https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research daily 0.75 2026-07-05 https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/an-international-blueprint-for-forced-labor-import-bans monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/f5e5cb27-6ecf-411f-be54-15698d7a9fce/Screenshot+2026-06-23+at+12.38.16%E2%80%AFPM.png Research - An International Blueprint for Forced Labor Import Bans - This policy brief outlines a global framework for forced labor import bans (FLIBs) as a key tool to address forced labor in international supply chains. Despite legal prohibitions, forced labor persists, distorting markets and harming workers. The brief highlights core elements of effective bans—including strong enforcement, clear standards, and worker-centered remediation—while emphasizing the need for international coordination and complementary policies. Published by the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School Read the report. In June 2026, the US Trade Representatives Office adopted the eight essential elements of an effective import ban from this report and set those elements as the recommended standard for forced labor import bans globally. Read the USTR’s report on forced labor import bans. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/respecting-rights monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/633432b8-b056-4aeb-a6a4-e01f978f239d/Screenshot+2026-06-23+at+5.49.03%E2%80%AFPM.png Research - Respecting Rights in Renewable Energy: Investor Guidance to Mitigate Uyghur Forced Labour Risks in the Renewable Energy Sector Exposure to state-imposed forced labour presents distinct risks for investors. It therefore necessitates unique approaches to due diligence, engagement and divestment processes. This guidance provides investors with a concrete model for effectively identifying and addressing exposure to Uyghur forced labour. Investors are key stakeholders in economic stewardship. They have a critical role to play in ensuring that the transition to renewables does not contribute to further human rights violations against the Uyghur people and other marginalised populations. This guidance includes a detailed decision tree that operationalizes guidance from the UNGPs, the UNGC and the OECD. The decision tree helps investors identify a best practice approach to managing risk in the context of Uyghur forced labour in green technology. In collaboration with Anti-Slavery International and the Investor Alliance for Human Rights. Read the Report. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/over-exposed monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/1782228789398-D4JPAO8Y3ZYZ6RXL0YQA/Over-Exposed+Cover+Image.png Research - Over-Exposed: Uyghur Region Exposure Assessment for Solar Industry Sourcing The solar industry has become increasingly opaque since the revelations of exposure to state-imposed forced labour of Uyghurs and Kazakhs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). “Over-Exposed” assesses ten solar firms and creates a model to determine manufacturers’ exposure to the Uyghur Region, even as new supply chains are created to attempt to eliminate XUAR-sourcing. Co-author: Alan Crawford Read the report. Annex A:Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/driving-force monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/bba9d9b4-42f3-4150-83cc-6735c15f0cc2/Driving+Force+COVER.png Research - Driving Force: Automotive Supply Chains and Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region If you have bought a car in the last five years, some of its parts were likely made by Uyghurs and others forced to work in China. The Chinese government has deliberately shifted raw materials mining and processing and auto parts manufacturing into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR or Uyghur Region), essentially making international supply chains captive to repressive programs and systematic forced labour. In a six-month investigation undertaken by Sheffield Hallam and Nomogaia, analysis of publicly available documents revealed massive and expanding links between western car brands and Uyghur abuses, in everything from the hood decals and car frames to engine casings, interiors and electronics. Co-authors: Kendyl Salcito, Yalkun Uluyol, Mia Rabkin, and a team of anonymous authors In collaboration with Nomogaia Read the report. Annex A: Automotive Industry - Relevant Companies Operating in the Uyghur Region Annex B: Corporate Responses ** View Our Interactive Supply Chain Map https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/xpcc-until-nothing-is-left monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/a4b80478-a861-405d-bfa9-bc40214cad12/Until+Nothing+is+Left+--+cover+FINAL.png Research - Until Nothing is Left: China's Settler Corporation and its Human Rights Violations in the Uyghur Region. A report on the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps - "Until Nothing Is Left" documents in great detail the egregious human rights violations of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which is a paramilitary corporate conglomerate designed to suppress and colonize the Indigenous people of the Uyghur Region. This report traces some of the XPCC’s most important products and services – cotton, tomatoes, chemicals, and construction – out to the rest of the world through supply chains and investments, revealing the way international spending supports this regime of oppression. Co-authors: Nyrola Elimä and David Tobin Read the report. Annex A: XPCC Cotton Customers and Suppliers Annex B: Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/built-on-repression monthly 0.5 2026-06-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/dbea30c8-3658-4c69-a2e8-29209a4f59d6/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+11.25.01%E2%80%AFAM.png Research - Built on Repression: PVC Building Materials’ Reliance on Forced Labor and Environmental Abuses