Addressing Forced Labour: The Role of Employers' Organisations and Business

Background

Employers' organisations and business have a key role to play in the fight against forced labour. They are well-placed to provide institutional engagement and sustainability in anti forced labour programmes, and their action is key to the success of the ILO campaign to rid the world of this abuse by 2015.

The ILO seeks to harness business actors to its global efforts to end forced labour. A strategic plan has been developed, preparing the ground for the formal launch of such a business alliance in early 2009. Beginning with this consultation, and in close coordination with the International Organization of Employers, the plan envisages growing engagement with the business community on concerns including:

• Forced labour as a possible issue of concern in supply chain management, through codes of conduct, monitoring, auditing and compliance
• Factors that may contribute to forced labour in the production and trade of major commodities, and which therefore warrant a more systemic approach than traditional supply chain management
• Factors that make forced labour a particular risk for some non-export businesses, particularly those small and medium enterprises exposed to the informal economy
• Role of trans-national recruitment agencies and measures needed, in both law and practice, to prevent the incidence of forced labour and trafficking in contract labour and recruitment processes.

This represents a strategic opportunity for employers’ organizations and their members to exercise leadership on an issue which is certainly moving higher on economic, trade and social policy agendas. Building on an already strong commitment to the global fight against child labour, this can be a vitally important step in promoting adherence to core labour standards and decent work worldwide.

Aim of the meeting

This workshop is part of a global strategy to engage business and employers, and will feature leading speakers from the business and Corporate Social Responsibility communities, the IOE, employers' organisations from the region, and ILO. It will present a unique opportunity for employers' representatives to develop strategies and action plans to combat forced labour, and provide a platform for the exchange of information and good practice.

The workshop will discuss why forced labour is an issue for employers and business and what role employer organisations should play to support the efforts of business in combating forced labour at national and international levels.

ILO’s workshops

The workshop will include plenary and working group sessions and address the following key themes:

• What is forced labour and why is it an issue for employers and business?
• Regional dimensions of forced labour;
• Forced labour: responses from employers and business;
• Policies, strategies and tools to combat forced labour; and
• Developing action plans to combat forced labour