The architecture and construction community has been aware for some time of the use of forced labor on construction sites—urbanization at the 21^st-century scale is only possible with a migrant workforce of unskilled laborers who build our cities while working in debt-bondage or in such unsafe conditions that death is sometimes the result.

But a new report released Monday October 26 argues that an even more pervasive and silent human rights atrocity is intrinsically woven into the fabric of the built environment and deserves the industry’s collective outcry and advocacy: The systemic use of forced labor in the building materials supply chain. The report, Design for Freedom, is the result of two years of work and research led by Sharon Prince, the CEO of the Grace Farms Foundation, and the late Bill Menking, founding editor in chief of The Architect’s Newspaper.