Sponsor the study on human trafficking in the activities of transnational companies with special attention to prevention and due diligence. Below is a summary containing the context and object of the study, as well as the method and list of expected results.
Contact:
Prof. Nitish Monebhurrun: [email protected]
PhD – International Law (Sorbonne Law School, Paris)
Law Professor (University Center of Brasília, Brazil)
Visiting Professor (Universidad de la Sabana, Bogotá)
Associate Researcher (Department of Latin American Studies, University of Brasília)
Associate Researcher (Observatory of International Migrations, Brazil)
Editor-in-Chief (Brazilian Journal of International Law)
Project
Human Trafficking in Business Activities: Minimum Legal Standards for Due Diligence, Prevention and Responsibility
The Brazilian Case
Executing entity
Business, Human Rights and Public Policy Clinic (University Center of Brasilia, Brazil)
Project coordinators
Nitish Monebhurrun
PhD – International Law, Sorbonne Law, France
Tenured Professor, University Center of Brasilia, Brazil
Visiting Professor, University of Sabana, Colombia
Associate Researcher, Department of Latin American Studies, University of Brasilia, Brazil
Researcher, Observatory of International Migrations, Brazil
Director, Business, Human Rights and Public Policy Clinic, University Center of Brasilia, Brazil
Nataly Viviana Vargas Gamboa
PhD (University of Salamanca, Spain / Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia)
Associate Professor (University Center of Brasilia, Brazil)
Postdoctoral Fellow (University Center of Brasilia, Brazil)
Object
The project’s main object is to map and categorize the minimum legal standards for prevention and responsibility in cases of human trafficking in business activities in Brazil. The study will enable to identify the lacunas of the current legal framework both at a national (Brazil) and international level. It will resultantly concentrate part of the research to reflect on legal tools to overcome the identified conundrums.
Context
Human trafficking is multiform. It is usually associated with criminal organizations. One of the most common cases is, for instance, human trafficking in prostitution networks. This said, the human trafficking phenomenon is sometimes surreptitiously present in areas where it is least expected and corporate activities, namely those which are engaged in a chain of production, are a case in point. Parent companies in the sector of commodities, like cocoa, sugarcane, coffee or minerals or in the textile sector, are oftentimes unaware that human trafficking is present in their sphere of production. Sometimes, they are also unable to have a complete diligence along the chain of production. This context opens a gap in human trafficking and forced or slave labor can exist with relative impunity.
Methodology
The study will firstly adopt an inductive and exploratory method whereby the reality of human trafficking in business activities will be identified and diagnosed in concrete cases (judicialized or not). Secondly, the research will map and categorize the applicable national (Brazil), regional and international rules before examining — at a third level — if and how one (the cases) falls short of the other (the law). Two further methodological layers will also be covered. The researchers will conduct interviews with the management of some of the parent companies whose activities have been directly or indirectly connected to human trafficking via their subsidiaries or outsourced companies operating in Brazil. If need be, the research will also embrace a comparative perspective which will require in loco investigation in States which have good practices to tackle the conundrum of human trafficking in business activities. These methodological levels are expected to act as the steppingstone to mobilize the tools which will enable to build and consolidate the companies’ due diligence in the chain of production to prevent human trafficking.
Expected Results
– Report on how to harness legal tools to combat human trafficking in business activities
– Academic book on the legal and political tools and mechanism to combat human trafficking in business activities
– Guidelines on how to combat human trafficking in business activities
– Training and short courses panned for: companies; States’ agents; concerned representatives of the civil society