218684 Corporate social responsibility, human trafficking, and health: An analytic framework

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM

Roy Ahn, MPH, ScD , Division of Global Health & Human Rights, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Elizabeth Cafferty, MSc , Division of Global Health & Human Rights, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Wendy Macias Konstantopoulos, MD, MPH , Division of Global Health and Human Rights, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Elaine Alpert, MD, MPH , Division of Global Health and Human Rights, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Thomas F. Burke, MD , Division of Global Health & Human Rights, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Background: The U.S. State Department estimated over 12 million people in human trafficking situations worldwide in 2009. Despite recent calls by the United Nations for a greater international corporate response to trafficking, little is known about the extent to which corporate activities, as well as those of their supply chains, facilitate or deter the business of human trafficking, and thereby impact global health. Purpose: To develop a framework for understanding the interconnections between multinational corporate practices and global public health, using human trafficking as a case example of a human rights and business issue. Methods: We will review key literature about human trafficking (e.g., sex trafficking, bonded labor) and multinational corporations from the health, human rights, law, and management science (business ethics) literatures. Furthermore, we will review corporate codes-of-conduct and other international business standards to document existing coverage related to human trafficking. Results: We will present a novel taxonomy for understanding the interrelationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR), human trafficking and global health; identify gaps in the literature; and provide recommendations for public health stakeholders and business leaders for addressing human trafficking as a pressing social issue. Conclusions: Analyzing human trafficking as a CSR issue can serve as a template for understanding how other business and human rights issues can be examined through a public-health lens.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Occupational health and safety
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the nexus between corporate social responsibility, human trafficking, and health, and suggest how multinational corporations can address human trafficking in its business practices.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a doctorate in public health, and my dissertation focused on corporate responsibility and global health. I have also written about corporate responsibility as well as human trafficking.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.