Non-credit Course: Coercion and Labour Exploitation before Courts

In Hilary Term 2023 the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights offered a non-credit course in developing strategies for the protection and promotion of human rights with a focus on litigation that challenges structures of coercion and exploitation of vulnerable workers. Over the last few years, cases concerning systematic and structural aspects of trafficking, slavery and forced labour, and the structural factors and policies leading to such forms of exploitation, were considered in various jurisdictions and at various levels (domestic and regional courts) around the world.  

This seminar series invited academics and practitioners to consider the potential of such proceedings and strategies that helped to protect workers and enforce their rights, but also the limitations of such human rights litigation.  

The seminars covered different geographical regions and contexts in the global North and the global South, and include contributions from practitioners and researchers. Some of the topics discussed included:  

• Challenging bonded labour and protecting workers before Indian courts;
• Exploitation and child slavery in supply chains and potential remedies from courts in the global North: lessons from the US Nestle v Doe case;
• Migration policy, victims’ rights and extreme exploitation before the European Court of Human Rights;
• Changes and challenges to tied visa regimes: lessons from Israel’s Supreme Court. 

Each seminar will be led by leading human rights lawyers and researchers from a different jurisdiction. The seminars involved presentations on specific cases of strategic human rights litigation, and discussions with experts about the cases, the strategy chosen and its outcome, as well as a comparison with other cases or examples.