Research design, coordination, and analysis of labour and human rights violations facing African and Asian workers in Africa, Asia, and the GCC. Sectors under investigation include care work (domestic and nursing), construction, digital-platform based food delivery, digital technology supply chains (content moderation and data labelling), hospitality, security, and renewables.

Research design, coordination, and analysis of labour and human rights violations facing African and Asian workers in the GCC and Asia.

Research Focus: Rethinking Global Inequality - The Dual Roots of Monopoly PowerResearch to date focuses on at least two distinct dimensions of monopoly power. First, the impact of monopoly power in high-income countries on labour rights, inequality, and democratic structures and institutions; and second, monopoly power over the cost of inputs from middle- and low- income countries of the Global South and the impact of these buyer-supplier relations on workers, small producers, corporate suppliers, and the environment. Approaches to regulating monopoly power have also focused on discrete aspects of monopoly power, addressing either the roots of monopoly in product markets or supply chain buyer power. This bifurcated understanding of monopoly power inhibits understanding of the transnational nature of monopoly and monopsony capitalism, limiting both theoretical understanding and the scope and impact of regulatory initiatives.This project will be among the first to bring together these largely discrete strands of research, laying out the interaction and mutually reinforcing roots of monopoly power in product market power and supply chain buyer power. It seeks to build bridges between these lines of analysis, and also between academic, regulatory, and advocacy initiatives aimed at curbing monopoly power over rising inequality, unfair labour conditions, environmental degradation, and cooptation of democratic institutions and processes.

Research and analysis on labour rights and gender justice on garment global supply chains in Asia.

Research and development of recommendations to advance disability rights in local, national, and international legal and policy arenas. Developed policy brief for first ever dedicated C20 Working Group on Disability, Equity, Justice, including inputs from 2,300 disabled and non-disabled participants from 35 countries collected through consultations on health and disability, women with disabilities, employment and disability, education and disability, urban development and women with disabilities.

My research expertise focuses on migration, supply chains, environmental justice, and gender, caste, race, and disability in the global economy. Over the last fifteen years, I have led research investigations on labor migration and mobility in Asia, the Gulf, and East Africa. I work with clients to design, execute, write, and launch industrial, company, and supply chain investigations from a labour, human rights and environmental justice perspective. My approach to research design incorporates my experience in law and interdisciplinary social sciences. The results of my investigations to date have been used in the development and enforcement of international, national, and local law. The investigations I lead inform emerging legal frameworks and academic debates with field research from difficult to access field sites; and provide hands-on support to civil society organizations on structured data collection that feeds into international legal and other reporting structures.Current research collaborations: Interaction and articulation of workplace and home-based GBVH on garment supply chains in Asia with Anita Hammer, Kings College, London (2024-)Working conditions and access to social protection for digital platform workers in Asia with PCI (2023-)Approaches among women bamboo workers in India to navigating shifting market contexts with Peter Lund Thomsen, Copenhagen Business School and Anita Hammer, Kings College, London (2019-)New published research:

Investigation of global garment/textile recycling networks from US, Europe, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, including how they impact and respond to climate change.

Technical Advisor, Leading From the South

Project: Corridor as Method—Migration Governance in the Global EconomyMy research contributes a new approach to studying migration governance by developing an empirically grounded theorization of migration corridors—defined as circuits of mobility within and across nation states that are governed by not only border administration, but also legal, financial, political, and social management. My dissertation examines how migration corridors are constituted in the everyday practices and experiences of migrant workers through a study of migration corridors from within India and from South Asia to the GCC countries. The spatiality of the migration corridor is a literal passage—indicating the presence of an entrance, directional momentum, and connection between two or more sites. These components map onto the building blocks proposed in this study: expulsions, forces directing migration flows, and junctions where flows converge. This approach opens up a new set of questions: How are migration corridors directed, carved, and governed—legally, financially, politically, and socially? Under what conditions do these modes of governance protect labor rights for migrant workers, or alternately expose them to discrimination, exploitation, and violence? How and under what conditions do migrant workers resist or allude abusive governance forms, including advancing transparent, accountable, and enforceable rights-based governance? It will be relevant to migrants, their collectives, and policymakers who seek to promote decent work and address gender-based violence at all stages of the migration process.

I research and teach on labor migration for employment in garment, domestic, and other sectors with a focus on the experiences of migrant women. This agenda provides a prism for understanding interactions between gendered social governance and legal, financial, and political regimes. I co-authored a manuscript accepted by Cambridge University Press, Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism: Gender, Labor and the Environment in Garment Value Chains. Here, we introduce the concept of a reverse subsidy—one that provides inputs such as labor power or environmental services at prices below their costs of production and, as a result become a subsidy not for the gendered workers or environment, but a subsidy provided by gendered workers, their households, and the environment. These subsidies accrue as profits to the lead firms that employ workers, use natural resources, and produce environmental externalities in production countries. This work has significant implications for emerging binding due diligence and social contract frameworks, social costing in commercial contracting, arbitration on global supply chains, and standards at the International Labour Organization. This book draws together five years of field research on garment supply chains in South Asia that I led as the Research Director at the Society for Labour and Development, Delhi. Migrant women workers make up the vast majority of the 40 million workers on fast fashion supply chains.I taught courses on Anthropology of Migration and Mobility, Boundaries and Belonging, and Human Rights in Global Fashion.

