years of the Private Right of Action

NGO, reports

Fifteen years ago, in October 2003, Congress passed a law allowing trafficking victims to recover civil damages for trafficking in federal courts. Trafficking survivors have brought a total of 299 cases under this provision, demanding justice from an array of defendants. This report analyzes a decade and a half of labor and sex trafficking civil litigation in federal courts. What are the trends, challenges, and innovations.? This report provides quantitative and qualitative assessments of the past 15 years of civil litigation under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003. It tracks the statute’s geographical reach, types of cases, victims’ countries of origin, methods of entry into the United States, case outcomes, and damages awards. Finally, the report identifies challenges that trafficking survivors continue to face as they fight to hold their traffickers accountable.

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USING THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL UNDER CEDAW TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

NGO, reports

This toolkit builds upon the foundational guidance already published, focusing on CEDAW’s Optional Protocol and the potential for human trafficking individual complaints. The toolkit provides an overview of CEDAW and the Optional Protocol; a snapshot of the CEDAW Committee’s jurisprudence on human trafficking; and maps out strategies to use this mechanism to protect the rights of trafficked women and girls.

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Ending impunity, securing justice: Using strategic litigation to combat modern-day slavery and human trafficking

NGO, reports

The time has come to build an international network of lawyers and advocates who have the tools they need to bring the right cases to the right courts. In May 2015, the Freedom Fund and the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center brought together leading human rights lawyers, advocates, and litigators from around the world for a meeting in London. The conversation centered on how best to bring strategic litigation against states and private actors in order to combat trafficking and modern-day slavery. This document shares many of the key issues discussed at the meeting, including important lessons learned from successful litigation. It also highlights a number of persistent gaps that must be bridged in order to identify, prepare, and successfully prosecute cases that can lead to systemic change.

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