Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Introduction
widen and reflect increased people movement in general. Trafficking could be considered as a
response to the demand of labour within the country and across national borders.
Drawing upon its long and diverse expertise in analysis and understanding of labour markets
and mechanisms, labour migration, forced labour, child labour, gender issues, project
management, partnerships and networks, the ILO has a unique role to play in combating
trafficking worldwide. In articulating its anti-trafficking efforts in a broad labour migration,
forced labour and child labour framework, the ILO has carved out a niche for itself that both
complements the work of partner agencies and avoids duplication. Over a number of years, the
ILO has gained significant experience in a number of programme areas including training and
capacity building, technical cooperation, support to the development of not only national but also
regional policy, and advocacy and research. This experience is all being harnessed in efforts to
combat human trafficking.
With its unique tripartite structure, the ILO is ideally placed to build social consensus around
some of the difficult issues linked to labour trafficking. This includes, for example, how to
monitor the activities of contracting intermediaries in origin and destination countries; how to
find the right balance between the promotion of private employment agencies in the interests of
greater labour market efficiency and adequate supervision of such agencies to ensure they do not
collude with criminal trafficking activities. To global anti-trafficking work, the ILO brings the
unique strengths of its tripartite structure, its working links with ministries of labour and labourfocused bodies, its standards-based framework and the supervisory mechanisms that contribute to
translating commitments into effective action, and its long history of social dialogue.
Activities include data collection, skills training, employment services, labour inspection,
micro-finance and projects implemented in collaboration with workers and employers
organizations. In the early stages, already, a body of research is being developed to inform new
programmes and projects that will target forced labour as a major component of trafficking.
II.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) was created to promote social justice as the
foundation of international peace, specifically by articulating and supervising fundamental human
rights in the world of work. Throughout its standards-related work, the ILO has dealt with the
issue of human trafficking in relation to forced labour, the abuse of migrant workers,
discrimination at work (particularly where certain sections of society, such as women or
indigenous peoples, are affected), and as one of the worst forms of child labour.
The ILO has for a long time addressed child trafficking through its Forced Labour
Convention (No. 29) that aims to eradicate 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. Since 1999, the combat against trafficking has been reinforced by ILO Worst
Forms of Child Labour Convention (No.182). This powerful instrument confirms child
trafficking as a practice similar to slavery and calls for countries to take immediate action to
secure the prohibition and elimination of all worst forms of child labour. By the end of March
2002, 117 member countries had ratified Convention No. 182. In the framework of Conventions
Nos. 29 and 182, States Parties will report on measures taken to combat child trafficking and
other worst forms of child labour, allowing the organization to monitor progress made by member
states and facilitating the sharing of information worldwide.
Convention 182 (Art.1) specifies that Each Member which ratifies
this Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to
secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child
labour as a matter of urgency.
It defines the trafficking of children as a practice similar to slavery
(Art.3) and tasks ratifying states with designing and implementing
programmes of action to eliminate it as a priority, in consultation
with government institutions and employers and workers
organizations, taking into consideration the views of other concerned
groups as appropriate.
In addition, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted in
June 1998 was drafted in the same spirit of social justice that had inspired earlier conventions
and, indeed, the creation of the ILO itself. It represents social ground rules founded on common
values to enable all those involved to claim their fair share of the wealth they have helped to
generate,i and it is complemented with mechanisms for follow-up that ensure that the
Declaration is translated into action.
The Declaration embodies four imperatives:
Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
ILOs tripartite structure allows for cooperation between employers, workers and
governments in the work carried out by the Organisation. ILO has always been a unique forum
where governments and social partners from 174 member States have had the opportunity to
freely and openly compare their experiences and national policies. Thanks to its tripartite
structure, ILO is the only global organization whose policy and programmes are decided on by
representatives of employers and workers on an equal footing with government representatives.
ILO also encourages the development of a tripartite system within member States through
the promotion of a social dialogue involving trade unions and employers in the formulation and
eventual implementation of national policies on the protection of national and foreign workers,
particularly with regard to social and economic issues.
