• Hon’ble Mr. Kodikunnil Suresh, Minister of State (Labour and Employment)
• Mr. Rajeev Sadanadan, Director General Labour Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Employment, 
• Principal Secretaries, Labour Commissioners and Government Officials representing the State Governments
• Distinguished speakers for different business sessions
• Friends from the Trade Unions and Employers Organizations
• Representatives from the National and State Labour Training Institutes
• Representatives of the Civil Society organizations and Academia
• Friends from the media,

Let me join Mr. Sadanadan in warmly welcoming you at the National Meeting on Abolition of Bonded Labour and Reducing Vulnerability to Bondage in India through Promotion of Decent Work. I also congratulate the Government of India in taking a lead in organizing this National Meeting to address this important issue and to explore and deepen the work to eliminate bonded labour.

According to the ILO 2012 Report on Global Estimates of Forced Labour, there are almost 21 million people who are victims of forced labour in the world. It is a matter of great concern that out of these 21 million, 11.4 million are women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys. What is more worrisome is that 26 percent (5.5 million) are children below the age of 18 years. We have to be more concerned because in terms of absolute numbers, the Asia–Pacific region accounts for the majority (11.7 million) of all victims of forced labour, followed by Africa (3.7 million).

ILO has been engaged on the issue of forced labour since early 1930s. While adopting its first forced labour instrument, the Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), in 1930, the International Labour Conference (ILC) called upon member States to suppress the use of forced labour within the shortest possible period, and to criminalize the offence. The second convention on Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, (No. 105) was adopted in 1957. Both these conventions are among the most widely ratified of all ILO instruments and India too has ratified them. Yet, over 80 years later, and despite almost universal ratification of the Convention, the practice still exists in the World, although in different forms from those that provoked such concern in the early twentieth century.

More recently, the ILO has increased its efforts at the global and country levels ith the introduction of eight Areas of Critical Importance and “Protection of workers from unacceptable forms of work” is one of these.

Decent Work Country Programmes are the main vehicles for delivery of ILO support to member countries. The DWCP-India (2013-17) has been formulated around four country programme priorities and eleven outcomes. PRIORITY 1 deals with promotion of International Labour Standards & Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This priority has been established to work towards reduction of decent work deficits of unorganised workers and enterprises, and to deal with the issue of bonded labour/forced labour which is the antithesis of decent work. The Indian Government and ILO’s social partners are committed to work towards achieving the goals envisaged under this priority.

The issue of bonded and forced labour becomes difficult to comprehend as many such victims of forced labour work hidden from public view, on fishing vessels, construction sites, in commercial agriculture and in factories. Some get trapped into the vicious cycle of debt and bondage such as those in brick kilns, agriculture sector, while many like domestic workers are deceived about their conditions of work. Migrant workers and indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to forced labour.

Yet, despite these massive challenges, there are some grounds for optimism. Many of your present here, have been working towards elimination of bonded labour, different state governments have been taking initiatives, and the trade unions are reaching out to these informal sector workers, civil society organizations and media too are doing good work.

ILO too has been working in India since 2002 on the issue of Bonded Labour. From PEBLISA to the pilot in the rice mills and brick kilns of Tamil Nadu (2008-2011), more recently, the ILO, MoLE and six states of India have come forward to upscale the pilot in select districts of the states, in the Brick Kiln Sector, as part of the Project “Reducing Vulnerability to Bondage in India through promotion of Decent Work”.

The initiative is owned and implemented by the state governments, and you will hear today about the activities taken by the states in the session after lunch. The initiative uses a “convergence” and “prevention” approach to prevent bondage situation.

This “Prevention model” is significant, in the light of the conclusions adopted by the International Labour Conference in 2012, where it was decided to identify gaps in existing ILO standards and to determine whether there is a need for standard setting to:
(i) complement the ILO’s forced labour Conventions to address “prevention” and victim protection, including compensation; and
(ii) address human trafficking for labour exploitation”.

In February this year a Tripartite Meeting of Experts met to discuss possible adoption of an ILO instrument to supplement the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29) was held in Geneva. It was mentioned that the importance of prevention measures is not always recognized, despite the good practices in this area in certain countries. Many countries lack comprehensive measures targeting employer and consumer demand, and some countries do not provide adequate support for the role of labour inspection in preventing the degeneration of situations of abuse into forced labour practices. It went on to say that, the Committee of Experts has emphasized on numerous occasions the importance of adopting an overall national strategy to combat forced labour, including action to prevent and suppress forced labour and protect its victims, with particular emphasis on identifying priority sectors and occupations, raising public awareness, developing institutional capacity and mobilizing support.

It said that a national policy and the associated programme of action should include the following elements:
- research and statistics to identify target groups and the main forms of forced labour;
- assessment of the legal framework and potential gaps;
- interventions relating to prosecution, prevention and protection;
- coordination among stakeholders and institutions; and a monitoring framework.

The work on the Project on Reducing Vulnerability to Bondage in India was also noted by the Committee of Experts and cited as one of the initiatives by member states on prevention approach.

In 2014, the Governing Body has selected the item on supplementing Convention No. 29 “to address implementation gaps to advance prevention, protection and compensation measures, to effectively achieve the elimination of forced labour” as a standard-setting, single-discussion item for the 103rd Session (2014) of the ILC.

In India, it was also realized that many of such workers get into a cycle of debt and bondage, with migration across states, further precipitating the vulnerability towards bondage. It was important that we look at rights, needs and aspirations of migrant women and men workers and their families, both at source and destination areas. Accordingly, inter-state coordination for such vulnerable migrant workers was addressed in form of a Memorandum of Understanding between the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and MoLE, which was signed in June 2012. Encouraged by the response, similar MoU has been signed on Feb 21, 2013 at Ranchi between 4 states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and MoLE. State and social partners have taken initiative to enhance social protection, rights education and social empowerment of the target group, improvement of workplace facilities with employers’ cooperation and establishing social dialogue on wage, regulation of advance payment and recruitment practices.

During the course of the day, we will hear from many of you, about your challenges, initiatives and possible solutions. I am confident that with the active participation of all of us present here we will be able to take back learnings and integrate them in our own work to prevent bondage and ensure that every man and women work in dignity, work with pride.

Thank you!