BACKGROUND
Trade unions being the main instrument to denounce and act against abuse and exploitation of any worker have an essential role to play in the abolition of forced labour put forward by the Director General of the ILO. A global trade union approach in consultation with ILO-ACTRAV and the GUF’s to address this worldwide phenomenon is urgent, addressing specific characteristics of forced labour forms and according to the geographical region.
Throughout the entire meeting there should be comments from representatives of the construction, textile and transport industry as well as the agricultural sector.
Preliminary research has shown that most trade union organisations already have policies, strategies and action plans related to child labour, migrant workers, domestic workers and/or trafficking for sexual exploitation. Nevertheless the link between these issues and forced labour remains unclear. An introduction to understanding the different terms and issues concerned is essential to clarify how forced labour could form a consistent pillar of different policies and strategies of trade unions in the future.
CONTENT
9 September: Introduction to the concepts of forced labour and trafficking and how ILO approaches these issues, the ILO’s Conventions and their implementation and monitoring mechanisms.
10 September: Presentation of the ITUC draft strategy, followed by a round table local experiences and good practices from national trade union organisations from different regions. Special attention will be given to Burma.
11 September: Discussions on how the different priorities could be transposed in specific actions and projects focusing on: organising, campaigning, cross country-networking, advocacy, monitoring, capacity building, direct victim support, etc. A realistic plan of action should be designed for the years 2008-2009 as well as the identification of two pilot implementation projects in priority areas.