In the United States, the legal system is much more evolved and has seen the implementation of laws that have ensured the protection of workers from human rights and labor laws violations. However, the same does not apply to many other countries where human rights and labor law violations are commonplace. This discussion explores the situation in Chile and in China, where workers have experienced labor laws as well as human rights violations in recent times.
In China, there has been a recent case of human rights violation involving infringement of rights to freedom of worship and forced labor. As recently as 2018 in Kashgar, China, detainees were pressured to denounce their faith in Islam and forced to undergo training, and later forced to work in factories (Buckley & Ramzy, 2018). According to Buckley and Ramzy (2018), evidence gathered from satellite imagery and emerging official documents all pointed to increased cases where detainees were being sent to work in factories without their consent. According to accounts from individual detainees, some work for free, and others get underpaid (Buckley & Ramzay, 2018). In this scenario, international labor laws were also violated in that the situation breaches laws against the exploitation of labor.
Chile is a country that has been known for the violation of minimum wage laws. According to Bhorat et al. (2019), compliance with non-wage conditions as well as minimum wage laws is determined by the prevailing labor market conditions. In Chile, a considerable number of workers earn way below the legal minimum wage and do not have access to non-wage benefits (Bhorat et al., 2019). On such occasions, the undesirable outcome of enforcing compliance is usually increased unemployment. Chile should come up with ways to improve the prevailing labor market conditions and labor laws enforcement.
The United States is in a unique position where it can impose sanctions on countries and individual companies which do not enforce labor laws. In my opinion, the impact of conducting business with countries that have ongoing violations of human rights and labor laws is the perpetuation of the vice. Where possible, the business communities should take legal actions against businesses that are involved in these violations. The business community should also show compliance with the two types of laws without the need for supervision.
Reference
Bhorat, H., Kanbur, R., & Stanwix, B. (2019). Compliance with labor laws in developing countries. IZA World of Labor. Web.
Buckley, C., & Ramzy, A. (2018). China’s Detention Camps for Muslims Turn to Forced Labor. Web.