Regulatory approaches to modern slavery and forced labor
Modern slavery and forced labor persist even as governments introduce new rules intended to hold companies accountable. This project examines why regulation so often fails to produce meaningful change in corporate practice and why migrant workers remain particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Project abstract
Modern slavery and forced labor persist at scale even as jurisdictions increasingly regulate corporate conduct through modern slavery and forced-labor laws, creating a puzzle of proliferating rules alongside continuing harm.
The scale of the problem is substantial: the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates people in modern slavery, including in forced labor, and emphasizes that forced labor is predominantly a private-sector phenomenon connected to the most vulnerable international migrants.
This project addresses the question of why modern slavery regulations struggle to translate into meaningful corporate practice and how third country nationals are the most exploited, also in high income, coordinated market and welfare economies.
Funding
This project is connected to the Sustainable Finance Lab funded by Vinnova, grant 2025-04681.