The Champion of the Year award recognises an advocate who goes above and beyond on behalf of survivors of human trafficking, advocating for justice and providing allyship to trafficking survivors.
Laura Murphy is a Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University.
Laura and the Forced Labour Lab team in the Helena Kennedy Centre have published seven groundbreaking reports on forced labour in the Uyghur region, highlighting the lack of transparency in supply chains and use of forced labour in industries including solar panel and car manufacture.
On winning the award, Professor Murphy said: “It’s extremely gratifying to have our work at the Helena Kennedy Centre recognised like this. But honestly, the award should really be for the entire team. We have so many excellent early career researchers working with us – most of whom are Uyghurs themselves – and are affected so intimately by the oppression of their community in China.
“This award is a powerful recognition of how evidence of genocide and systematic forced labour in China has forced a lot of legislators and corporations to wake up and finally understand how opaque supply chains are abused to hide gross human rights violations. Companies will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to what's happening to the workers who make their products. That’s what makes all the work we’ve done worth it.”
Laura’s work to bring forced labour to the forefront of the global trade agenda has been essential to the implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act in the US.
Her research has led to an increase in US enforcement of import bans on products made using forced labour, blocking more than 5,346 shipments valued at 8 billion from entering the US market.
