HUMAN RIGHTS

Paper 1 assignment (750-1000 words)

In the reading from Amnesty International, “A Primer on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,” (https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/8000/pol340012014en.pdf), page 55 chronicles forced labor in Qatar. In your short paper, I want you to choose to write a brief analytical paper or policy brief (suggestion for reform) on a case of forced labor in the current day (examples include forced labor in the American or European agricultural sectors, sex work industries worldwide, construction and manufacturing in the Global South, American meatpacking industries, or others). In your analysis of the situation of forced labor, discuss 1) what is the forced labor situation, where does it take place, and who is affected; 2) how this phenomenon of forced labor is a result of the failure to protect economic rights within the country and outside of the country in which it takes place (i.e. in the global economy); and 3) what kind of laws would eliminate or curtail this phenomenon. Please consider not just laws outlawing forced labor, but laws or protections for immigrants, migrants, gender minorities, ethnic minorities, nondiscrimination policies, minimum wage laws, and a broad set of protections that would prevent or provide the means for redress of forced labor. Conclude by mentioning what forms of activism (if any) exist that address this issue (i.e. journalist investigations, reports by human rights organizations, initiatives by local non-governmental or religious organizations, community-based activism, etc.)