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Mitchell Hamline Law Review

Publication Information

52 Mitchell Hamline Law Review 510 (2026)

Abstract

Nearly twenty-eight million people across the globe are coerced into involuntary work or service. This forced labor occurs in virtually every industry and at every stage of supply chains and goods production. Nation-states have sought to address this epidemic for decades through anti-slavery, trade, and human rights laws. These mechanisms have largely failed and forced labor in the supply chain remains an underpin-ning of modern capitalism. To be effective, legal mechanisms must in-centivize businesses to make strategic decisions that bring about an end to forced labor. This Article is the first to analyze the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), an international ef-fort to compel companies to end business relationships that rely on forced labor or other human rights violations, which was adopted in the summer of 2024. While noble in spirit and intent, the CSDDD lacks the necessary enforcement power to end human rights violations in the supply chain and exemplifies the larger shortcomings of due diligence laws. This Article argues that targeted trade laws restricting imports from areas known to be high risk for forced labor is the most promising path forward for addressing the problem. Western nations should focus on these types of trade laws, rather than on environmental, social, and governance principles embodied in due diligence laws, to shift away from harmful labor practices and towards sustainable, resilient, and eth-ical supply chains.

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