Forced labour illustration
| credits: Chukky Nwakky
| credits: Chukky Nwakky
A new report by the International Labour Organisation has emphasised the need for tougher measures to combat forced labour.
The report says the need to deter would-be perpetrators is widely recognised, but more effort is needed to identify cases of forced labour and to prevent the crime.
“Efforts to prevent, identify and prosecute cases of forced labour often fall short of what is needed, despite good practices in some countries,” the ILO said in a report prepared ahead of the ongoing meeting of experts on forced labour.
The meeting, which started on Monday and will last till Friday, is being attended by representatives of governments, workers and employers.
According to the report, the meeting, which is being held at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, will assess the need for further standard-setting to complement the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), by focusing in particular on prevention, victim protection, including compensation and trafficking for labour exploitation.
The ILO had in its Global Estimate of Forced Labour 2012 said forced labour claimed 21 million victims worldwide. It explained that the victims were men, women and children coerced into jobs they could not leave, trapped in debt bondage, trafficked for sexual exploitation and even born into slavery.
Many forced labour victims work hidden from public view, on fishing vessels and construction sites, in commercial agriculture and in factories.
“Forced labour encompasses brick kiln workers trapped in a vicious cycle of debt, children trafficked for forced begging and domestic workers deceived about their conditions of work,” the report says.
It adds that debt bondage, under which labourers and their families are forced to work for an employer to pay off the debts they have incurred or inherited, remains widespread in some countries.
The authors of the report stress that “vestiges of slavery” still survive in some countries, where “conditions of slavery continue to be transmitted by birth to individuals who are compelled to work for their master without payment.”
They explain that domestic workers, the majority of whom are women and girls, are often victims of abusive practices by employers, such as non-payment of wages, deprivation of liberty, and physical and sexual abuse. These practices, according to them, can amount to forced labour.
They add that migrant workers are at risk too.
The ILO warns in the report that trafficking of people, including children, for sexual and labour exploitation, can increase in the future as a result of growing labour mobility.
The report, however, notes that the systematic imposition of forced labour by the state has declined worldwide, and has practically disappeared in the great majority of countries. According to it, state-imposed forced labour accounts for 10 per cent of the nearly 21 million victims of forced labour worldwide. This is based on the 2012 ILO figures, which are also contained in the report.
The ILO explained that in recent years, there had been growing recognition of the importance of measures to deter would-be perpetrators, strengthen law enforcement responses, address demand and reduce the vulnerability of potential victims of forced labour.
It, however, observes that while most countries have adopted legislation criminalising forced labour, punishment is not always strong enough to act as a deterrent, in some cases amounting to fines or very short prison sentences.
Most countries lack comprehensive measures targeting demand for forced labour goods and services, though some countries have taken legal and other measures to discourage individuals and businesses from exploiting workers in slavery-like conditions.
Identifying victims also remains a major challenge. Some countries fail to sufficiently support labour inspections, which can play a key role in finding the victims, as well as preventing situations of abuse from degenerating into forced labour.
In many cases, measures have been taken to reduce the vulnerability of specific groups, such as awareness-raising programmes aimed at workers heading overseas.
ILO’s global estimate of forced labour, 2012
•Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour – 11.4 million women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys.
•Children under the age of 18 years represent 26 per cent (5.5 million) of all forced labour victims.
•Almost 19 million victims are exploited by private individuals or enterprises and over two million by the state or rebel groups.
•Of those exploited by individuals or enterprises, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation.
•Domestic work, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and entertainment are among the sectors most concerned.
•Migrant workers and indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to forced labour
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