in the Uyghur Region - This report investigates the increased manufacturing of PVC (polyvinyl chloride or vinyl) through state-sponsored labour transfers in China’s Uyghur Region and the routes by which the resulting building materials make their way into international markets. The Uyghur Region is being used as both a source of cheap labour and cheap coal, and also as a dumping ground for the most hideous of environmental hazards. The abuse of human labour and the environment in the XUAR has significantly reduced the price of manufacturing PVC and thus of manufacturing luxury flooring worldwide. Through these abusive practices, Uyghur forced labour makes its way into our homes, schools, and hospitals, serving as the very literal foundations upon which we work and play. PVC is not alone on these counts. Uyghur forced labour also makes its way into the food we eat, the computers we work on, the toys we play with, the clothes we wear. This report provides a road map for understanding the violations occurring in the Uyghur Region and for identifying how the products of those abuses pervade supply chains. Read the Report. Annex A — Supply Chain Risk Annex B — Company Examples Annex C — Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/financing-and-genocide monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/76a9275a-6545-4048-b6b9-35bb173a55d0/Financing+%26+Genocide+COVER.png Research - Financing & Genocide: Development Finance and the Crisis in the Uyghur Region - The International Finance Corporation has several significant investments in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR or the Uyghur Region) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), where indigenous peoples have been subjected to what international legislators, legal scholars, and advocates have determined to be a genocide. Significant evidence suggests that several of IFC’s clients are active participants in the implementation of the PRC government’s campaign of repression against the Uyghurs, including through forced labour, forced displacement, cultural erasure, and environmental destruction. IFC’s failure to adequately safeguard communities and the environment affected by its financing in the Uyghur Region makes the institution complicit in the repression of Uyghur, Kazakh, and other minoritized citizens. "Financing & Genocide" presents credible evidence that IFC financing is contributing to companies committing gross human rights abuses against Uyghur peoples in the XUAR and makes evidence-based recommendations to IFC and other development finance institutions. Co-authors: Kendyl Salcito and Nyrola Elimä In collaboration with Nomogaia Published by the Atlantic Council Read the report. Annex A: DFI and Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/laundering-cotton monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/ba4e355c-2fb7-4db7-b472-29ff09833a40/Laundering+Cotton+Cover.png Research - Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton in Obscured in International Supply Chains - Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton is Obscured in International Supply Chains is an investigation into how forced-labour-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains. Based on international trade and customs data, we conclude that at the same time as Xinjiang cotton has come to be associated with human rights abuses and to be considered high risk for international brands, China's cotton industry has benefited from an export strategy that obscures cotton's origin in the Uyghur Region. The Uyghur Region produces approximately 85% of all of China's cotton, and in the last several years, China has encouraged the rapid growth of cotton goods manufacturing in the Uyghur Region. 52% of China's export of raw cotton, yarn, and fabric goes to Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Cambodia. Manufacturers in these countries serve as intermediaries in finishing cotton-based apparel, thus obscuring the provenance of the cotton. Co-authors: an anonymous team of researchers Read the report. Annex A: Chinese Meida Reports Regarding Forced Labour Accusations Annex B: Trade Data Annex C: Supply Chain Tracing Annex D: Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/in-broad-daylight monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/13588be1-a7c9-439a-9738-2eba97fe6830/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+10.09.38%E2%80%AFAM.png Research - In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains - Beginning in the spring of 2018, significant evidence began to emerge that the government of the People’s Republic of China understood its system of over 380 detention and internment camps as merely one part of a massive transformation of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR or Uyghur Region) into a docile and lucrative economic hub. While continuing to intern people in camps without trial, local governments shifted their focus to the creation of an enormous forced labour regime. State-sponsored forced labour programmes are employed by companies both within Xinjiang and in the interior of China, affecting the supply chains of a wide variety of industries, including agriculture, electronics, textiles and apparel, sporting goods, and new energy. Because of the growth of the polysilicon industry in the Uyghur Region, solar industry supply chains are particularly exposed to forced labour of Uyghur and other minoritized citizens. We analysed government documents, state and corporate media, and corporate disclosures to trace the solar module supply chain from quartz to module, revealing how our clean energy is reliant on state-sponsored forced labour. Co-author: Nyrola Elimä Read the report. Annex: Corporate Responses https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/how-many-trafficked-people-in-nola monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/3b387ad7-b88f-4dcf-a46d-f0f9a42d7c07/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+12.07.19%E2%80%AFPM.png