Corporate Accountability Lab unleashes the creative potential of the law to protect people and the planet from corporate abuse.

CONVICTED

How Corporations Exploit the Thirteenth Amendment’s Loophole for Profit

We’re proud to announce the release of our report on the prison labor industry! One of our only projects that focuses on human rights abuses in the United States (see our first two blogs), this report exposes the depth of corporations’ involvement with the US prison labor industry. Forced labor continues to exist — and is legal under state and federal law — due to a simple clause in the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, a mere 14 words that provide the basis for a system that incentivizes mass incarceration, racial injustices, and corporate exploitation. We believe that the US prison labor industry is in violation of international law, and recommend several short term actions to improve the lives of incarcerated people. However, no amount of protection can rid the prison system of forced labor indicators like abuse of vulnerability, restriction of movement, and isolation. These are inherent qualities of incarceration in the United States, impossible to reform and addressable only by abolition. We urge you to read our report and learn about this American injustice. Together, we can push for an economic system free of all forms of exploitation.

recent highlights

Out now: CAL’s 2021 Annual report!

In 2021, we continued to harness new ideas and new ways of working in our fight for corporate accountability around the world. We published multiple reports, testified before Congress, launched an ethical software license, filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in Doe v. Chiquita, and sued Rainforest Alliance and Hershey. Our Executive Director, Charity Ryerson, also won the Gwynne Skinner Human Rights Award for designing and implementing the Corporate Liability and Sustainable Peace (CLASP) Lab. It was a team effort to bring these 24 pages to life, and they’re packed with the highlights. 2021 was our most productive year yet, and we could not have done it without the support of our community — thank you all.

in-person convening of the clasp lab

In June, CAL held an in-person gathering of the Corporate Liability and Sustainable Peace (CLASP) Lab, a collection of nearly 40 community leaders and human rights lawyers from 25 countries. Alongside our partner organizations, CAL spent the week in Bogotá, Colombia facilitating a convening of social lab members. The purpose of the Lab (which wrapped up a year of virtual sessions in 2021 and continues to collaborate as a coalition) is to develop and pilot new strategies for corporate accountability for abusing human rights and the environment in conflict settings around the world. Together, we engaged in a restorative justice dialogue, updated a dozen prototypes of strategies for accountability, exchanged lessons learned between Latin American and African contexts, and cherished the opportunity to bond in person after a year of virtual work.

launch of the renewed idea bank and new brief bank

In May, CAL launched a new version of the Idea Bank and introduced the Brief Bank: collectively, these platforms represent the theory that innovation is necessary for achieving justice for victims of corporate abuse, and that innovation flourishes through collaboration. The Idea Bank is a platform for legal research intended to foster connections within the global corporate accountability community and provide a dynamic working space to share knowledge and bold new ideas. The Brief Bank is a library designed for litigators to store and organize briefs, share templates, and coordinate strategies for corporate accountability. With these platforms, no one needs to recreate the wheel and our fight against corporate impunity can steadily and creatively move forward. CAL facilitates these spaces, but they belong to the corporate accountability community.

FEATURED BLOG POSTS

Featured
Nothing About Us Without Us: The Ogoni Demand Environmental Justice and Inclusion in Discussions around Oil Drilling Resumption
Nothing About Us Without Us: The Ogoni Demand Environmental Justice and Inclusion in Discussions around Oil Drilling Resumption

On January 21, 2025, President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria met with members of the Ogoni community of the Niger Delta to discuss the potential resumption of oil drilling within their lands. Oil extraction was halted over two decades ago, after the Ogoni people organized to end Shell’s destructive presence within their community. Ogoniland, which was once home to a rich tapestry of biodiversity, is now one of the most polluted regions on the planet.

Read More →
MSC: The Blue Tick Deceiving Consumers
MSC: The Blue Tick Deceiving Consumers

A recent report has found that MSC-certified fisheries work with fishing vessels where incidents of forced labor have been reported by fishermen. The Outlaw Ocean Project documented forced Uyghur labor in ten MSC-certified facilities in China. A 2023 report by a coalition of international environmental non-profit organizations has further critiqued the MSC for its lax environmental standards, lack of labor protections, and deception of consumers. In spite of all this evidence, the MSC continues to fail consumers by allowing them to believe that buying MSC-certified products is the sustainable option when, in reality, the fish coming from MSC-certified facilities were procured and processed in a manner comparable to those originating from non-certified facilities. Certification schemes like the MSC need either to effectively protect workers’ rights and the environment or remove themselves from occupying the space of a more effective alternative, such as a union or worker-driven model.

Read More →
In November 2024, CAL and the SSA submitted a petition to the FTC to enjoin BAP for its misleading and deceptive advertising practices.
In November 2024, CAL and the SSA submitted a petition to the FTC to enjoin BAP for its misleading and deceptive advertising practices.

BAP is a third-party certification scheme that claims to certify each step of the aquaculture production chain, including farm, feed, hatcheries, and processing facilities. BAP touts itself as being one of the “easiest ways to know that your seafood was produced in a safe, responsible, and ethical way.” In reality, BAP-certified shrimp production processes are rife with labor and environmental abuses.

Read More →

our work

Research

We study the laws that govern corporate behavior and identify how and why such laws fail to hold corporations accountable for the human rights violations and environmental harms occurring across  their supply chains.

Legal Design

We design strategic interventions into global supply chains to better protect human rights and the environment through novel litigation strategy and new forms of worker empowerment.

Collaboration 

We collaborate with lawyers, law school clinics, other corporate accountability NGOs, and workers to workshop our designs, coordinate strategy, and implement our strategic interventions.