Houtan Homayounpour, Technical Specialist within the Special Action Program to Combat Forced Labour at the ILO, MAYBE.
I, amongst many other colleagues working in this area, wish there was a simple yes or no answer!
Could binding legislation alone rescue the estimated 21 million forced labourers and would it be sufficient for preventing others from falling into the same trap? Can we expect legislation to cover all aspects of forced labour, modern-day slavery, and global supply chains? Modern-day slavery has yet to be defined by an international instrument. Good legislation is always essential, but enforcement is just as important.
We have seen binding legislation fall short in protecting the most vulnerable. We have also witnessed the ineffectiveness of self-regulation and self-disclosure programs.
What is the purpose of binding legislation, if it is not or cannot be enforced due to corruption, lack of capacity, or willingness? At the same time, the dynamics of forced labour vary from one country to another, meaning that there is no one size fits all solution.
The 2014 International Labor Conference (ILC) adopted a Protocol and a series of Recommendations to complement the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention No. 29 from 1930. Its purpose is to take a more comprehensive approach to forced labour by focusing on prevention, protection and remedy – issues which were not addressed by the 1930 Forced Labour Convention.
Some would be surprised to learn that the world is still struggling with slavery and still trying to come up with the most appropriate way to eradicate this problem. How could it be possible, that today we have about 21 million slaves generating $150 billion of profits annually?!
Why is this relevant for businesses and their supply chains?
Companies, especially multinational buyers, have a strong business interest in not being linked to forced or compulsory labour, especially through supply chain activities. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights state that “the responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights refers to internationally recognised human rights – understood, at a minimum, as those expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights as set out in the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work”. This encompasses ILO Conventions 29 and 105, as they are part of the eight ILO core Conventions and are the basis of the fundamental principle of elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour. Consequently, as the Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 is supplementing Convention 29, the ‘business responsibility to respect’ is automatically linked to the Protocol.