Research - How many trafficked people are there in Greater New Orleans? Lessons in measurement - In an effort to develop a model for estimating prevalence in a city or region of the United States, this study employed Multiple Systems Estimation, a statistical approach that uses data on known cases collected from individual agencies to estimate the number not known, with the ultimate aim of estimating the prevalence of trafficking in a region. Utilizing de-identified data provided by local non-profits and law enforcement agencies, the researchers estimated the prevalence of trafficking in the New Orleans-Metairie metropolitan statistical area. This represents one of the first attempts to use Multiple Systems Estimation to quantify human trafficking in a United States context. The article provides an account of the impediments to and limitations of conducting such an estimate, given the definitional variance and political dynamics that are endemic to anti- trafficking efforts in the United States. The authors provide recommendations for data collection and prevalence analysis that could be applied in other cities or regions of the United States as well as in other similarly-resourced environments. Co-authors: Kevin Bales and Bernard Silverman Read the Paper. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/labor-and-sex-trafficking-among-homeless-youth monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/d5773a20-730a-41bd-abef-4a8a1d1b64e2/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+11.48.36%E2%80%AFAM.png Research - Labor and Sex Trafficking Among Homeless Youth: A Ten-City Study - Between February 2014 and June 2016, researchers from Loyola University New Orleans’s Modern Slavery Research Project (MSRP) were invited by Covenant House International and ten of their individual sites in the United States and Canada to serve as external experts to study the prevalence and nature of human trafficking among homeless youth aged 17 to 25. MSRP researchers interviewed 641 homeless and runaway youth who access services through Covenant House’s network of shelters, transitional living and apartment programs, and drop-in centers. Youth were invited to participate, on a voluntary basis, in a point-in-time study about work experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using the Human Trafficking Interview and Assessment Measure (HTIAM-14) to assess whether youth had been trafficked for sex or labor in their lifetimes. Youth were interviewed in the following cities: Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Los Angeles, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Oakland, California; St. Louis, Missouri; Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia. Of the 641 youth interviewed at Covenant House sites around the United States and Canada, nearly one in five (19% or 124) were identified as victims of some form of human trafficking, following the legal definition outlined by the U.S. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (later renamed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). More than 14% (92) of the total population had been trafficked for sex, while 8% (52) had been trafficked for other forced labor. 3% (22) were trafficked for both sex and labor. Ninety-one percent (91%) of the respondents reported being approached by someone who was offering an opportunity for income that was too good to be true. This included situations that turned into trafficking as well as other offers for commercial sexual exchanges, fraudulent commission-based sales, credit card scams, stolen phone sales, and check fraud. Read the Report. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/672c1250-6558-49d1-a20d-c62f2fda6016/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+1.00.56%E2%80%AFPM.png Research - Labor and Sex Trafficking Among Homeless Youth: A Ten-City Study - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/research/trafficking-and-exploitative-labor-among-homeless-youth-nola monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/a00200da-5f21-4b65-9197-ebbcb98a1d0b/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+12.02.20%E2%80%AFPM.png Research - Trafficking and Exploitative Labor Among Homeless Youth in New Orleans - Co-authors: Rae Taylor and Christian Bolden Read the Report. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/consulting daily 0.75 2026-07-05 https://www.lauratmurphy.com/consulting/who-human-trafficking-in-healthcare-settings monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/cf47ddd8-ba93-4aea-9374-36143b0c40cd/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+12.31.37%E2%80%AFPM.png Consulting - Addressing Human Trafficking through Health Systems: A Scoping Review - Human trafficking is a lucrative crime and violation of human rights that exploits women, children and men. It includes trafficking for forced labour, sexual exploitation, forced begging and military conscription. The health effects of trafficking and the health needs of trafficked individuals and trafficking survivors are well documented and urgent. WHO European Region Member States recognize their responsibility to prevent and respond to human trafficking and to mitigate its health effects. As frontline health professionals may be the sole public servants to meet trafficked individuals while they are trafficked, the health system also has both a responsibility and an opportunity to promote and protect the health and other rights of trafficked people. No country or sector alone can address the ongoing challenges of trafficking, nor of emerging challenges. This scoping review examines 237 articles, reports and grey literature containing research from Canada, the United States of America and the WHO European Region. It summarizes and synthesizes this evidence-informed research to help Member States in addressing the intersection