Today the McCain Institute for International Leadership announced the establishment of its Human Trafficking Advisory Council to strengthen the Institute’s strategic efforts to combat human trafficking.

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LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of content and technology solutions, and STOP THE TRAFFIK a leading Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to the eradication of human trafficking, announce the publication of their joint report titled ‘Dressed to Kill’.

Forced labour is unfortunately a very big part of human trafficking. To raise awareness for both consumers and organizations, this report by LexisNexis and STOP THE TRAFFIK is designed to help the cotton industry – as well as the broader public – understand what is happening today and offers guidance on how to take actions to eliminate or reduce the risk.

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A leading organization in the fight against human trafficking has ranked New Jersey as one of two states with the nation’s best laws fighting this modern-day slavery.

The report evaluated state laws in 10 categories: labor and sex trafficking; investigative tools; law enforcement training; the presence of a human trafficking task force; the presence of a human trafficking hotline; safe harbor protection for exploited minors; lowered burden of proof for sex trafficking of minors; victim assistance access to civil damages; vacating convictions for sex trafficking victims; and asset forfeiture, which allows victims to receive restitution.

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There was good reason to celebrate last year when the U.K. government announced that it was launching a new Modern Slavery Bill in response to the slave trade boom. “I believe this is the first time any government has brought together, in a single act, its legislative measures to counter this growing evil,” Home Secretary Theresa May declared. Few would have disagreed with her that slavery is “evil,” but the question of how best to “counter” it proved divisive.

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The presence of at least three under-age workers at a Shinyang Electronics factory casts a cloud over the labor practices of X and its suppliers.

X, Y, and Z represent real corporations whose names we removed as a courtesy.

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A joint research project was released today on publicly available policies on forced labor, human trafficking, and the trade in conflict minerals. The project was published by the American Bar Association, the McCain Institute for International Leadership, and Arizona State University School of Politics and Global Studies.

A number of distinguished corporations have refused to adhere to The California Transparency of Supply Chains Act (SB-657), which speaks out against human trafficking in supply chains. This act does not affect all U.S. corporations but currently applies to “companies that: 1. are a retailer seller or manufacturer; 2. have annual worldwide gross receipts that exceed $100 million, and 3. do business in California.” While more than 400 companies have acknowledged this movement and issued a public statement, 85 firms have yet to abide. Among them are upscale clothing brand, X, and defense manufacturer, Y. But what is keeping these publicly recognized companies from conforming to such a proactive movement?

KnowTheChain, an anti-trafficking organization, works to prevent the fact that “there are at least 20.9 million victims of forced labor, and that about 90 percent of today’s forced labor is exacted in the private economy.” They are addressing the issue at hand by demanding answers from companies who have remained silent on this act. The most recent companies to act in accordance with SB-657 were Lululemon and Baker Hughes who both clarified that their public statements were in the works. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is onboard with SB-657 stating that, “this responsibility extends to conducting due diligence on a company’s ‘business relationships’ – which include its suppliers – and also to the issue of human trafficking, a situation in which so many rights are abused.”

KnowTheChain has provided a list of companies that have offered statements in order to keep the public updated. Their site not only addresses human trafficking issues but tracks human rights impacts of numerous worldwide corporations.

X, Y, and Z represent real corporations whose names we removed as a courtesy.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, today issued international guidance aimed at helping the wider industry to identify and report irregularities in financial transactions that might be linked to human trafficking activity.

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