The European Commission proposed to the EU Council of Ministers that Member States should be authorised to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) new Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention, reports ec.europa.eu.

The Protocol, together with a complementary Recommendation, was adopted by the 103^rd session of the International Labour Conference in June.

Countries ratifying the ILO Protocol agree

• to prevent the use of forced labour, in particular in the context of trafficking in human beings,
• to improve the protection of victims, and
• to provide access to compensation.

It also enhances international cooperation in the fight against forced or compulsory labour.

States ratifying the ILO Convention are required to develop a national policy and plan of action for the suppression of forced labour, in consultation with workers and employers’ organisations. They must take measures to prevent forced labour, including by informing vulnerable people and protecting them from possible fraudulent recruitment practices.

With regard to the victims of forced labour, the Convention introduces an obligation to ensure their identification, release, protection, recovery, and rehabilitation.

Further clauses require ratifying States

• to provide access to remedies, including compensation, to all victims and
• to ensure that competent authorities are entitled not to prosecute them for unlawful activities which they have been compelled to commit.

The ILO estimates that over 21 million people worldwide are today victims of forced or compulsory labour, which generates USD 150 billion in illegal profits per year.

For more information about the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention, click here.