Mar

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María José Chamorro Gender Specialist ILO
chamorro_at_ilo.org
Fighting Forced Labour and Trafficking from
within the ILO
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1. ILO Conventions 29 and 105
2. Global and regional estimates
3. Process for establishing an international
   standard
4. CEACR reports
5. Actions by Employers and Workers Organizations

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What is forced labour?

• ILO Forced Labour Convention
• 1930
• (No. 29)
• All work or service which is exacted from any
  person under the menace of any penalty and for
  which the said person has not offered himself
  voluntarily.
• Shall be punishable as a criminal offence

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What is forced labour?

• All work means all forms of work, services, and
  jobs, in any activity, industry, or sector,
  including the informal economy.
• The menace of any penalty covers a wide range of
  sanctions, including criminal penalties and
  different forms of direct or indirect coercion,
  such as physical violence, psychological threats,
  nonpayment of wages, and loss of rights or
  privileges.
• Offered voluntarily refers to workers free and
  informed consent for entering a working
  relationship and their freedom to leave that
  employment at any time.

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What is forced labour?

• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No.
  105)
• Also forbids states to
• impose forced or obligatory labour as a means of
  political coercion or education,
• as a punishment for expressing political views or
  for participating in strikes,
• as a method of mobilizing labour for purposes of
  economic development,
• as a means of labour discipline,
• as a means of racial, social, national, or
  religious discrimination.

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ILO Declaration of 2008

• Four basic principles
• Freedom of association, trade union freedoms, and
  the effective recognition of the right to
  collective bargaining (C. 87 and C. 98)
• The elimination of all forms of forced or
  compulsory labour (C. 29 and C. 105)
• The effective abolition of child labour (C. 138
  and C.182)
• The elimination of discrimination in respect of
  employment and occupation (C. 100 and C. 111)

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What is forced labour?

• Other ILO standards that prohibit forced labour
  among specific categories of vulnerable workers
• Convention No. 143 on Migrant Workers
• Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal
  Peoples
• Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child
  Labour
• Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic
  Workers

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Forced labour and trafficking in persons

• Palermo Protocol Trafficking in Persons
• The recruitment, transportation, transfer,
  harbouring, or receipt of persons, by means of
  the threat or use of force or other forms of
  coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception,
  of the abuse of power or of a position of
  vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of
  payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a
  person having control over another person, for
  the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall
  include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the
  prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
  exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery
  or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the
  removal of organs.

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Trafficking and forced labour

• For organ harvesting
• For adoptions or forced marriages
• unless those cases lead to forced labour

• Forced prison labour
• Some cases of work in servitude

Most human trafficking cases end with forced
labour or exploitation for sexual purposes
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20.9 million people in forced labour
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All regions are affected
1,600,000
1,500,000
11,700,000
600,000
3,700,000
1,800,000
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Prevalence (per 1000 inhabitants)
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More adults than children
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More women than men
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With or without migration
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Supplementing the 1930 Forced Labour Convention
(No. 29)

• June 2013 The ILC recommended that the Office
  conduct a detailed analysis of the shortcomings
  in the coverage of the ILOs current rules on
  forced labour.
• February 2013 Meeting of experts concluded that
  the shortcomings in enforcement of C. 29 should
  be addressed through standards.
• Two options
• Protocol
• Recommendation
• March 2013 The ILO Governing Body decided that
  the 2014 International Labour Conference should
  decide on the nature of the new instruments.

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Supplementing the 1930 Forced Labour Convention
(No. 29)

• August 2013 The Office sent out a questionnaire
  with the two options to the member states.
• December 2013 Deadline for returning
  questionnaires.
• June 2014 Based on the questionnaire results,
  the ILO will formulate a draft standard to be
  voted on at the ILC.

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Supplementing the 1930 Forced Labour Convention
(No. 29)

• Role of civil society
• Answer the questionnaire directly.
• Cooperate with workers organizations in
  answering the questionnaire?
• Lobby governments to answer the questionnaire
  and to vote for a protocol at the next ILC.

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The ILOs oversight system CEACR reports

• The Committee of Experts on the Application of
  Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) reviews
  the reports sent by states on the Conventions
  they have ratified.
• It issues specific comments for the member
  states, through either direct requests or
  comments.
• The comments are published in an annual report.

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The ILOs oversight system CEACR reports

• Role of civil society
• Assist workers organizations in reviewing
  states reports and in preparing their own
  reports for submission to Geneva.
• Use the information contained in the reports in
  their work at the national level.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru,
  United States, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
• C. 105 Guatemala and United States (sanctions
  for participating in strikes), freedom to express
  opinions opposed to the established social or
  economic system (Venezuela)
• C. 29, Trafficking Jamaica, Mexico
• C. 29, Forced labour, including trafficking
  Paraguay, Peru

