Forging A Global Alliance Against Trafficking And Forced Labour

According to a new ILO report for the Vienna Forum on Human Trafficking, while 44 per cent, most women, men and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 32 per cent were trafficked into labour exploitation, and 25 per cent for a mixture of both. The ILO also estimates that half of the victims of trafficking are minors under 18.

The fight against trafficking is at the heart of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda.
“Trafficking violates the most basic rights of any person – the freedom from coercion at work, the freedom to set up associations and bargain collectively, and the freedom from discrimination at work”, explains Roger Plant.

These are among the four core principles enshrined in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by ILO member States in 1998. The Declaration is based on eight core Conventions, two of which are most closely related to trafficking (No. 29 on Forced Labour and No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour). Furthermore, the ILO’s Migrant Workers Conventions No. 97 and No. 143 provide a normative framework for the protection of migrant workers as well as trafficked victims.

The ILO is promoting a Global Alliance to achieve this, with partner agencies pooling their efforts to wipe out all forms of forced labour worldwide by 2015. In its numerous activities around the world, the ILO addresses trafficking from a labour market perspective seeking to eliminate the root causes, such as poverty, lack of employment and inefficient labour migration systems.

The ILO’s work in 12 countries of Central and West Africa has resulted in significant strengthening of national laws and policies against human trafficking as well as increased inter-State cooperation to curb trafficking in children. In Europe, the ILO has started a project in Albania, Moldova and Ukraine in 2004 contributing to the adoption of stronger laws on migration and strengthening national migration institutions and cooperation between source and destination countries. In China, an ILO capacity building project promotes safe migration for the more than 120 million migrants within China and those often undocumented workers emigrating from China.

As a tripartite organization, the ILO not only works with governments, but also consults and involves employers’ and workers’ organisations in its anti-trafficking activities.

The Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking is organized by the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) and involves six international organizations, including the ILO, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOCD), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“This is a unique opportunity to forge a global alliance against human trafficking and wipe it out once and for all”, concludes Roger Plant.

Source: ILO press release

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