Global Trade Union Alliance to Combat Forced Labour and

Trafficking

ITUC

Human and Trade Union Rights DepartmentICTU Global Solidarity Summer School 28-29 August 2009, Waterford, Ireland

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Overview of forced labour

The ILO’s minimum estimate of the number of forced labourers is 12.3 million.

- Children are considered to make up between 40-50 per cent of victims.

- It is a global problem affecting all regions and most countries in the world.

- The minimum number of people in forced labour as a result of trafficking at any one time is 2.45 million (counted in region of destination).

- Some 20% of all forced labourers are trafficked, but there are big regional variations (e.g. in the Middle East and North Africa, trafficking accounts for more than 75% of forced labour.

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Definition of Forced Labour ILO C29

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 him- or herself voluntarily

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• 173 states have ratified ILO Convention No.29. Those which have not have all, except China, ratified the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 8 prohibits forced or compulsory labour).

• This reflects a decline in the use of forced labour by the State and a consensus that forced labour is not acceptable.

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Forced labour tends to occur in labour intensive Forced labour tends to occur in labour intensive and/or under-regulated industries, particularly:and/or under-regulated industries, particularly:

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•Agriculture and fishingAgriculture and fishing •Domestic workDomestic work

•Construction, mining, quarrying and brick kilns Construction, mining, quarrying and brick kilns

•Manufacturing, processing and packagingManufacturing, processing and packaging

•Prostitution and sexual exploitationProstitution and sexual exploitation

•Market trading and illegal activities (begging)Market trading and illegal activities (begging)

• The way in which forced labour is used is constantly changing. After the abolition of slavery, formal ownership was no longer needed as forced labour continued through debt bondage, serfdom, indentured labour, conscription, etc.

• Forced labour continues to manifest itself in new forms. Private agents use a variety of coercive mechanisms to ensure access to a ready supply of cheap or even free labour.

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Forced labour is usually obtained as a result of one of the following:

• Debt bondage

• Absence of State protection

• Restrictions on freedom of movement

• Violence, threats and intimidation

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Menace of a penalty and lack of consent

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UN Definition trafficking in persons Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in

Persons, especially women and children which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime

Article 3 - Use of terms - For the purposes of this Protocol:• (a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean

• 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.

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A typology of forced labour

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Forced Labour by form

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Regional distribution

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Regional distribution of trafficked forced labourers

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Gender distribution trafficking

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Profits

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Smuggling of Migrants

• material benefit –usually financial- received for getting a person into a country illegally

• does not necessarily involve exploitation

• is a consensual relationship between the person to be transported and the person from whom the transportation is being purchased

• involves crossing an international border

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Global Trade Union Alliance

• 2007– ILO-ITUC Cooperation– Policy and strategy development

• Research• Consultations

• ITUC General Council 2007– Global Action plan

• Regional strategies– Europe: Athens, 21-23 November 2008

• Regional project in partnership with Anti-Slavery International– Africa: Nairobi, 5-7 July 2008

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Context

• Decent work for all– Mainstreaming the eradication of forced labour

as the very antithesis of decent work is an essential component of the campaign for decent work for all

• Labour migration challenge– Legal barriers

• (un)documented migrant workers• informal workers

– Practical barriers• Foreign languages• Distrust trade unions• Temporary/seasonal work

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Why trade unions?

• Mandate:– Safeguard the rights of all workers– Improve wages and working conditions

• Structure:– Privileged access to workers– International/regional and sectoral structures

• Activities and programmes– Child labour– Domestic workers– Discrimination– Informal workers– Migrant workers

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Promotion of ratification, advising on and monitoring of effective implementation of

relevant ILO and other Conventions– Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (N°29)– Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957

(N°105)– Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (N°81) – Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969

(N°129) – Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997

(N°181) – Migration for Employment Convention (Revised),

1949 (N°97) – Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions)

Convention, 1975 (N°143)

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Addressing forced labour and trafficking bipartite and tripartite negotiations

and agreements

• Collective Bargaining Agreements

• International Framework agreements– ICEM/IMF-Umicore

• Codes of conduct

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Monitoring

• Labour conditions– Employers– Employment agencies– Supply chains

• Through labour inspection systems– ILO Conventions no. 81 and no. 129 on

Labour Inspection– Recruitment practices

• Private Employment Agency Convention no. 181

• Use and feed ILO, UNHCHR, WTO supervisory mechanisms

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Identification, documentation and public exposure of forced labour issues and cases

