Julie Tanner Participates in House Briefing on Human Trafficking

On Thursday, July 19, Julie Tanner, Assistant Director of Socially Responsible Investing, participated in a House briefing entitled "The Role of Business in Eradicating Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery: A Transparency Approach."

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor identified 130 goods from 71 countries that were made by forced and child labor. The disclosure requirements in the Business Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act (H.R. 2759) would recognize companies that are trying to eliminate such abuses from their supply chains by establishing disclosure requirements focused on improving practices to end human trafficking and slavery. The bill’s disclosure requirements build on those already required by the 2010 California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. H.R. 2759 will assist investors and consumers in making choices about which companies they want to do business with in order to help eliminate human trafficking, forced labor, slavery and the worst forms of child labor throughout the world.

Sponsored by U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, the briefing was convened in support of H.R 2759 and to educate Congressional leaders on the ways in which businesses could improve transparency in their supply chains and help to eliminate slave labor, child labor and other human trafficking offenses.

Other participants in the briefing included:

• Ambassador Mark P. Lagon, Ph.D., Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights, Council on Foreign Relations
• Carol Smolenski, Executive Director, End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking- United States of America (ECPAT-USA)
• Sarah Altschuller, Associate, Foley Hoag LLP
• Amy Hall, Director of Social Consciousness, Eileen Fisher