IV.
The ILOs experience and expertise in combating trafficking in children, and in general in
human beings, show that, in order to be effective and meaningful, interventions to tackle the
problem must be broad-based and comprehensive and should involve government, employers
and workers organisations, as well as non-governmental organisations.
Prevention is key
The ILOs expertise in developing skills and employment opportunities as a protection and
prevention measure against exploitation in general and trafficking more specifically will continue
to be developed. This is an area where the ILO can and does work not only with NGOs and
government partners but with employers and with workers organizations. Targeted awareness
raising also aims to prevent people falling into the hands of traffickers, and can be carried out at
many levels, from village community to shopfloor. The prevention component is key to
addressing the root causes of trafficking in human beings and includes the following components:
direct support to children at risk and their families through income generating activities,
financial schemes and skills training to help the parents meet the basic needs of the family and
to avoid children dropping out of school;
educational and vocational training opportunities for victims (especially girls) who are
often discriminated against in their societies and are the first to fall prey to traffickers;
community mobilization and awareness raising in vulnerable areas in order to create a
common sense of responsibility among the people to protect potential victims from the
traffickers.
Withdrawal and repatriation
It is important to identify and locate trafficked persons, evaluate their needs, protect them from
further abuse and withdraw them from their exploitative situation in a carefully planned and
sensitive manner through:
involvement and collaboration of law enforcement and legal authorities to make sure that
victims are treated with all considerations due to their age, protected from traffickers and
employers, and safely repatriated to their countries of origin;
transit centres play an important role in responding the immediate needs of victims on their
ways back home;
programmes that seek to sensitise, train and strengthen the capacities of national partners;
bilateral and regional cooperation to harmonize anti-trafficking legislation that would
facilitate both the repatriation of victims and the prosecution of traffickers and abusers.
Reintegration
Finally, reintegration programmes are at the heart of all anti-trafficking strategies. What specific
ILO activities are available to support reintegration?
services for returnees, including medical care, psycho-social rehabilitation schemes, legal
counselling, formal or non-formal education and vocational training. For children or very young
victims, a solution is sought whenever possible to reintegrate them in their families.
Successful reintegration schemes are long-term endeavours that require monitoring and regular
follow up of each victim several months after he/she has left the programme.
V. ILOs Specialised Programmes
IPEC has recently published a pamphlet Combat the trafficking of children and a
booklet Unbearable to the human heart: Child trafficking and action to eliminate it
that provide a wealth of information on this subject. The publications are available in
electronic form on the IPEC website. Click on Knowledge Areas and then Child
Trafficking).
ILO-IPEC :Website: http://www.ilo.org/childlabour: email: ipec@ilo.org
b) ILOs Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL)
The creation of the Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAPFL), has given increased impetus to ILOs efforts to combat trafficking. The SAP-FL
approaches trafficking through the exploitation component of forced labour. It aims to
significantly raise global awareness of forced labour and to build integrated operational
programmes that involve as many as possible of the ILOs technical capacities.
Since June 2002, SAP-FL has worked with ILO-IPEC in Albania, Moldova,
Romania and Ukraine to address supply factors through research on the nature and
dynamics of various stages of the trafficking process, labour market conditions that
provoke demand for irregular workers, recruitment mechanisms through irregular labour
institutions, and the role of state authorities and civil society organizations. The
programme works with at-risk groups to provide alternative forms of livelihood in their
places of origin, and addresses the role of migration management and job placement
systems in countries of origin and transit. Rapid assessment studies on trafficking for
labour and sexual exploitation have been completed in four European countries of origin:
Ukraine, Moldova, Rumania and Albania. The main findings of this research indicate that
trafficking for labour exploitation is widespread and that it occurs mainly in construction,
agriculture, the sex sector and domestic services. Women make up the majority of victims
as they can be trafficked for labour as well as sexual exploitation.
