Tariffs, Tech, and a Turbulent World: Navigating the New Bounds of International Worker Rights

Around the world, workers and their advocates are facing rapid change. While trade disruptions and strained supply chains unsettle jobs and bargaining power, automation is reshaping how work is organized and supervised. New environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rules are emerging and then being contested or rolled back. At the same time, lawyers advocating for workers’ rights face their own unstable terrain: increased pressure on the legal profession, a politicized institutional environment, and moving legal goalposts that affect the tools that are available to deploy. This event will explore how international lawyers are working transnationally to navigate this shifting landscape.  

Two experts with a birds’ eye view of the evolving field will discuss how advocates are adapting their strategies to address forced labor, supply‑chain abuses, and new forms of algorithmic management. The lawyers will draw on their own experience interfacing with unions, government officials, and corporate actors, all while coordinating across borders to address these complex, multi-national rights questions.  

Lunch will be served. 

Panelists

Kelly M. Fay Rodríguez is a Senior Human Rights & Foreign Policy Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights. Previously the Special Representative for International Labor Affairs at the State Department, Kelly now leads the Competence Centre for Human Rights Due Diligence. Established by two of the largest unions worldwide, the Competence Centre supports workers and their representatives as they seek to access justice through processes established by human rights due diligence legislation. Earlier in her career, Kelly worked on Capitol Hill as counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. She has also held legal, advocacy, and program management roles, all with a focus on workers’ rights.

Jeff Vogt is the founding director of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network, a community of over 1,500 worker rights attorneys from around the globe. The ILAW Network facilitates information exchange among its members who collectively aim to enhance their knowledge, improve their strategies, and collaborate on international law development initiatives. As the Rule of Law Director for the Solidary Center, he advises unions abroad on labor law and policy, labor legislation, and the effective use of national, regional, and international tribunals. He also serves on the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization and on the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association.  

Aminta Ossom (moderator) is a senior clinical instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic, where she supervises projects on human rights and the global economy. Aminta’s recent clinic collaborations have focused on the rights of workers in the informal economy, on accountability for human rights abuses in global supply chains, and on the social and economic impact of climate change. Previously, she served as a human rights officer at the United Nations, where she supported the UN human rights treaty committees and the special rapporteur mandates of the Human Rights Council. She has also held teaching and legal advising roles at Fordham Law School and Amnesty International.