Principle 4
What is "forced or compulsory labour"?
Forced labour is a fundamental violation of human rights. It presents a challenge to virtually every country in the world. The ILO estimates that in 2005 at least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide, 80% of which is exacted by private agents. Most victims receive little or no earnings, and work for long hours in extremely poor conditions of health and safety.
It is often associated with extremely low productivity and unsustainable development practices, such as illegal logging and deforestation. Sex trafficking is a crime and represents an increasingly worrying form of forced labour. Due to crime, corruption, and potential high profits deriving from sex trafficking, it is extremely difficult to detect and eradicate.
Forced labour is a truly global problem, also present in developed countries where it affects mainly trafficked migrant workers. Forced labour affects men, women and also children who represent at least 40% of all victims.
Forced or compulsory labour is any work or service that is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty, and for which that person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. Providing wages or other compensation to a worker does not necessarily indicate that the labour is not forced or compulsory. By right, labour should be freely given and employees should be free to leave.
While companies operating legally do not normally employ such practices, forced labour can become associated with enterprises through their use of contractors and suppliers. As a result, all managers should be aware of the forms and causes of forced labour.
Both the state and by private agents have been implicated in the use of forced labour. State-imposed forced labour includes certain forms of compulsory participation in public works, the imposition of forced labour for ideological or political purposes. Circumstances, such as when prisoners are linked to commercial activities without their free consent, are the object of serious debates.
Slavery, bonded labour or debt-bondage involve forced labour exploitation by private agents. Employers need to be aware that forced labour can be connected to different practices, such as:
- Physical or psychological violence as a means of keeping someone in forced labour (direct or as a threat against worker, family, or close associates)
- Full or partial restrictions on freedom of movement
- Retention of identity documents or other valuable personal possessions
- Withholding and non-payment of wages (linked to manipulated debt payments, exploitation, and other forms of extortion)
- Induced indebtedness (by falsification of accounts, charging inflated prices, reduced value of goods or services produced, excessive interest charges, etc.)
- Threats to denounce to the authorities workers in an irregular situation