The studies have been discussed during a series of workshops (April-May 2003)
within the four countries with the objective to validate the results and to recommend
further action. Recommendations include legal reponses (identification of victims,
protection and prosecution) and strategies to improve employment and migration services,
to reduce poverty by targeting vulnerable groups and specific communities. Project
proposals are currently being developed.
SAP-FL has also recognized the need to complement ILO-IPECs work to combat
child trafficking in Asia, for example, by focusing on trafficking of young adults who
have emerged from childhood but who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation as they
seek to enter the labour market. In February 2003, SAP-FL held a programme
consultation on the protection of domestic workers against the threats of forced labour and
trafficking. This focused on the lack of legislative protection, of government services, and
of organization and a voice for local and migrant domestic workers. Some good practices
were identified and will be built on as future technical cooperation programmes are
developed.
Meticulous research of this kind is now needed on a global basis. SAP-FL has
begun to do research on the forced labour outcomes of trafficking for either labour or
sexual exploitation in a number of countries to which people are trafficked. A first pilot
study was carried out in France. This was followed up in Germany, Hungary, Turkey and
6
Russia. The results of this research will be drafted until the end of August (June for
Turkey). At the same time, a major study on forced labour in the Chinese communities of
France and Italy is being prepared. An initial paper on the background of trafficking from
China to Europe will be published by the end of June. The paper indicated that forms of
coercion, especially through debt relationships, play an important role in the ethnic
business of Chinese communities. The main sectors are small manufacturing, retail and
restaurants.
In mid-2003, SAP-FL will embark on a study of forced labour and trafficking in
the United States. Forced labour is widely believed to affect irregular migrants in a
number of sectors in the US economy -- domestic labour, commercial sex, agriculture,
sweatshop factory work and the service and food service industries but reliable data are
scarce. Through careful case research, in collaboration with relevant US Government
agencies, this initiative can strengthen the application of the US 2000 law for the
protection of trafficking victims.
SAP-FL has developed plans to carry out similar studies in the destination
countries of West Africa and South East Asia, and to examine the complex flows that
involve many countries, both rich and poor, as origin or destination countries of human
trafficking. Once there is a solid knowledge base, then targeted programmes can be
designed to address many different points along the trafficking chain.
ILO-SAP-FL :Website: http://www.ilo.org/declaration
e-mail: plant@ilo.org, mangahas@ilo.org
c) ILOs International Migration Branch (MIGRANT)
Because so many victims of forced labour and trafficking are migrant workers,
research and action should be carried out in different geographical areas, including
destination countries of trafficked people. MIGRANT analyses ILO perspective and
experience in combating exploitation of migrant workers by organized crime in its
broader labour migration and regulatory context. It outlines labour migration demand and
push factors, describes incentives for trafficking arising from absence of regular migration
channels, offers specific examples of migrant abuse, and presents proposals for
comprehensive migration measures to combat trafficking and reduce underlying
pressures.
There is a serious gap in research on the area of demand for cheap and malleable
labour that constitutes a major pull factor in trafficking. The ILO is uniquely placed to
fill this knowledge gap, in cooperation with workers and employers organizations and
with research institutes and individual researchers. In particular, more research is needed
in countries to which trafficking victims are moved the destination countries which are
more often than not developed, industrialized countries that are rarely the focus of antitrafficking initiatives.
Understanding the context in which forced labour takes place in destination
countries also provides a more solid basis for the development of effective rescue,
rehabilitation and reintegration programmes. These must include working with host
governments to ensure that trafficked people are identified as such, and not immediately
deported as illegal migrants. The ILO will continue to work with member States to
7
provide technical cooperation in the development of policies and frameworks that respect
the rights of all workers, regardless of their status.
National Plans of Action against Trafficking, which have been developed in some
countries largely in response to calls to combat commercial sexual exploitation of women
and children, can be further developed to address broader issues of human trafficking and
forced labour. These complement the development of sensible migration policies that
allow labour migration to be managed in such a way that the traffickers are, quite literally,
put out of business.