of health care and trafficking and in attempts to prevent and respond to human trafficking. While considerable research covers the epidemiology of trafficking and the service delivery response, there is limited research on prevention efforts. The identified research shapes the considerations for policies to promote a comprehensive health systems approach to human trafficking. Co-author: Peter Geller Client: World Health Organization Read the Report. Our Opinion Piece in BMJ: Health Workers are in a Unique Position to Help Identify Human Trafficking (with Hanni Stoklosa and Jozef Bartovic) https://www.lauratmurphy.com/consulting/fysb-human-trafficking-prevention monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/89c54bb4-575d-4e57-a3ee-cb2119c1b703/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+12.47.29%E2%80%AFPM.png Consulting - Survivor-Informed Services Among Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs - This Issue Brief explores strategies to integrate human trafficking (HT) prevention into Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) programs. These strategies emphasize the vital role that RHY programs can play in the prevention of sex and labor trafficking among runaway and homeless youth. It also highlights the importance of integrating public health, trauma-informed, and positive youth development principles in the development and implementation of HT prevention interventions. Client: US Department of Health and Human Services, Family Youth Services Bureau Read the Report https://www.lauratmurphy.com/consulting/core-competencies monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/41b5d2ae-540a-467e-821e-917cc45941f4/Screenshot+2026-06-23+at+3.41.25%E2%80%AFPM.png Consulting - Core Competencies for Human Trafficking Response in Health Care and Behavioral Health Systems - These core competencies highlight skill sets for health care professionals to identify, respond to and serve individuals who have experienced or are at risk of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Research has shown individuals experiencing trafficking are likely to seek health care during or around the period of their exploitation. Health care is a critical access point for help, yet health care institutions and providers may not know how to respond. The core competencies were developed over a three-year consultation period with, health care, behavioral health and social service experts as well as survivors, all of whom identified the need for a strategy to improve health systems and providers’ response to human trafficking. These experts represented a broad range of disciplines, including general practice, psychiatry, pediatrics, emergency medicine, child protection, nursing, behavioral health, research, health science and administration. Client: US Department of Health and Human Services National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center In Collaboration with International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and HEAL Trafficking Read the Report. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/consulting/rhy-ht-resource-guide monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/822d4c09-b7b3-4688-afb3-21d5ce8f31e2/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+1.06.55%E2%80%AFPM.png Consulting - Human Trafficking for Runaway and Homeless Youth Serving Programs: A Resource Guide - RHY programs have always provided services to youth whose experiences meet the definition of “trafficking” or who are at higher risk for trafficking. Because of the established correlation between being homeless and being trafficked, RHY programs are likely to encounter youth who are trapped at this intersection. This resource guide is designed to assist RHY programs to increase their capacity to identify and provide services and/or service referrals to trafficked youth. Client: US Department of Health and Human Services, Family Youth Services Bureau Read the Report https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources daily 0.75 2026-07-05 https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/forced-labor-import-ban-tracker monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/c6e5ee07-3c65-4837-ad8f-fe803b8d86ce/cover-navy-forced-labor-tracker.png Resources - Forced Labor Import Ban Tracker - This spreadsheet contains information regarding the progress countries have made in adopting and implementing forced labor import bans. TAB 1 contains publication and citation information. TAB 2 contains information on the current state of play of 61 economies regarding existing legislation, draft legislation, and government commitments regarding developing a prohibition. All of the texts cited are hyperlinked to the original document. TAB 3 contains information on the countries that have passed import bans and whether those provisions include the eight essential elements of an effective forced labor import ban. TAB 4 contains explanations of each of the eight essential elements of an effective forced labor import ban. The tracker is a Google spreadsheet that is updated as news emerges. Access the Tracker. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/ethical-procurement monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/490a8a6f-098a-410f-8062-7c7d7bbcbed1/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.46.31%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - Ethical Procurement: Products Made with Forced Labor - This brief is designed to assist procurement specialists in making ethical sourcing choices in regard to forced labor in the Uyghur Region. Other briefs in this series provide the background and context necessary to make ethical choices. This guide turns to more practical aspects specific to procurement. Businesses play a critical role in developing alternative sources for raw materials and intermediate goods. Businesses can help create global value chains free of forced labor by building business relationships and securing contracts for non-tainted supplies that might exist, distributing investments and development funds to other countries to expand production capacity, and writing anti-forced-labor clauses into tenders and contracts. With a forward looking strategy, your organization can position itself to have access to forced-labor-free supplies and materials and build resilience in your supply chains. Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/brief-5-know-your-supply-chains monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/af9da129-fc39-4506-90c7-609f0ce193e7/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.41.44%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - KNOW YOUR SUPPLY CHAINS: DESK-BASED RESEARCH STRATEGIES TO IDENTIFY UYGHUR REGION EXPOSURE  - This guidance is designed to provide procurement and CSR specialists (and other interested parties including journalists, investors, researchers, and policy makers) with research strategies that can be deployed to more adequately map suppliers and risk across value chains, particularly when they may involve Chinese suppliers. Supply chain mapping can be improved significantly with a few simple steps that companies, by and large, seem to have not pursued to date Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/common-concerns monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/b1adcf9a-8fc6-4f3e-a137-a4e0f0afcff9/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.34.25%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - Common Concerns About Addressing Uyghur Forced Labor - The crisis in the Uyghur Region presents us all with an unparalleled campaign of state repression and systemic state-sponsored forced labor, outstripping most other human rights crises in the contemporary world in terms of scope, scale, and severity. The situation challenges us to reconsider how best to apply our ethical frameworks and our global response mechanisms, as well as our standard corporate due diligence practices. This brief attempts to answer some of the frequently asked questions about how to address the crisis and its effects on international supply chains. Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/brief-3-products monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/55d99a90-a600-44c6-af73-1c57cd6ab015/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.26.08%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - Products Made with Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region - This brief, published in May 2023, is designed to explain that vast range of products that are made in the Uyghur Region. The Chinese government has deliberately invested vast resources, time, and energy into increasing mining, farming, processing, and manufacturing capacity in the Uyghur Region. Uyghur forced labor tainted products are not limited to the most commonly discussed industries (cotton, tomatoes, and polysilicon) but include a vast array of agricultural, raw materials, and manufacturing industries. Commonalities across industries operating from the Uyghur region include: (i) rapid expansion to occupy a significant share of national and global markets; (ii) incentives and subsidies for corporate relocation; (iii) artificially deflated cost of production due to low coal-based energy costs, lack of environmental regulation, and forced labor. Investigations of products made in the Uyghur Region nearly invariably result in finding evidence of the use of forced labor. The most environmentally damaging and energy-consuming industrial processes are concentrated in the extraordinarily repressive environment of the Uyghur Region. Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/brief-2-why-is-this-happening monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/9dda45a8-a324-412c-9394-3b13a211a6a1/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.19.38%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - Why is This Happening? - Key Points An enormous and multi-faceted system of forced labor exists in the Uyghur Region for several interrelated reasons: Control: The PRC government is anxious about its authority in the region, and forced labor is a way of controlling the population. Racism: People across China harbor a virulent racism against the Uyghur and other minoritized people of the region that relies on a notion that the people are lazy, backward, and radicalized, and thus need to be transformed through labor. Ideology: The PRC government does not accept Uyghur traditional forms of work and farming as legitimate and seeks to “develop” the region by forcing them all to work in factories. Cost: With wages rising for workers across China, low or unpaid Uyghur workers provide legions of laborers to fill the country’s labor gap. There are other contributing factors in the growth of manufacturing in the region that are not sufficient explanations for forced labor but are relevant to the issue. The Uyghur Region’s geographic proximity to Europe and other markets makes it a powerful hub for manufacturing and the exploitation of its natural resources brings production costs down. Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/resources/brief-1-the-evidence monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/fad4f4f7-0dcd-4a88-99a2-cda0ea8c326e/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+7.09.24%E2%80%AFPM.png Resources - Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region: The Evidence - The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has instituted an unprecedented system of state-sponsored forced labor for Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other minoritized citizens in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (or XUAR or Uyghur Region, also known as East Turkestan by many people from this colonized region). Reports of forced labor in the Uyghur Region are legitimate and well-supported by documentary evidence and first-person testimony. Due to the near ubiquity of forced labor in the region paired with the inability to conduct credible due diligence, all products made in the Uyghur Region or by transferred Uyghur laborers should be presumed to be made with forced labor. This brief from March 2023 provides readers the basic information necessary to understand the system of state-imposed forced labor in the Uyghur Region of China. Read the Evidence Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/books daily 0.75 2026-07-05 https://www.lauratmurphy.com/books/freedomville monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/09e1fb91-ba9d-44b0-b6e0-d18b86fbb809/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+2.07.15%E2%80%AFPM.png Books - Freedomville: The Story of a 21st Century Slave Revolt - A celebrated revolution brought freedom to a group of enslaved people in northern India. Or did it? Millions of people today are still enslaved; nearly eight million of them live in India, more than anywhere else. This book is the story of a small group of enslaved villagers in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh who founded their own town of Azad Nagar--Freedomville--after staging a rebellion against their slaveholders. International organizations championed it as a non-violent "silent revolution" that inspired other villagers to fight for their own freedom. But Laura T. Murphy, a leading scholar of contemporary global slavery who spent years researching and teaching about Freedomville, found that there was something troubling about Azad Nagar's success. Murphy embarks on a Rashomon-like retelling--a complex, constantly changing narrative of a murder that captures better than any sanitized account just why it is that slavery continues to exist in the twenty-first century. Freedomville's enormous struggle to gain and maintain liberty shows us how realistic it is to expect radical change without violent protest--and how a global construction boom is deepening and broadening the alienation of impoverished people around the world. Publisher: Columbua Global Reports (2021) Read the book. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/books/the-new-slave-narrative monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/0d6f11dc-5541-43bf-9481-837b5c08fb00/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+2.23.59%E2%80%AFPM.png Books - The New Slave Narrative:The Battle Over Representations of Contemporary Slavery - A century and a half after the abolition of slavery in the United States, survivors of contemporary forms of enslavement from around the world have revived a powerful tool of the abolitionist movement: first-person narratives of slavery and freedom. Just as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and others used autobiographical testimonies in the fight to eradicate slavery, today's new slave narrators play a crucial role in shaping an antislavery agenda. Their writings unveil the systemic underpinnings of global slavery while critiquing the precarity of their hard-fought freedom. At the same time, the demands of antislavery organizations, religious groups, and book publishers circumscribe the voices of the enslaved, coopting their narratives in support of alternative agendas. In this pathbreaking interdisciplinary study, Laura T. Murphy argues that the slave narrative has reemerged as a twenty-first-century genre that has gained new currency in the context of the memoir boom, post-9/11 anti-Islamic sentiment, and conservative family-values politics. She analyzes a diverse range of dozens of book-length accounts of modern slavery from Africa, Asia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, examining the narrative strategies that survivors of slavery employ to make their experiences legible and to promote a reinvigorated antislavery agenda. By putting these stories into conversation with one another, The New Slave Narrative reveals an emergent survivor-centered counterdiscourse of collaboration and systemic change that offers an urgent critique of the systems that maintain contemporary slavery, as well as of the human rights industry and the antislavery movement. Publisher: Columbia University Press (2019) Read the Book. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/books/survivors-of-slavery monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/c0460f29-1661-49e3-8e00-08b61e740481/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+2.29.51%E2%80%AFPM.png Books - Survivors of Slavery: Modern-Day Slave Narratives - Slavery is not a crime confined to the far reaches of history. It is an injustice that continues to entrap twenty-seven million people across the globe. Laura Murphy offers close to forty survivor narratives from Cambodia, Ghana, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United States, detailing the horrors of a system that forces people to work without pay and against their will, under the threat of violence, with little or no means of escape. Representing a variety of circumstances in diverse contexts, these survivors are the Frederick Douglasses, Sojourner Truths, and Olaudah Equianos of our time, testifying to the widespread existence of a human rights tragedy and the urgent need to address it. Through storytelling and firsthand testimony, this anthology shapes a twenty-first-century narrative that many believe died with the end of slavery in the Americas. Organized around such issues as the need for work, the punishment of defiance, and the move toward activism, the collection isolates the causes, mechanisms, and responses to slavery that allow the phenomenon to endure. Enhancing scholarship in women's studies, sociology, criminology, law, social work, and literary studies, the text establishes a common trajectory of vulnerability, enslavement, captivity, escape, and recovery, creating an invaluable resource for activists, scholars, legislators, and service providers. Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2014 Read the Book. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/books/metaphor-and-the-slave-trade monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/46d3dc04-9b81-4593-9e83-9e73d0ff41b5/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+2.32.55%E2%80%AFPM.png Books - Metaphor and the Slave Trade in West African Literature - Metaphor and the Slave Trade provides compelling evidence of the hidden but unmistakable traces of the transatlantic slave trade that persist in West African discourse. Through an examination of metaphors that describe the trauma, loss, and suffering associated with the commerce in human lives, this book shows how the horrors of slavery are communicated from generation to generation. Laura T. Murphy's insightful new readings of canonical West African fiction, autobiography, drama, and poetry explore the relationship between memory and metaphor and emphasize how repressed or otherwise marginalized memories can be transmitted through images, tropes, rumors, and fears. By analyzing the unique codes through which West Africans have represented the slave trade, this work foregrounds African literary contributions to Black Atlantic discourse and draws attention to the archive that metaphor unlocks for scholars of all disciplines and fields of study. Publisher: The Ohio University Press (2012) Read the Book. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy daily 0.75 2026-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/93548cd1-356d-4e69-80ff-d96d35124e02/Screenshot+2026-07-05+at+5.02.45%E2%80%AFPM.png https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/submission-to-the-us-trade-representatives-office-in-response-to-proposed-tariffs-re-forced-labor-import-bans monthly 0.5 2026-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/0f75384a-bf45-4742-8c9a-fb1fa332aa8c/Screenshot+2026-07-05+at+10.08.55%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - Submission to the US Trade Representative’s Office in Response to Proposed Tariffs re: Forced Labor Import Bans Main Takeaways: - The eight elements of an effective forced labor import ban are a good starting point for USTR to assess countries' performance in passing legislation, but they were not designed to be prescriptive or punitive. - There is a democratic imperative to allow countries to develop their own legislation without duress, so USTR should use a holistic approach toward assessing the design of new laws. - Democratic processes require deliberation and consultation. Forced labor import bans will be most effective when civil society, unions, workers’ rights groups, and the trade community are partners from inception through enforcement. - Capacity building should be the centerpiece of the US strategy for encouraging forced labor import bans. - USTR should use tariffs as a last resort in addressing the unfair trade practices resulting from a lack of forced labor import bans. - Countries that have laws or that commit to passing laws should be given time – at least an additional year – to develop the laws as well as the skills and strategy necessary for implementation and to collaborate internationally to stop forced labor made goods from entering their market. - If at all, developing economies should be tariffed at significantly lower rates than developed nations, as tariffs have a higher risk of creating adverse effects on workers in developing nations and will highly likely, and counter-productively, increase the risk of forced labor rather than reduce it. OECD countries should be held to the highest standards. - If indeed the USTR subjects countries to tariffs immediately based on the passage and implementation of import bans, the USTR should hold official review periods, at least biannually, to determine whether to reduce or eliminate the tariffs based on country performance. There should be clear benchmarks for success. - If USTR’s actions are to have an effect on forced labor, products made with forced labor should be a high priority for those tariffs. The USTR has included in its Federal Register Notice a list of over 1650 products that it proposes to exclude from these tariffs. Cross listing those exclusions with the Department of Labor’s "List of Goods Produced With Child Labor or Forced Labor" and with products known to be made in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region reveals more than 200 products that should probably not be excluded, given the apparent aim of addressing forced labor in supply chains through these tariffs. - The US needs to enforce its own laws more robustly if it expects other countries to enforce theirs. Read the Submission. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/xuar-15th-5year-plan-notes monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/c51105d2-9043-4bcf-a599-4d756c250f78/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+6.06.33%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - Policy Notes: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s 15th 5-year plan (2026-2030) - The Xinjiang government's 15th 5-Year Plan was published online in April 2026. The plan contains critical information for anyone engaged in international trade. Highlights: * Names industries for continued investment and expansion in the region: polysilicon, green energy, batteries, textiles, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals all still central). * Names many industries slated for significant new development in the region: includes advanced equipment manufacturing, industrial robots, commerical aerospace, large-scale energy storage. * Provides some insight into continued labor programs related to state-imposed forced labor: Xinjiang Aid still in full swing and engaged in bringing on Xinjiang workers. * Provides insight into land policies, "security" mechanisms, and political/ideological/cultural controls: surveillance and oppressive mechanisms refined and expanded. Read the Policy Notes. