News on forced labour

May 2009

  1. From labour exploitation to forced labour: a fine line

    11 May 2009

    Forced labour is a crime that requires severe punishment. But clear guidance is needed, to determine the often thin dividing line between labour exploitation and forced labour. Zambia is one of the African countries to have taken steps both to understand the problems through research and to instigate measures to combat them. The case illustrates some of the dilemmas.

  2. Questions and answers on “The cost of coercion"

    11 May 2009

    A new ILO report on forced labour entitled “The cost of coercion” says that victims of forced labour lose an estimated USD 20 billion ever year in unpaid earnings. This and other findings provide a powerful economic argument for stepping up global action against forced labour. ILO Online spoke with Roger Plant, head of the ILO’s Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour.

April 2009

  1. Statement of the participants of the Asia Regional Good Practice Seminar

    27 April 2009

    The statement is an outcome of the Asia Regional Good Practice Seminar held in Kathmandu, Nepal where more than 90 representatives of indigenous peoples, government and national human rights institutions from 13 Asian countries, along with representatives of UN agencies and bilateral and multilateral development agencies discussed and exchanged experiences and lessons learned in the Asian region concerning the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights.

  2. Seminar on Labour and Human Rights, United Arab Emirates

    The seminar is jointly organised by the Ministry of Labour of the United Arab Emirates, the ILO and the UNHCR, and is part of a national campaign aiming at spreading awareness on human rights in companies. One of the sessions will be dedicated to “Strategies for Deterring, Detecting and Combating Forced Labour”.

  3. Maid in Lebanon

    15 April 2009

    Driven by extreme poverty in their home countries, thousands of female migrant workers go each year to the Arab States in order to earn enough money to support their families. What they find there is sometimes not what they expected. A film directed by Carol Mansour and funded by Caritas Sweden, the Netherlands Embassy in Beirut and the ILO depicts the gamble these women take when they decide to leave their families and go to work in Lebanon.

  4. Trafficking for Labour Exploitation - Conceptual Issues, and Challenges for Law Enforcement, by Roger Plant, Kiev, April 2009

    02 April 2009

    Presentation to Fifth International Law Enforcement Conference, Kiev, 31 March- 2 April 2009

March 2009

  1. Operational indicators of trafficking in human beings presented at the Conference of EU National Rapporteurs

    31 March 2009

    Resulting from a joint ILO - European Commission project, four sets of operational indicators of trafficking (adults and children for labour and sexual exploitation) have been presented during the Conference of EU National Rapporteurs on Trafficking in Human Beings "Joint Analysis, Joint Action" in Prague on 31 March 2009

  2. The ILO, the UN Global Compact, and UN.GIFT teamed up to produce and administer a "Private Sector Survey on Human Trafficking"

    26 March 2009

    The increased global scope of corporate activity today demands that businesses remain attentive to the many ways their operations can both positively and negatively affect human rights around the world. Although the connection between business and human trafficking may not be initially evident, human trafficking should be of pressing concern to companies - especially those with international operations and/or complex supply and production chains. In order to better understand corporate perceptions and concerns regarding human trafficking, raise awareness of the issues, and determine how the UN system can more effectively support business efforts to combat the problem, the UN Global Compact, UN.GIFT and the ILO teamed up to produce and administer a 'Private Sector Survey on Human Trafficking'. While companies did indicate that they were aware of human trafficking and there was a general consensus amongst participants that human trafficking is morally unacceptable, the relationship between business and human trafficking proved less evident to those who took the survey.

  3. Fifth Conference on “International Perspectives on Law Enforcement Co-operation in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings - Trafficking for Labour Exploitation”

    This conference, organized by the International Organization for Migration and the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, aims to bring together law enforcement practitioners from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as from other selected countries of origin, transit and destination to continue the dialogue relating to practical and operational initiatives within the context of international co-operation in combating human trafficking.

  4. Second national seminar of the monitoring Committee of the national Pact to eradicate slave labour

    The seminar will gather employers and companies signatories of the National Pact. The results of a new study on Supply Chain will be presented and some good practices will be presented. The Code of conduct of the National Pact will be given to participants.