Exploitation, Labour Rights, and the Law
Project Description
This project examines the regulation of labour exploitation at the intersection of different legal regimes and considers which legal regimes create conditions for or tackle labour exploitation and how. Legal regimes under investigation include international human rights law, immigration law, employment law, criminal law, business and supply chain regulation and international trade law. The project considers the value of human rights law in framing and governing regulatory and judicial responses to labour exploitation and the tensions between different aspects of domestic law that apply simultaneously. This enquiry also considers the links between the practices of ‘modern slavery’ and historical slavery, differences between forced labour and labour exploitation, and draws on the debates about the role of labour exploitation in capitalism.
Specific themes addressed include:
- The meaning of ‘labour exploitation’ in international and comparative law.
- Differences in how states approach labour exploitation ‘at home’ (through regulation of labour market, criminal law and immigration law) and abroad (through supply chain regulation and trade agreements), and the coherence between such responses.
- Global supply chain regulation, with the particular focus on human rights due diligence, forced labour import bans, and litigation strategies based on civil remedies for labour exploitation.
- Migration regulation as both a safeguard against labour exploitation and an instrument that exacerbates inherent vulnerability of migrants to exploitation.
- Remedies for labour exploitation.
The project is part of the broader research work-strand conducted in collaboration between the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the Policy and Evidence Centre on Modern Slavery and Human Rights and implemented by a research team comprising Marija Jovanovic and Jack Beadsworth. This work-strand addresses the following question: how do different areas of law, employer practices, and wider social factors interact to create, increase or mitigate risks of labour exploitation? By understanding these complex dynamics, this work-strand seeks to inform further developments in law, policy and practice to effectively tackle such exploitation.