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/an-international-blueprint-for-forced-labor-import-bans-zey5n monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/f5e5cb27-6ecf-411f-be54-15698d7a9fce/Screenshot+2026-06-23+at+12.38.16%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - An International Blueprint for Forced Labor Import Bans - This policy brief outlines a global framework for forced labor import bans (FLIBs) as a key tool to address forced labor in international supply chains. Despite legal prohibitions, forced labor persists, distorting markets and harming workers. The brief highlights core elements of effective bans—including strong enforcement, clear standards, and worker-centered remediation—while emphasizing the need for international coordination and complementary policies. Published by the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School Read the report. In June 2026, the US Trade Representatives Office adopted the eight essential elements of an effective import ban from this report and set those elements as the recommended standard for forced labor import bans globally. Read the USTR’s report on forced labor import bans. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/ustr-submission monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/946cef6a-6d45-4042-95c8-684d75723fce/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+6.35.10%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - Submission to the US Trade Representative’s Office on Section 301 Investigation of Unfair Trade Practices/Forced Labor Import Bans - Forced labor import prohibitions are likely the most effective tool any government has in fighting forced labor outside its own borders and protecting workers, consumers, and legitimate trade worldwide from the deleterious effects of forced labor. No country or company should contribute to or benefit from forced labor. However, there is forced labor in international supply chains that has long been ignored because it keeps prices low and is largely invisible. If many countries adopt the import bans at the same time, we have an opportunity to create a harmonized set of principles, similar to the moment when countries around the world adopted the Palermo Protocol to prohibit human trafficking in 2000. Implementation will be a challenge and not every country will immediately have the capacity to enforce these laws to the fullest extent possible. The same was true of anti-trafficking laws 25 years ago. But we must not be discouraged – protecting the rights of workers is paramount. It is critical to remember that forced labor import bans are not a new concept or even one driven by the United States, but one that emerges from workers’ and human rights advocacy groups’ demands for governments to hold corporations responsible for high labor standards throughout their value chains. Forced labor import bans should be understood as a means to defend workers, consumers, and legitimate trade globally. The work to pass these laws will require sustained, collaborative efforts around the world and a commitment to the very people who are most affected by forced labor. Submitted April 2026 Read the Full Submission. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/us-manifest-modernization-brief monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/da21f51e-17ff-4437-8e11-3a69b6080821/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+6.20.13%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - The Manifest Modernization Act: Enhancing Visibility Into Forced Labor Risks in U.S. Supply Chains - The Manifest Modernization Act enhances forced labor risk identification, assists Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in trade enforcement action, levels the playing field for legitimate trade, and creates a harmonized approach to data transparency in the United States. Despite the clear advantages of publishing customs records, the United States only makes a limited segment of customs data available to the public, leaving large swathes of trade activity invisible. Expanding access to customs records will increase the United States’ (and other countries’) ability to identify imports of forced-labor-made goods and protect legitimate international trade. This policy brief explains the history and the stakes of making the US’s manifest data more transparent. Published by Center for Strategic and International Studies (December 2025) Read the Policy Brief. https://www.lauratmurphy.com/policy/blog-post-title-three-y3peb-4lwnz-5pkhf-aebzx monthly 0.5 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3a501fe61a0b148c8deee5/1b24c8c8-4239-441b-a7a3-ea11c26561be/Screenshot+2026-06-24+at+6.26.59%E2%80%AFPM.png Policy - Assessing the Impact of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act After Three Years - The UFLPA has now been in effect for three years, and policymakers and other stakeholders around the world are attempting to draw lessons from it. Canada and Mexico have adopted bans of goods made using forced labor, the European Union’s forced labor ban is set to come into effect in 2027, and other jurisdictions are considering similar measures. Three years is a relatively short window in which to evaluate policy measures, but stakeholders need to make evidence-based assessments now, not five years from now. The following four questions offer a starting point for examining the UFLPA’s track record. First, has the U.S. government been able to enforce the law? Second, has it changed corporate behavior and increased compliance? Third, has the law led to negative consequences for those that do not comply? Fourth—perhaps most significant and most challenging to measure—has the law influenced the human rights situation and the lives and livelihoods of those it was meant to impact? 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