• Research, data gathering– Identify number of victims

• women• Children• Race/caste• Migrant (undocumented)

– Where?• Sector• Formal/informal• Region/country/area

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Awareness raising

• aimed at – trade union members– officials

• ITF World Cup 2006• Targeted public awareness

campaigns

– Deceptive recruitment practices, risk of exploitation

• SBSI, Indonesia– Labour rights

• DEOK, Cyprus• UGT, Spain

– Produce camapigning and advocacy materials

• ICTU, Ireland

• Use (trade unions’) mass media and existing infrastructure for the dissemination of information materials

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Training

• Education campaigns on how to

recognise forced labour and human

trafficking and how to assist victims• Develop training materials for:

– Staff• TUC, UK “Slave and forced labour in the twenty-first century” A Fact

File, designed to stimulate and inform debate about the slave trade and forced labour. It is ideal for trade unionists interested in the issues that surround slavery and forced labour, and with activities linked to informative fact sheets can serve as a both an education and campaign tool.

– Membership

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Networking (bilateral, regional, global)

• Share research and data

• forced labour section in ITUC web site– Good practice– activities

• active mailing list– Exchange experiences– Exchange knowledge

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Cooperation

• Partnership agreements• Exchange of staff between

sending and receiving countries– Bilateral

• BNS, Romania-ACFTU, China• LBAS, Latvia-LO, Sweden• CNTS, Senegal-CGTM, Mauritania• CTRN, Costa-Rica-CST, Nicaragua• MTUC, Malaysia-ITUC, Indonesia

– Sectoral• TEHY, Union of Health and Care Services, Finland-UNISON, Public

Services Union, UK– Regional/international

• ITUC• GUFs

– UNI – IUF

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Cooperation

• Cooperation with labour inspection services, other relevant national, regional or international authorities or interagency working groups. Participation in inter-agency commissions against forced labour and trafficking– Philippines Overseas Employment Administration has a

tripartite governing board:• Secretary of Labour and Employment• TUC Philippines• Association of Private Recruitment Agencies

• Alliances or coalitions with civil society organisations having recognised expertise and experience in relevant areas

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Outreach and direct support

• Organise!– Informal workers– Unprotected workers (women domestic workers)– Migrant workers

• Recruit foreign staff members• Exchanges staff with unions in sending/receiving countries

– Target high risk sectors (GUFs)• Construction• Textile• Agriculture• Ship breaking and fisheries• …

– GFBTU, Bahrain-BWI, Building and Wood Workers’ Int.

• Address specific situations and needs (targeted action)– The TUC, UK launched a new Polish website to support the increasing number of Polish workers in

the UK. The website http://www.pracawbrytanii.org - run by the TUC in partnership with Citizens Advice and Solidarnosc, Poland - explains the rights workers can expect at work, from the minimum wage and working time to holiday entitlement and sick pay; information about social issues such as housing and health; and guidance about what living and working in the UK is really like.

– Legal assistance• Integrate and represent vulnerable workers

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Political and material support within trade union organisations

• Design a policy and endorse a strategy/action plan

• Install – Officers– Committees– Working groups

• Allocate the necessary resources

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Discrimination

• Forced labour is for the most part rooted in poverty, discrimination and inequality. Any trade union strategy to fight forced labour should help eradicate all forms of discrimination based on: – race– colour– sex – religion – political opinion – national extraction– social origin

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Internet Resources• ITUC

– http://www.ituc-csi.org/forcedlabour – Mini guide– Newsletter– Video trailer– Best practices

• ILO– http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/lang--en/index.htm

• FTUB-Burma (Thailand)– http://www.ftub.org/

• TUC-UK– http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/slaveryfactfile.pdf

• ICTU-Ireland– http://www.ictuglobalsolidarity.org/uploads/forced%20labour.pdf

• GEFONT-Nepal– http://www.gefont.org/research/kamaiya/html/preface.htm

• UGT-Spain– http://www.ugt.es/campanas/doccampana.html

• ITF-Global– http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/traffickingstate.cfm

• World Forced Labour Map – http://www.ictur.org/Maps.htm

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