Forced and Compulsory Labour

1. Forced and Compulsory Labour ILO Conventions Nos. 29 and 105 2014

2. Size of problem Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour – 11.4 million women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys. Almost 19 million victims are exploited by private individuals or enterprises and over 2 million by the state or rebel groups. Of those exploited by individuals or enterprises, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation. Those who exact forced labour generate vast illegal profits. Domestic work, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and entertainment are among the sectors most concerned. Migrant workers and indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to forced labour.

3. Background to elimination of forced labour • First international human rights subject • Congress of Vienna 1815 • Elimination of slave trade in west by Great Britain, 1830s • Gradual elimination of slavery in most industrializing countries in 19th century – US in 1863. • Adoption of Slavery Convention by League of Nations, 1926

4. Supplementary Convention, 1956 • the Slavery Convention, 1926, provides that all necessary measures shall be taken to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery and that the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956, provides for the complete abolition of debt bondage and serfdom(from preamble to ILO C. 105)

5. International law outside ILO League of Nations Slavery Convention, 1926 Supplementary Convention, UN, 1956 Universal Declaration, 1948 – Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

6. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 8: slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour Palermo Protocol on Trafficking, 2000 Regional standards: Europe, Americas, Africa

7. ILO Convention No. 29 • At request of League to supplement Slavery Convention • Emerged also from ILO work on « native peoples » in early 1920s • Adopted by ILO Conference in 1930 • Now ratified by 177 countries (Apr 2014)

8. Who has not ratified C29? • Afghanistan - considering • Brunei Darusalam – considering • China (no commitment) • Rep of Korea (non-military conscription) • Marshall Islands (no info) • Palau (new Member) • Tuvalu (new Member) • United States (no intention)

9. Coverage of C29 When adopting the Convention, ILO constituents opted for a broad definition of the term “forced labour” rather than enumerating a list of prohibited practices. The use of a broad definition has enabled the ILO supervisory bodies to address traditional practices of forced labour, such as vestiges of slavery or slave-like practices, and various forms of debt bondage, as well as new forms of forced labour that have emerged in recent decades, such as human trafficking. Furthermore, forced labour imposed not only by private entities but also by state authorities is covered by this definition. Ratifying States are therefore required to develop a comprehensive legal and policy framework to combat forced labour in all its forms.

10. In earlier years – until about the beginning of the 1980s – the ILO concentrated on forms of State-imposed labour and very little on labour imposed by individuals or employers (slavery and vestiges). This aspect of forced and compulsory labour was being discussed by the UN, especially the Working Group on Slavery, as a development of its concerns with slavery and slavery-like practices, and under ICCPR. But as of mid-1980s, ILO began focusing also on slavery, trafficking and related practices, in particular as State-organized forced labour diminished.

11. Definition C 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 (Article 2) • The forced labour relationship is determined by the nature of the link between the worker and the employer, not by the type of activity being performed. (General Survey)

12. Exceptions (Art. 2) • (a) any work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military service laws for work of a purely military character; • (b) any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country;

13. (c) any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, provided that the said work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations;

14. (d) any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war or of a calamity or threatened calamity, such as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epizootic diseases, invasion by animal, insect or vegetable pests, and in general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population (e) minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the members of the community in the direct interest of the said community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations incumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the members of the community or their direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

15. Punishment Article 25 • The illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour shall be punishable as a penal offence, and it shall be an obligation on any Member ratifying this Convention to ensure that the penalties imposed by law are really adequate and are strictly enforced.

16. Gradual elimination – long past • Arts 3 – 24 now out of date - the ’transitional provisions’ • Provided for gradual elimination of forced labour in colonial situations • Recognized the existence of colonial forced labour, and began eliminating it before WWII. One of first anti-colonialism neasures.

17. New standards under discussion In March 2013 the Governing Body put the adoption of supplementary standards on the agenda of the 2014 Conference, in a single discussion. The adoption of a new instrument or instruments supplementing the forced labour Conventions could therefore reinforce an integrated approach to prevention, victim protection and compensation and set out detailed provisions concerning the various measures to be taken in these three areas. (Conclusions of Expert meeting 2013)

18. Proposed new standards A Protocol to supplement C29 by adding general obligations to protect people from entering into FCL, and to provide remedies including compensation. And/or a Recommendation to provide more detailed guidance. And in one form or the other, to formalize end of transitional period.

19. Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) • Adopted to ensurethatforced labour was not used for certain prohibitedreasons, mostly by governments • Emergedfrom Nazi practices in World War II, and fromStalinistexperiences in early Cold War • Supplements C. 29

20. Ratifications • Ratified by 174 countries (April 2014) • Who has not ratified: • Brunei Darussalam • China • Japan • Korea • Republic of Lao Peoples Democratic Republic • Marshall Islands • Myanmar • Palau • Timor-Leste • Tuvalu • Viet Nam

21. Denounced Malaysia Singapore Both because did not want to be barred from treating political dissidents as ordinary criminals subject to forced labour in prison.

22. C. 105 requires Article 1: Each Member which ratifies this Convention undertakes to suppress and not to make use of any form of forced or compulsory labour-- • (a) as a means of political coercion or education or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system; • (b) as a method of mobilising and using labour for purposes of economic development;

23. (c) as a means of labour discipline; • (d) as a punishment for having participated in strikes; • (e) as a means of racial, social, national or religious discrimination.

24. Forced and compulsory labour in other ILO standards One of worst forms of child labour in C182: Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 Specifically prohibited in C169 (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989), C189 (Domestic Workers, 2011) – and others

25. Trafficking • 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention) and its supplementary Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. • To prevent and combat trafficking in persons, to protect and assist victims of trafficking and to promote cooperation among States to achieve these objectives.

26. a globalized world with increasing polarities of wealth both within and between countries, with an increased demand for cheap labour in developed countries, with increased possibilities for travel and telecommunications broadcasting, and (exaggerated) images of western wealth around the world,

27. at least 2.4 million women, children and men are trafficked into severe forms of labour and sexual exploitation in destination countries, in mainstream industries as well as the informal economy, generating an estimated US$32 billion in annual profits.

28. definition “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. 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.”

29. DISTINCTION BETWEEN TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING • Smuggling of migrants is defined as “the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident”. • Exploitation not a factor

30. Current problems in forced labour

31. Classicforms of forced labour • Slavery • Brazil/Peru et al. - indigenous • Mauritania • Sudan • World War II Japan – sex slavery and industrial slavery • Domestic workers

32. Debt Bondage • India • Asian sub-continent generally • Peru • Based on small debts • Remedies: small banks – education – law enforcement

33. Worstforms of child labour Abduction into military forces Trafficking Child exploitation for sex Child exploitation for labour, participation in illegal activities

34. Private prison labour • Australia, Austria, Germany, United Kingdom, US ... • work by prisoners for private enterprises can be held compatible with the Convention where the necessary safeguards exist to ensure that the prisoners concerned offer themselves voluntarily, without being subjected to pressure or the menace of any penalty, by giving their formal, free and informed consent to work for private enterprises. In such a situation, work of prisoners for private parties would not come under the scope of the Convention, since no compulsion is involved. Moreover, the Committee has considered that, in the prison context, the most reliable indicator of the voluntariness of labour is that the work is performed under conditions which approximate a free labour relationship, including wages, social security and occupational safety and health.

35. Three forms of privatized prison labour: • Prisoners hired out • Workshops in prisons • Private prisons

36. Governmentimposed • Was once the dominant forced labour question dealt with by ILO – espcially in Communist and developing nations. • Died out in many cases, but not all. • Myanmar • Special measures by ILC - almost suspended • Major changes under way • DRC, Uzbekistan (compulsory cultivation) • National service (Cambodia, Chad, Dominica) • Not allowed to quit Govt service (Bangladesh)

37. Migrant labour Domestic workers Other workers Ex: Gulf States Other countries where migrants find themselves in exploitative conditions once arriving

38. Trafficking For sex For other labour Too many to mention

39. Politicalviews • Political rehabilitation - China • Prison with forced labour for expression of views • Afghanistan • Bangladesh • Cuba • Many others