While Chuang's four-pronged framework is designed to assess the
efficacy of unilateral sanctions against nation state governments,6 o the
merits of the prongs are useful tools of analysis to determine the
potential efficacy of the Executive Order. Contractors and subcontractors
are not subjects of international law,'2' and consequently the
commitments required of nation states are distinct from commitments
required of employers. As the TIP Report serves as a diplomatic tool to
monitor nation states' compliance with U.S. human trafficking
legislation, the Executive Order serves as a self-check to eradicate human
trafficking from federal contracts. The Executive Order has the
consequence of holding contractors and subcontractors both within and
outside of the United States accountable to the domestic standards set
forth by the United States. The termination of contracts has the sanction
effect of eliminating United States funding on the project that the
contractor or subcontractor was originally hired to perform. The United
States is the "largest single purchaser of goods and services in the
world"262 and appears to be harnessing its potential to influence actors
within the economic market to make socially responsible decisions.
First, the Executive Order applies to subcontractors and contractors
both within and outside of the United States, and in this respect holds a
mutual obligation upon both companies within the United States and
companies operating outside of the United States. The Executive Order
varies from the TIP Reports in the sense that the crux of the obligation is on the United States federal government to ensure that the appropriate
agencies act in compliance with the Executive Order to impose sanctions when trafficking problems become exposed. The Executive Order is
structured in such a way that the sanctions (terminating of the contract)
are imposed to "promote rights that are mutually binding," on both the
United States and foreign contractors and subcontractors.
Second, the rights laid out in the Executive Order address international
standards encapsulated within the Palermo Protocol. The Protocol
requires that States Parties take actions to "adopt or strengthen legislative
or other measures . . . including through bilateral and multilateral
cooperation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of
exploitation of persons . . . that leads to trafficking. 2 6
5 By creating
measures to help monitor that the United States government is not
contributing to the demand for labor trafficking in the supply chain, the
United States is moving toward its commitment to this section of the
Palermo Protocol. While the effect that the Executive Order has on other
nations is indirect, it presents a modified multilateral approach, because
the consequences affect companies that contribute to the economies of
other nation states.