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2013 CEACR Report

• Examines the governments reports and the
  information sent by employers and workers
  organizations.
• Crosschecks information on related international
  standards.
• Refers to research by other international
  organizations (IACHR-OAS, UNESCO, etc.)
• Follows up on comments made in the previous
  report progress monitoring.
• Very important source of information.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Guatemala Convention No. 105
• Reviews government report and comments made by
  the Indigenous and Rural Workers Trade Union
  Movement of Guatemala (MSIGG)
• The Committee urges the Government to amend
  the Penal Code, to ensure that nobody who
  peacefully participated in a strike ... may be
  penalized by a prison sentence involving
  compulsory prison labour.
• The Committee also requests the Government to
  send information on the observations made by the
  MSIGG on the criminalization of social protests
  and trade union activities.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Mexico Convention No. 29
• Notes the adoption of the General Act of June 14,
  2012 concerning the prevention, punishment, and
  elimination of offences connected with the
  trafficking of persons and protection and
  assistance for the victims of such offences.
• Strengthening of the legislative framework the
  Inter-Ministerial Committee set up to prevent,
  combat, and penalize the trafficking of persons
  drew up the National Programme for the Prevention
  and Punishment of Trafficking in Persons.
• Participation of public servants in human
  trafficking.
• Protection of victims.
• Adequate and strictly enforced penalties.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Paraguay Convention No. 29
• Analyzes the government report and the comments
  made by the ITUC and the National Confederation
  of Workers (CNT).
• Debt bondage of indigenous communities in the
  Chaco.
• Problem still exists.
• Labour inspection found no evidence
  strengthening
• Requests information on the protection of wages,
  including the minimum wage and the operation of
  work stores.
• Requests information on the fines imposed on
  employers and on the compensation granted to
  workers.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Peru Convention No. 29
• Analyzes the government report and the comments
  made by the CUT.
• Notes the approval of the National Plan to Combat
  Forced Labour and the creation of the National
  Committee.
• The CUT describes in detail the process leading
  to the exaction of forced labour in two specific
  situations in the Madre de Dios region
• Farmers from very poor regions in the Andes who
  are victims of trafficking and debt servitude in
  the gold mines.
• Indigenous communities working in the logging
  sector.
• Government creation of regional committees.
• Special labour inspection unit set up to combat
  forced labour.

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2013 CEACR Report

• Peru Convention No. 29
• Trafficking in human lives
• Standing Multisectoral Working Group against
  Trafficking in Persons
• 24-hour telephone hotline
• System for recording statistics of trafficking in
  persons and similar offences (RETA)

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Vulnerable groups and key sectors

• Construction, including brick makers
• Agriculture and horticulture
• Forestry and logging
• Mining
• Apparel and textiles
• Cleaning and security services
• Food and packaging industry
• Domestic work and other forms of caring for
  dependent persons
• Factory work, chiefly textiles and apparel.
• Restaurants and catering
• Sex and entertainment industry
• Transportation (e.g., maritime)
• Activities in the informal economy, such as
  organized begging and street trading

• Indigenous and tribal peoples
• Low-caste and minority groups
• Migrant workers, particularly irregular migrants
  
• Workers in informal companies or unorganized
  sectors
• Women, young people, and children are the most
  vulnerable

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Why are they vulnerable?

• Difficult to find
• Isolated and remote workplaces
• Private homes

• Social discrimination of indigenous workers
• Racial discrimination
• Caste system
• Poverty, debt, lack of education

• Discrimination against women workers
• Work in sectors that are vulnerable to
  exploitation
• Failure to report

Hidden or Invisible
Low socio-economic status
Gender

• Minors and minimum-age young adults exposed to
  WFCL (trafficking)

• Exploited/tricked by recruiters
• Language, culture, no integration in the
  destination or deportation country

• Hidden from labor inspections
• Illegal status (residency and/or work permit)

Minors and young adults
Migrant workers
Work in illicit / illegal activities
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Push and pull factors

• Employment possibilities
• Better wages
• Better income
• Benefits social services
• Better, safer workplaces
• Food security and income security
• Lower risk of natural disasters
• Training experience
• Political stability
• Nondiscrimination
• Pull of the big cities!

• Unemployment
• Low wages
• Poverty
• Lack of access to services
• Lack of protection and security
• Poor harvests
• Droughts floods
• Lack of training
• Wars conflicts
• Low social status
• Hope for a better life!

Push factors
Pull factors
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What can companies and their organizations do?

• Supply chain management
• Tarnished image of major companies in very
  different sectors agriculture, construction,
  steel, electronics, textiles, footwear, etc.
• Subcontractors activities can affect their own
  reputation and that of the entire sector,
  repercussions on commercial relationships and on
  access to global markets.

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What can companies and their organizations do?

• Principles for company bosses in fighting forced
  labour and trafficking (10 principles).
• Specific ILO-OIE guidance tools for combating
  forced labour, including guiding principles,
  checklists, guidelines for assessing compliance,
  practical advice for introducing specific
  measures, good practices.

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What can workers organizations do?

• Global Trade Union Alliance to combat forced
  labour and trafficking in persons (2007) and its
  plan of action
• Actions by national trade union organizations
• Actions by international union federations
• International Textile, Clothing and Leather
  Workers Association reported on forced labour
  practices that affect migrant workers. It signed
  an agreement with Inditex to combat forced labour
  and to foster observance of international labour
  standards.
• International Federation of Chemical, Energy,
  Mine and General Workers Unions and
  International Metalworkers Federation signed an
  agreement general with Umicore that includes a
  ban on forced labour.
• ILO Lima and the Building and Wood Workers
  International reached an agreement to address the
  forced labour issue throughout Latin America and
  the Caribbean.

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Thank you very much!

• www.ilo.org/forcedlabour