At this panel at the American Bar Association's 2017 Spring Meeting, ILRF Legal and Policy Director, Eric Gottwald, will speak on U.S. government policies and how corporations can prevent forced labor in their supply chains, drawing on ILRF's field-based knowledge in the palm, seafood, cotton, and apparel industries.

In light of the global trend of implementing measures to counter human trafficking, this panel discussion will focus on U.S. efforts in this area. U.S. law prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, produced or manufactured in whole or in part, by forced labor. In February 2016, Congress eliminated a consumptive demand exception to the import ban. In the following months, there was a significant increase in instances of enforcement of this law. CBP also established a Taskforce to identify potential violations, and announced that it would revise its regulations to correspond with the change. The panel will bring together public and private sector personnel to discuss enforcement of the ban in the past year and prospective cases, the decision-making process employed in such cases, and measures companies have taken in response to enhance supply chain tracing and accountability.

Moderator:

Sahar Hafeez
Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, Washington, DC

Speakers:

Megan Giblin
United States Council for International Business, Washington, DC

Eric Gottwald
International Labor Rights Forum, Washington, DC

Kenneth Kennedy
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), Washington, DC

Alice Kipel
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Washington, DC