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October 2007
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Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings will enter into force
29 October 2007
The Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS n° 197) will enter into force on 1 February 2008, following the ratification by Cyprus as the tenth country to ratify it. On this occasion Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, made the following statement: “The Convention is deliberately hard on traffickers and makes a clear difference for the victims of this crime. These victims will be offered comprehensive assistance and protection of their human rights. Europe is finally going to use this new and far-reaching instrument to fight this modern form of slavery." The main features of the new Convention include: · compulsory assistance measures and a recovery and reflection period of at least 30 days for the victims of trafficking, · the possibility to deliver residence permits to victims not only on the basis of cooperation with the law enforcement authorities, but also on humanitarian grounds; · the possibility to criminalise “the clients”; · a non-punishment clause for the victims of trafficking; · a strengthened international cooperation system and an independent monitoring mechanism, GRETA, which will monitor the proper implementation of the Convention by the Parties.
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New initiative (ILO-UNDP-Government of Japan-EC) to prevent human trafficking and promote effective migration governance in Tajikistan
17 October 2007
The International Labour Organization (Office), in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has launched a new project of sustainable community development in Tajikistan in order to prevent trafficking in human beings. The Government of Japan, through the UN Trust Fund of Human Security, funds the two-year project with over 1 Million US$.
September 2007
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Paraguay forms national commission
21 September 2007
At the end of a 2-days workshop led by the Vice Minister of Labour, Ms. Romero, the government, employers and workers of Paraguay have decided to follow the example of Brazil, Peru and Bolivia and have decided to create a national “Commission on Fundamental Rights at Work and the Prevention of Forced Labour”. This commission will include six representatives from each group (government, employers and workers) and will elaborate a national plan of action over the next 60 days. Together with Peru and Bolivia, Paraguay is one of the three countries included in the ILO (SAP-FL) project called “Forced Labour, Discrimination and Poverty Reduction among Indigenous Peoples”, funded by Sweden. The project focuses on the exploitation of indigenous workers through debt bondage and non-payment of wages, which has been a subject of discussions at the ILO since 1997, when the committee of experts first expressed its concerns. Since then, the ILO (SAP-FL) has provided technical cooperation trough a diagnostic study (“Servidumbre por Deudas y Marginacion en el Chaco de Paraguay”) and through a number of capacity building activities for labour inspectors, judges and social partners. As a direct result of this engagement with the ILO, the Ministry of Justice and Labour had inaugurated a new labour inspection office in the Chaco region in March 2006. The work in this office, however, has been difficult for its two labour inspectors, who appear to have recently resigned. The new commision will provide advice on how to resolve this problem. Participants of the workshop also called for the involvement of the national office for statistics, surveys and census in order to complement qualitative information with some better quantitative estimates of the proportion of farms involved and better information on the geographical location of the farms where forced labour occurs.
August 2007
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Decent Work Indicators: Towards better Statistics on Forced Labour and Human Trafficking
20 August 2007
Statistics are the ideas and techniques that can be used to convert numbers into useful information. Statistics on forced labour and human trafficking are essential for at least two reasons. First, they provide more objective information. Humans cannot, with their own eyes and ears, perceive more than a small, unrandom sample of any human state of affairs. Secondly, and even more importantly, good statistics are needed to formulate good policies and monitor progress towards the objective of decent work for all.
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Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law (BBC News)
09 August 2007
Mauritania's parliament has unanimously passed legislation making the practice of slavery punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
July 2007
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Tbilisi, Georgia: Launch of the regional project "Development of comprehensive anti-trafficking response in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia"
12 July 2007
This regional ILO project, implemented in partnership with the OSCE and ICMPD, will be launched on the 19 July 2007 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The project offers measures leading to a long-term perspective against trafficking in human beings in the Southern Caucasus by contributing to and enhancing National Action Plans and the legal framework against THB in all three countries, and by fostering regional and international cooperation. It aims at awareness raising among stakeholders and potential victims. The project will involve labour market institutions in preventive action and improve identification, protection and assistance of victims trafficked for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. Since human trafficking mainly occurs in the context of irregular migration, the project proposes a range of measures that aim at promoting legal migration. It will contribute to increased dialogue and cooperation among government agencies, social partners and NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as major destination countries. The project is funded under the European Commission’s TACIS Programme, which provides grant-financed technical assistance to countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It will be implemented over a period of two years. Additional co-funding will be provided by ILO and partner organisations.
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Collection of legal cases - Call for contributions
05 July 2007
SAP-FL is collecting and analyzing forced labour and human trafficking cases that have been prosecuted by criminal courts in various domestic jurisdictions. The aim of this project is to develop materials that will help in the training of judges, prosecutors, lawyers and legal educators on future prosecution of forced labour and human trafficking crimes. All contributions are welcome. For more information contact Rosanna Carreon at g3declaration@ilo.org
May 2007
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UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking
09 May 2007
This UK action plan pulls together the work currently underway to tackle trafficking across government, and creates a platform for future work to combat this ongoing problem. It aims to balance protecting and assisting victims with enforcement work that cracks down on the organised crime groups responsible for much of the trafficking. It gives specific attention to forced labour, acknowledging the needs of increasing enforcement and intelligence activity to deal with trafficking for forced labour.
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Launch of the Project for the Elimination of human trafficking from Moldova and Ukraine
09 May 2007
On 12 March 2007, the ILO project "Elimination of human trafficking from Moldova and Ukraine through labour market based measures" , funded by the EC, and implemented in partnership with ICMPD was officially launched in Moldova with the participation of the Deputy Minister for Economy and Trade, Mr. Sainciuc, and the head of the EC Delegation Moldova, Mr. Berizzi. The launch was attended by 80 participants, inter alia representatives of the Ministry of Social Protection, Child and Family, members of parliament, representatives of workers and employers organisations and of international organisations. An agreement on the implementation of the project between the Ministry of Economy and Trade as well as ILO was signed. The event was widely reported in the national media, including TV, radio and print media.
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Forced Labour to be included in trade deals
09 May 2007
WASHINGTON, May 10 — The Bush administration reached agreement on Thursday with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats to attach environmental and worker protections in several pending trade accords. The unusual agreement, which came after weeks of negotiations, would guarantee workers the right to organize, ban child labor and prohibit forced labor in trading-partner countries. It would also require trading partners to enforce environmental laws and comply with several international environmental agreements. It has immediate importance for four countries — Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea — that are seeking to enter into trade pacts with the United States. But officials in Washington predicted that the agreement’s effect would go beyond those countries and could be a template for all trade deals, including a possible worldwide accord. (The New York Times, Steven R. Weisman)
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National Plan against forced labour in Peru
09 May 2007
On May 1st 2007, President Alan Garcia of Peru has launched the National action plan against forced labour in Peru
April 2007
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Human Trafficking for Forced Labor Might Exceed Perception
26 April 2007
Human trafficking for forced labor might be a greater problem than the more widely known problem of trafficking for sexual exploitation, says Kristiina Kangaspunta, the chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, working closely with the International Labour Organization.
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Business Alliance tackles scourge of forced labour
19 April 2007
Concerted business action against forced labour can be a concrete first step towards the decent work agenda and a fair globalization for which we stand.