Publications

The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil Revisited

Publication Date: 

November 27, 2017

Increasingly, the exploitation of workers has been at the center of controversies in the palm oil industry. In 2015, forced labor and human trafficking on the plantations of one of Malaysia’s biggest palm oil companies, Felda Global Ventures, made front page news in the Wall Street Journal, showing that global brands are buying Conflict Palm Oil produced by forced labor.

Stop Trafficking by Sea Data Development Workshop Report

Publication Date: 

October 12, 2017

On 12 and 13 October 2016, the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) convened a diverse group of experts in technology, human trafficking, labor rights, seafood supply chains, vessel monitoring, and other relevant fields at a workshop in Bangkok. The purpose of the two-day workshop was to explore the applicability of satellite-based vessel tracking technology, in combination with newly available and emerging data about fishing crews, to assess and mitigate risks of human trafficking on fishing vessels.

Birthday card for Gaspar Matalaev

Publication Date: 

June 14, 2017

Gaspar Matalaev, a human rights defender in Turkmenistan, will mark his 35th birthday on June 15 from prison, where he has been since shortly after he was arrested on October 4, 2016. The arrest came two days after Gaspar had posted an article and pictures documenting the Turkmen government's forced mobilization of citizens to harvest cotton, an annual obligation in the repressive Central Asian nation.

Comments to the Marine Stewardship Council regarding proposed labor requirements

Publication Date: 

May 14, 2017

We are deeply concerned with the proposed policy to include labor standards into MSC's Fishery and Chain of Custody (CoC) programs. With a carefully structured approach, the MSC could serve a positive role in this space by encouraging transparency in fishing supply chains and using your position as a well-regarded environmental certification program to encourage meaningful social dialogue that could address labor problems in the industry. However, the voluntary self-declaration approach currently proposed is utterly insufficient.

Bangladesh Accord: Brief Progress Report and Proposals for Enhancement

Publication Date: 

April 24, 2017

Founded in 2013, three weeks after the deadliest disaster in the history of the global apparel industry, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety has made factories safer for more than two-and-a-half million garment workers. The improvements in structural, fire, and electrical safety accomplished under the Accord have helped avert further factory fires and building collapses in an industry long plagued by grossly unsafe working conditions.

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