ILO releases major new study on forced labour
“Forced economic exploitation in such sectors as agriculture, construction, brick-making and informal sweatshop manufacturing is more or less evenly divided between the sexes. However, forced commercial sexual exploitation entraps almost entirely women and girls. In addition, children aged less than 18 years bear a heavy burden, comprising 40 to 50 per cent of all forced labour victims…
Most forced labour today is still exacted in developing countries where older forms of forced labour are sometimes transmuting into newer ones, notably in a range of informal sector activities, the report says. Debt bondage frequently affects minorities – including indigenous peoples – that have long experienced discrimination on the labour market, and locks them in a vicious cycle of poverty from which they find it ever more difficult to escape. Many victims are working in remote geographical areas, where labour inspection presents a particular challenge.
The report sheds new light on the emerging forms of forced labour affecting migrant workers, in particular irregular migrants in rich and poor destination countries alike. It also examines the labour market conditions under which forced labour is most likely to occur, such as where there are inadequate controls over recruitment agencies and subcontracting systems, or weak labour inspection.”
BBC News – In Depth – Forced Labour
Photo journal: Florida tomato picker
“Guadalupe shares a very basic mobile home with six other men – it costs them $350 a week, that is more than $1,400 a month. The rates are similar to those in Manhattan or Miami.”
In pictures: Forced labour and trafficking
“Around the capital, Minsk, posters saying ‘Surprise! A job for you abroad. Stop female slave trade’ are designed to serve as a warning. But many girls fail to heed it. They go abroad seeking better opportunities and end up working as prostitutes to ‘compensate the owner for his costs’.”