I was responsible for directing the GLJ-ILRF Research Department. Through our work with global partners, GLJ-ILRF aims to develop the research, strategy, and practice to define and advance a global economy for working people. I developed an evidentiary foundation for this work, including designing, executing, and publishing empirical research, national and international law research, and collaborative research partnerships with a broad range of national and international partners. I have led research collaborations with the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), Development Synergy Institute (Bangladesh), International Labour Organization, IUF, and the Rutgers Center for Innovation in Worker Organizing (CIWO). I worked with Program Specialists, the Communications Director and Partners to widely apply and disseminate research, including for campaigns, advocacy, strategy development, and in policy and academic contexts. I also provided direct support to a broad base of GLJ-ILRF partners, including on program design and development, social design, and research.

I researched and reported on manual scavenging, access to justice, and disability rights in India to support grassroots movements seeking government accountability for human rights violations.

I coordinated and released two report series documenting labour rights violations on Gap, H&M, and Walmart supply chains in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. In 2018, I was the lead researcher in a delegation to Geneva including trade union leadership from AFWA and advocates from Global Labor Justice (GLJ). Our delegation released factory level research reports documenting gender based violence in H&M, Gap, and Walmart Asian garment supply chains. The reports were covered by more than 50 news outlets across 17 countries, and described by The Nation as a “#MeToo Movement for the Global Fashion Industry.” On June 5, 2018, H&M and Gap publicly declared support for a binding ILO Convention on workplace violence, including gender based violence in garment supply chains. As the lead researcher on this project, I raised USD 500,000 to support this research and the corresponding global and local advocacy agenda; designed a novel data collection strategy to capture the spectrum and scale of gender based violence faced by women garment workers; and coordinated a team of 15 field researchers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Finding opportunities to link my pedagogy and practice, I supervised independent studies for five Berkeley Legal Studies students over the course of two semesters and provided hands on experience in field-based research coordination, data analysis, publication, and advocacy. In addition to the three policy reports published from this research cycle, my research findings are published in a 2020 Routledge volume on Working Conditions in the Garment Industry Post-Rana Plaza.

I researched and documented gaps in labour rights protections for garment, domestic, seafood processing, and other migrant worker populations. My work included monitoring and responding to the evolving labour protection environment in India with regard to legislative reforms, workers needs, and social movement demands. This research included the perspectives and advanced the work of diverse constituents, including scholars, lawyers, parliamentarians, government officials, trade unions, and social movements.

My research focused on the use of open source intelligence in international criminal law proceedings, with a focus on methodologies around discovery, verification, and analysis of relevant information from open sources in the age of social media.

I lead content development in partnerships with labour and human rights defenders to build social design solutions and communications infrastructure that promotes human rights and access to justice. This approach combines grassroots experience-based expertise with legal, media and technology proficiency. Together, we use cutting-edge education, legal and media tools to magnify human rights violations and support marginalised communities to claim their rights and access justice.

I supported a cohort of women lawyers from India, Nepal, and Pakistan working in primary courts by providing research training, developing a data-reporting system to track legal processes in primary courts and reporting on program achievements.

The Political Conflict, Gender and People’s Rights Project focuses on political conflict and gendered and sexualized violence at the intersections of minoritization, majoritarianism, the racialization of difference, and decolonial movements.

I developed a litigation manual on applying India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005). Compiled NGO submissions for the 2012 shadow report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

I worked with Nagorik Uddyog, Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement, SAMATA Foundation and Swadikhar-NCDHR to document strategies for advancing equity and inclusion for Dalits in South Asia - including combating segregation and untouchability, advancing physical security and protection against violence, access to justice, and equal employment opportunity and occupational choice.

I designed and co-executed a study of how PRADAN is integrating gender empowerment approaches in existing development processes in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkand, Orissa, and West Bengal. Outcome documents capture reflections, stories of change and good practices, and key lessons for researchers, practitioners, and donors.

I reported on manual scavenging in India to support grassroots movements seeking government accountability for human rights violations.

I represented clients in immigration cases and international human rights projects. My docket included collaboration with grassroots campaigns to develop submission on denial of driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants for the 2013 review of U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. I also wrote a human rights report on Buduburam Refugee Camp to inform how the international community manages prolonged refugee crises.

I developed collaborative client support and clinical education between Penn Law Child Advocacy Clinic and Youth & Family Trauma Clinic in the Perelman School of Medicine. My work included preparing lesson plans and curricula, and facilitating opportunities for law students to integrate legal and social work practice.

I prepared depositions and legal memos to advance cases at the International Criminal Court (SNAP v. the Pope, et al.) and within U.S. domestic courts (Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Scott Lively). I also contributed research to an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court (Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.) and drafted an amicus brief to the Spanish Supreme Court on U.S. accountability for torture.

I represented clients in Family Court proceedings. Argued hearings for emergency and expedited relief. Negotiated custody settlements.

I held bilingual (English/Spanish) individual and family in-home therapy sessions with youth at risk of psychiatric hospitalization and involved in the juvenile justice system. I provided crisis support 24 hours/5 days per week and worked with schools, Department of Child and Families, and juvenile courts to support families in crisis. I also developed curricula to teach counseling principles to mental health treaters.

I patrolled the Sonoran desert to document abuses endured by migrants, educated voters on anti-immigrant ballot measures, and organized with undocumented roofers to secure fair wages and safe working conditions.

I taught debate and public speaking summer programs operated by the Stanford Debate Society at Stanford University.