Catherwood LibraryILR School

The ?Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts? executive order, signed by President Obama last year, bans the selling of work to people, no matter how small the job or fee, that would be part of a supply chain which services a government contractor. The rules for the order are still being written, but when they are finalized it will be a huge step away from the dangerous practice whereby poor laborers in small Asian countries are recruited to take out loans to travel to Malaysia with the promise of work in factories once they arrive. Many times the loans are for more money than the worker could make in a year, passports are withheld upon arrival in Malaysia, and workers are housed in slave-like conditions, and subjected to unnecessary searches. Human rights groups are saying this is one of the first resolutions from the Western world dealing with labor trafficking that has real teeth.