ILOs research work will continue to focus on specific mechanisms that might
facilitate trafficking, such as job placement agencies, the transport sector and private
migrant worker reception and accommodation services. Specific sectors identified as
receivers of trafficked labour will also come under closer scrutiny. Future programmes
will strengthen institutional capacities to combat trafficking in all these areas.
At the same time, there is a continuing need to monitor anti-trafficking policies
and actions to ensure that they do not restrict legitimate labour migration or close the door
to employment for people who need work. The ILO has pointed to both the opportunities
and the dangers of using the label trafficking without full understanding of the different
components that it covers.
Bringing together issues such as coerced recruitment, facilitated regular and
irregular migration, forced labour, child labour and debt bondage under the label of
trafficking in human beings can be used to work against the interests of migrants and the
legitimate right of people to move and to seek work. Current debate on trafficking leans
heavily on law enforcement, crime prevention and national security. These lead to calls
for stricter border controls, sanctions on those who seek to move, and deportation for
those who do so outside migration laws. There is now an urgent need for a broader
perspective involving a wide range of government and non-governmental agencies.
Labour, as well as Interior, ministries should take responsibility for anti-trafficking
measures. Law enforcement should include labour regulatory and inspection mechanisms;
workers and employers should likewise be included in policy discussions.
ILO-MIGRANT :Website:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/migrant/
e-mail: mfontes@ilo.org, taran@ilo.org
d) ILOs gender promotion programme (GENPROM)
GENPROM focuses on new and emerging areas of gender concern and especially
vulnerable groups of women workers, also has programmes in the area of trafficking.
GENPROM works through developing the information base and practical tools for action,
through awareness raising and advocacy efforts, and through direct action programmes to
empower women and reduce their vulnerability.
GENPROM just published the Information Guide on Preventing Discrimination,
Exploitation and Abuse of Women Migrant Workers that includes case studies on good
practices in eleven member countries (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Italy, Japan, Ethiopia,
Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines Romania, Sri Lanka and UAE). The information guide
which is comprised of six individual booklets, aims at assisting and enhancing the efforts
8
PANEL DISCUSSION: The Labour Dimensions of Human TraffickingJune 4th, 2003 in ILOs headquarters
ILOs Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, the Gender Promotion
Programme and the International Migration Programme are jointly organizing a panel
discussion as a side event of the International Labour Conference of 2003. The panel
discussion aims to highlight the labour dimensions of human trafficking and the ILOs
contribution to combating the problem worldwide.
10
EASTERN EUROPE
Trafficking from Eastern Europe combines a
number of push- and pull-patterns. Dysfunctional
societies, severe and increasing poverty and
unemployment, conflict and expectations of
greater opportunities, push children, young people
and adults into the clutches of traffickers. Open
borders and functioning criminal routes and
networks come into play alongside regular
migration. Children are trafficked for unskilled
labour, work in the entertainment sector and for
commercial sex. Some are used for petty crime.
SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Trafficking in South-East Asia is predominantly
from rural to urban areas, from poor to wealthier
country. It reflects both the growth in the sex
industry and the commoditization of children and
women. Children are trafficked into the sex
11
SOUTH ASIA
In South Asia, trafficking is an extension of the
very serious child labour problem, with poverty,
families and ignorance determinant in the
vulnerability of children to exploitation. These
also characterize the nature of trafficking, which
revolves around deception, debt bondage and
economic imbalance. Children are trafficked into
commercial sex, into carpet and garment
factories, for street hawking and begging, on
construction
projects,
tea
plantations,
in
manufacturing or in brick kilns. Young boys are
trafficked to work as camel jockeys. In some
countries, children are exploited by militia
members as servants or combatants.
12
Annex 2. ILO-IPEC
Programmes
Regional
AFRICA
In October 1999 ILO-IPEC launched a major
subregional programme in West/Central Africa.
Phase I comprised a mapping of the problem and
responses in the region and the development of
national plans of action and a regional strategy.
