Trade Enforcement Experts Sound Alarm on Supply Chain as Global Forced Labor Persists Despite Record Penalties

Experts are questioning whether current trade ban strategies are creating meaningful change or merely pushing exploitation deeper underground.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, August 26, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As global trade authorities block billions in suspected forced labor imports and expand enforcement to critical sectors like steel, lithium, and palm oil, leading experts are questioning whether current trade ban strategies are creating meaningful change or merely pushing exploitation deeper underground.

The G20 Interfaith Forum Working Group on Human Trafficking, in partnership with Praeveni Global, will examine these critical enforcement gaps in an urgent webinar addressing the effectiveness of trade bans as a tool against modern slavery.

The discussion comes as enforcement reaches unprecedented levels: U.S. Customs and Border Protection has stopped 16,700 shipments worth around $3.7 billion under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, with around 10,000 shipments worth almost $900 million turned away. Yet despite stronger laws, forced labor persists in global supply chains in 2025, exposing gaps in corporate accountability and ethical oversight.

The webinar, titled "Forced Labor, Trade Bans and Supply Chains," will take place on Thursday, August 28, 2025, at 12 PM EST (5 PM UKT) and will feature three distinguished experts who have been on the frontlines of enforcement and reform efforts.

The timing is particularly crucial as DHS expands its crackdown on Chinese imports, adding steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda and red dates to high-priority inspection lists, while the EU prepares to prohibit all products linked to forced labor from being sold in EU markets starting December 2027. Meanwhile, companies still treat compliance as a "box-ticking" exercise rather than a driver of systemic change.

The webinar will examine recent critical analyses by Judy Fudge in Open Democracy and by Martina Vandenberg and Anasuya Syam, exploring how stakeholder responses to forced labor penalties reveal both progress and persistent challenges. The discussion will likely touch on enforcement cases involving sugar, shrimp, palm oil, and tobacco – sectors that frequently appear on forced labor watchlists.

Featured Speakers Include:
• Ana Hinojosa – President and Principal Consultant, ABH Global Trade Consulting LLC, and former CBP Executive Director. Winner of the 2021 Service to America Award, Hinojosa led CBP's trade threat assessment units and enforcement programs focused on detecting and disrupting forced labor violations for over 30 years.
• Charity Ryerson – Executive Director and Founder, Corporate Accountability Lab. An attorney and strategist with two decades fighting corporate abuse globally, Ryerson received the 2021 International Corporate Accountability Roundtable's Gwynne Skinner Human Rights Award.
• Chavi Keeney Nana – Professor from Practice, University of Michigan Law School, and Director of the Equitable Global Supply Chain program at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Former counsel at WilmerHale specializing in FCPA and forced labor in supply chains.

Register for the free webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0C-7ZFLkQhuY4bGDELLYiQ

About the Monthly Webinars on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Palermo Protocol on human trafficking, the G20 Interfaith Forum, in conjunction with Praeveni Global, is holding monthly webinars leading to the G20 meeting in South Africa in November.

The webinars bring together current leaders in faith and in the field to discuss the impact to date and the much needed work ahead.

About the G20 Process

The Group of Twenty, or G20, is the premier forum for international economic cooperation, bringing together the leaders of Earth's most prosperous economies. Collectively, G20 members represent around 80 percent of the world's economic output, two-thirds of the global population and three-quarters of international trade. Throughout the year, representatives from G20 countries gather to discuss financial and socioeconomic issues as well as broader humanitarian issues targeted by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

About the G20 Interfaith Forum

The G20 Interfaith Forum seeks global solutions by collaborating with religious thought leaders and political representatives to help shape the overall G20 agenda. It draws on the vital roles that religious institutions and beliefs play in world affairs, reflecting a rich diversity of institutions, ideas, and values. Through its extensive network of networks, it helps prioritize key global policy goals and point toward practical means of implementation at every level of society.

For more information, please visit www.g20interfaith.org or https://www.praeveniglobal.org/

Marianna E Richardson
G20 Interfaith Forum
+1 202-460-9070
email us here

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