Professor Anita Ramasastry appointed to international commission
UW law professor Anita Ramasastry appointed to international commission to prevent modern slavery using financial tools
Anita Ramasastry, a professor in the Ƶ, has been appointed to the Liechtenstein Initiative for a .
The 24-member commission, formed in a response to a call from the United Nations Security Council, focuses on the role financial institutions can play in the human trafficking industry, from handling revenue that may otherwise appear to be from legitimate business, to providing goods and services to companies or others associated with human trafficking.
Ramasastry, who also serves on the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, is the only commissioner to come from higher education.
“As a former banking regulator, and someone who seeks to eradicate forced and slave labor in global supply chains, I am honored and excited to join this eminent group” said Ramasastry, the Dean Emeritus Roland L. Hjorth Professor of Law.
are believed to be enslaved, in some capacity, around the world, according to 2016 statistics from the Global Slavery Index, which the U.N. cites in a related paper. According to the International Labour Organization, forced labor generates In 2017, both the G20 and the 193 member states of the United Nations committed to end slavery and human trafficking by the end of the next decade.
The Financial Sector Commission will take up how banks and other institutions comply with anti-slavery and anti-trafficking laws, how they engage in responsible investment and lending practices, and how financial sector participants can harness capital to create innovative new tools such as social impact bonds to provide economic alternatives to persons vulnerable to trafficking. Ramasastry notes that “while companies and banks can work to prevent trafficking, they can also work to address the root causes of trafficking and contribute to the and .”
Ramasastry, who received her undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, has served on the UW faculty since 1996. She also has worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the World Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Ramasastry represents Western Europe, North America, Australia and the Pacific. She currently serves on a number of other national and international bodies addressing human rights and finance and business law.