Stopping forced labour and slavery-like practices - The ILO strategy

This document presents the ILO strategy to combat forced labour for 2012-2015 and provides details about the 3 priority areas for the period, namely research and knowledge management, elimination of forced labour from global value chains, and implementation of country-based interventions.

Forced labour affects the most vulnerable and least protected people, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty and dependency. Women, low-skilled migrant workers, children, indigenous peoples and other groups suffering discrimination on different grounds are disproportionally affected.

ILO’s strategy seeks to address root causes of forced labour both by empowering vulnerable people to resist coercion at work and by addressing the factors that allow unscrupulous employers to profit from their exploitation. Eliminating forced labour is therefore an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

The overall goal of ILO’s strategy is a global reduction in forced labour and related practices of at least 3 per cent by 2015, equivalent to some 6 million fewer people trapped in work against their free will. In order to successfully achieve these goals, the ILO would require an annual allocation of 15 million US$.