Brief of Human Rights and Labor Rights Organizations and Experts as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners

Since Congress first enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, it has expanded and strengthened it through successive reauthorizations. Congress has broadened the scope of the TVPRA in order to impose criminal and civil liability on individuals, corporations, and other legal persons who use, or knowingly benefit from ventures that use, forced labor, as well as those who aid and abet these practices. Through this legislation, Congress has bolstered efforts to hold traffickers accountable, opening the courthouse doors to victims of these egregious crimes. The Ninth Circuit\u27s decision below undermined the very statutory scheme Congress put in place to combat forced labor by restrictively interpreting due process requirements and finding respondents were beyond the reach of the statute. The court\u27s decision not only misapplies the law of this Court and conflicts with other Courts of Appeals, but it seriously impairs the TVPRA and Congress\u27s efforts to fight against human trafficking and forced labor. Because the court\u27s decision is wrong and will significantly compromise the enforcement and intended purpose of the TVPRA, the following organizations respectfully submit this brief as amici curiae in support of petitioners. Janie Chuang is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Professor Chuang teaches and writes about issues relating to human trafficking, labor migration, and global governance

Preventing Trafficking Through New Global Governance over Labor Migration

This Article offers initial thoughts on the possible impacts the GCM might have on global efforts to prevent and address trafficking, focusing on the newly elevated role of the IOM in this endeavor. Based on arguments I have made elsewhere, my analysis takes as a given that a normative, rights-based approach to migrant work is necessary to prevent migrant worker exploitation and abuse from escalating into trafficking. From that perspective, the Article explores the possibility that, in advising States on GCM implementation, the IOM could take a more proactive role in advancing workers’ rights in furtherance of the longer-term goal of preventing trafficking. Part I assesses the GCM’s potential for advancing the rights of migrant workers. The GCM reflects the three competing interests that typically animate migration policy: (1) concerns over border security, (2) the desire to derive labor market benefits from economic migration, and (3) the imperative to protect migrants’ rights. Whether and to what extent migrant workers are sufficiently protected against exploitation will turn on how States balance these competing concerns. Empowered to guide States in their efforts to implement the GCM, the IOM will play a crucial role in helping to translate GCM norms into State practice. Part II analyzes the IOM’s operational history and structure for insights into how the IOM might balance the GCM’s competing concerns in its efforts to advise States on GCM implementation. The IOM’s checkered history and its unique status as a non-normative, U.N.-related organization show a tendency to prioritize States’ concerns over border security and labor market access above those regarding migrant welfare. In contrast, the IOM’s recent efforts to promote ethical recruitment standards suggest the possibility of IOM assuming a more proactive stance towards migrant workers’ rights protections going forward. Part III explores these efforts, situating them within broader development debates over whether and to what extent rights tradeoffs are necessary—or acceptable—to maximize the development gains from migration. In advising States on GCM implementation, how IOM responds to pressures to trade rights for labor market access will surely test IOM’s professed commitment to ethical recruitment frameworks. Its response could prove to be a bellwether of IOM’s broader approach to balancing migrant worker welfare interests against the GCM’s other competing interests in border security and labor market access. In this environment, close scrutiny and strong advocacy by rights advocates will be necessary to fully realize the GCM’s—and the IOM’s—potential to advance migrant workers’ rights and prevent trafficking

AU Human Rights Series: Violence Agaisnt Women: The Impact of International Law in the Protection of Victims

[moderator] The acknowledgment of violence against women as a human rights violation marked a turning point in overcoming the notion that this issue belonged to the private sphere, where states had a limited ability to intervene. This paradigm change triggered the adoption of international treaties and the establishment of special procedures at the United Nations and other regional international organizations to monitor state actions to address this issue. Similarly, international criminal courts and tribunals investigated and convicted perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, recognizing that these crimes had to be treated separately from other forms of ill-treatment. In spite of the progress made and the steps taken, violence against women continues to be a dominant issue in conflict and peaceful situations, with widely pervasive but less publicized forms of mistreatment and discrimination, including trafficking, threatening the lives of women around the world. The panel will explore the contributions made by international law to address the issue of violence against women and assess what remains to be done to achieve its eradication

Preventing Human Trafficking: The Role of the IOM and the UN Global Compact on Migration

Since the international community adopted the UN Trafficking Protocol nearly two decades ago, our approach to the problem of human trafficking has shifted significantly. With too few traffickers prosecuted and too few victims protected, there is growing recognition of the need for more robust efforts to prevent trafficking in the first instance. Trafficking is not simply the product of deviant, criminal behavior that once rooted out, can be easily eliminated. Also to blame are deeply embedded societal structures that facilitate, and even reward, exploitation – in particular, weak labor and migration frameworks that perpetuate precarity for migrant workers in their search for economic opportunities. Because worker exploitation and trafficking differ in degree, not in kind, addressing worker exploitation more broadly can help prevent the abuses from escalating into trafficking. This Chapter explores how emerging global governance over labor migration – with the recently-adopted UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration and the now-elevated role of the International Organization for Migration – could play a role in preventing human trafficking.https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/1405/thumbnail.jp

Preventing Human Trafficking: The Role of the IOM and the UN Global Compact on Migration