Phase II, which began in May 2001, sees the
implementation
of
this
strategy
through
awareness-raising campaigns among at-risk
groups, community-level protection projects,
law-enforcement capacity building, networking
among social actors, broad-ranging rehabilitation
and reintegration programmes and the provision
of alternatives for children at risk and their
parents. Support is also given to multi- and
bilateral cross-border agreements between
countries in the region. Further information:
Mr. Michel Gregoire
Chief Technical Adviser
Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour
Exploitation in West and Central Africa
ILO RO Abidjan
01B.P. 3960
Abidjan 01
Cte dIvoire
of
EUROPE
In
early
2002,
ILO-IPEC
developed
a
programme to combat trafficking of children and
young people for labour and sexual exploitation
in the Balkans (Albania, Romania, Moldova) and
Ukraine. The first phase of this programme
seeks to identify a strategy for concerted
action against trafficking through situation
analysis and appraisal of existing responses in
the region. This will include further development
of ILOs Rapid Assessment methodology on the
worst forms of child labour, training for national
partners in using these research tools,
operational reviews, workshops and analysis. On
the basis of the lessons drawn from this, a
comprehensive
action
programme
will
be
developed,
focusing
on
prevention
and
reintegration. For further information:
Tel: +255.20.21.26.39
Fax: +255.20.21.28.80
Email:gregoire@Abidjan.ilo.sita.net
CENTRAL AMERICA
In February 2002, ILO-IPEC launched a threeyear programme to combat commercial sexual
exploitation of children in seven countries of
Central
America:
Panama,
Costa
Rica,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador
and the Dominican Republic.
The programme
aims to create synergies among the national
initiatives in the region, to establish and
facilitate cross-sectoral cooperation among the
countries and to strengthen the capacities of
major actors through training, technical support
and the sharing of good practice and pilot
models for action. Further information:
Email:guenther@ilo.org
13
ILO Kathmandu
Sanepa
Ring Road
Lalitpur
Kathmandu
Nepal
SOUTH AMERICA
In Brazil and Paraguay, ILO-IPEC has been
active since January 2001 in mapping the
incidence of exploitation in the border areas of
the two countries, and in programmes to build
institutional capacity, raise awareness and
mobilize
community-based
protection
mechanisms, rescue and care for exploited
children. Further information:
Tel: +977.1.53.17.52
Fax: +977.1.53.13.32
Email:tine@iloktm.or.np
SOUTH-EAST ASIA
ILO-IPECs Mekong subregional project to
combat Trafficking in Children and Women began
in 1998 with research, consultation and analysis,
leading to a three-year pilot intervention phase,
covering Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
China (Yunnan Province). During this phase,
national sub-offices worked with local actors in
implementing projects in education and skills
training, alternative livelihood promotion, legal
literacy and awareness raising. A regional
strategic framework added to these national
actions capacity building, advocacy and crossborder consultation and policy discussion.
Further information:
Herv Berger
Chief Technical Adviser
Tel: +595.21.612.770
Fax : +595.21.612.770
Email : isa@oitipec.org.py
SOUTH ASIA
The subregional project to Combat Trafficking in
Children in South Asia began in 1998 with
research, consultation and analysis, leading to a
two-year regional project, covering Bangladesh,
Nepal and Sri Lanka. The project supports local
implementing partners in the areas of research,
capacity
building, policy development and
legislation,
prevention,
recovery
and
reintegration of trafficked children. Antitrafficking units have been supported within
government structures and surveillance units
have been set up with computerized monitoring
of rescued victims.
Youth groups have been
mobilized and supported and a strategy for
effective rehabilitation has been developed.
Further information:
Tine Staermose
Chief Technical Adviser
Combat the Trafficking of Children for
Exploitative Employment (Bangladesh, Nepal and
Sri Lanka)
ILO-IPEC Geneva
Mr. Frans Roselaers, Director, IPEC
Tel: + 41-22-799-8181
Fax: + 41-22-799-8771
Email: ipec@ilo.org
14