Since the international community adopted the UN Trafficking Protocol nearly two decades ago, our approach to the problem of human trafficking has shifted significantly. With too few traffickers prosecuted and too few victims protected, there is growing recognition of the need for more robust efforts to prevent trafficking in the first instance. Trafficking is not simply the product of deviant, criminal behavior that once rooted out, can be easily eliminated. Also to blame are deeply embedded societal structures that facilitate, and even reward, exploitation – in particular, weak labor and migration frameworks that perpetuate precarity for migrant workers in their search for economic opportunities. Because worker exploitation and trafficking differ in degree, not in kind, addressing worker exploitation more broadly can help prevent the abuses from escalating into trafficking. This Chapter explores how emerging global governance over labor migration – with the recently-adopted UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration and the now-elevated role of the International Organization for Migration – could play a role in preventing human trafficking.https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/1405/thumbnail.jp

Brief of Human Rights and Labor Rights Organizations and Experts as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners

Since Congress first enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, it has expanded and strengthened it through successive reauthorizations. Congress has broadened the scope of the TVPRA in order to impose criminal and civil liability on individuals, corporations, and other legal persons who use, or knowingly benefit from ventures that use, forced labor, as well as those who aid and abet these practices. Through this legislation, Congress has bolstered efforts to hold traffickers accountable, opening the courthouse doors to victims of these egregious crimes. The Ninth Circuit\u27s decision below undermined the very statutory scheme Congress put in place to combat forced labor by restrictively interpreting due process requirements and finding respondents were beyond the reach of the statute. The court\u27s decision not only misapplies the law of this Court and conflicts with other Courts of Appeals, but it seriously impairs the TVPRA and Congress\u27s efforts to fight against human trafficking and forced labor. Because the court\u27s decision is wrong and will significantly compromise the enforcement and intended purpose of the TVPRA, the following organizations respectfully submit this brief as amici curiae in support of petitioners. Janie Chuang is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Professor Chuang teaches and writes about issues relating to human trafficking, labor migration, and global governance

AU Human Rights Series: Violence Agaisnt Women: The Impact of International Law in the Protection of Victims

[moderator] The acknowledgment of violence against women as a human rights violation marked a turning point in overcoming the notion that this issue belonged to the private sphere, where states had a limited ability to intervene. This paradigm change triggered the adoption of international treaties and the establishment of special procedures at the United Nations and other regional international organizations to monitor state actions to address this issue. Similarly, international criminal courts and tribunals investigated and convicted perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, recognizing that these crimes had to be treated separately from other forms of ill-treatment. In spite of the progress made and the steps taken, violence against women continues to be a dominant issue in conflict and peaceful situations, with widely pervasive but less publicized forms of mistreatment and discrimination, including trafficking, threatening the lives of women around the world. The panel will explore the contributions made by international law to address the issue of violence against women and assess what remains to be done to achieve its eradication

Preventing Trafficking Through New Global Governance over Labor Migration

This Article offers initial thoughts on the possible impacts the GCM might have on global efforts to prevent and address trafficking, focusing on the newly elevated role of the IOM in this endeavor. Based on arguments I have made elsewhere, my analysis takes as a given that a normative, rights-based approach to migrant work is necessary to prevent migrant worker exploitation and abuse from escalating into trafficking. From that perspective, the Article explores the possibility that, in advising States on GCM implementation, the IOM could take a more proactive role in advancing workers’ rights in furtherance of the longer-term goal of preventing trafficking. Part I assesses the GCM’s potential for advancing the rights of migrant workers. The GCM reflects the three competing interests that typically animate migration policy: (1) concerns over border security, (2) the desire to derive labor market benefits from economic migration, and (3) the imperative to protect migrants’ rights. Whether and to what extent migrant workers are sufficiently protected against exploitation will turn on how States balance these competing concerns. Empowered to guide States in their efforts to implement the GCM, the IOM will play a crucial role in helping to translate GCM norms into State practice. Part II analyzes the IOM’s operational history and structure for insights into how the IOM might balance the GCM’s competing concerns in its efforts to advise States on GCM implementation. The IOM’s checkered history and its unique status as a non-normative, U.N.-related organization show a tendency to prioritize States’ concerns over border security and labor market access above those regarding migrant welfare. In contrast, the IOM’s recent efforts to promote ethical recruitment standards suggest the possibility of IOM assuming a more proactive stance towards migrant workers’ rights protections going forward. Part III explores these efforts, situating them within broader development debates over whether and to what extent rights tradeoffs are necessary—or acceptable—to maximize the development gains from migration. In advising States on GCM implementation, how IOM responds to pressures to trade rights for labor market access will surely test IOM’s professed commitment to ethical recruitment frameworks. Its response could prove to be a bellwether of IOM’s broader approach to balancing migrant worker welfare interests against the GCM’s other competing interests in border security and labor market access. In this environment, close scrutiny and strong advocacy by rights advocates will be necessary to fully realize the GCM’s—and the IOM’s—potential to advance migrant workers’ rights and prevent trafficking

Mother, Wife, Slave Lola and the Universality of Women\u27s Exploitation

[quote] “Embrace of the kinship idiom can deter [au pairs] from complaining about their living and working conditions,” writes the law professor Janie Chuang of the U.S. Au Pair program