Trafficking in Persons for Forced Labour: UNODC's analysis of the crime challenge and its role in addressing it Alexia Taveau Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, Vienna

Trafficking in Persons Protocol supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Promote global adherence Assist States in Implementing UNTOC + Protocol LegislationCriminal justice response UNODC Evidence-based knowledge

Purpose of the Protocol TIP Protocol (Article 2) Prevent and combat trafficking in persons Protect and assist victims of trafficking Promote cooperation + 4 th P = Prosecute offenders

Article 3a Trafficking in persons protocol Trafficking in persons shall mean : [action:] the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons [means:] by means of the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim [purpose:] for the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices, and the removal of organs.

Trafficking in persons for forced labour and forced labour Forced labour is closely linked to human trafficking, but is not identical to it. Article 2, paragraph 1, of the ILO Convention defines “forced labour or services” as: “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”

Trafficking in persons for forced labour and forced labour The ILO estimates that at least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. 2.4 million are exploited as a result of human trafficking. In industrialized countries, transition countries, the Middle East and the North Africa region, trafficking accounts for more than 75 percent of all forced labour cases – it is the fastest growing form of forced labour.

Source: UNODC/UN.GIFT Distribution of all countries according to the number of convictions recorded for the specific offence of trafficking in persons during the reporting period (N:155) Large Area of Impunity

Total number of victims identified by State authorities in 71 selected countries VICTIMS DETECTED TREND: The capacity to detect victims has increased (+27% victims detected globally) Source: UNODC/UN.GIFT Global Report TIP, 2009:

Global Report TIP 2009 Sexual exploitation the most commonly identified form of human trafficking (79%) followed by forced labour (18%).

Statistical / Visibility bias Legislation Law enforcement / General public awareness Visibility

Trafficking in persons in the fishing industry Results of a UNODC study on transnational organized crime in the fishing industry with a particular focus on trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and illicit drugs trafficking: -Instance of human trafficking in the fishing industry are reported in most regions in the world. -Forms of exploitation in the fishing industry are severe and cruel particularly in cases of trafficking for forced labour on board fishing vessels -Out of sight – out of mind

Trafficking in persons in the fishing industry Forms of exploitation range from: Children engaged to work on canoes and rafts in inland artisanal fisheries (Africa) or on fishing platforms at sea (Asia) Groups of young men and boys working on board commercial or industrial vessels Hundreds of men stationed a far distance off the coast using mother ship as a base station for fishing operations from smaller boats

In the 2010 All at Sea report the EJF refers to a contract of employment between an illiterate Nepalese fisher who signed using his thumb-print and a South East Asian recruitment agency. The main clauses of the contract provide: The crewmember is employed for three years with a monthly salary of US$ 200. Three quarters – US$ 150 – is retained by the Singaporean agency with which the contract is signed. Payments for the first six months of the contract will only be paid when the full contract is completed, i.e. after three years. The first time the agency will pay a salary to the crewmember is after one year, and then only for the last six months (US$ 1,200), thereafter the agency will pay US$ 1,200 every six months ‘because it is very costly to send salary home every month’. The remaining US$ 50 per month will be paid by the captain when the vessel is in port, although the vessel is stated to be at sea for six months, a year, or even more at a time. Repatriation costs are not covered, and the crewmember will be abandoned in the nearest port if the contract is breached. A breach of contract is defined as ‘own sickness, lazy and rejected by captain etc’. Working hours are ‘around 18 hours (sometime more, sometime less)’ and there is no overtime pay. Food and accommodation will be provided but noodles and biscuits must be purchased by the crewmember himself: ‘Seawater will be used for bathing and laundry (sic.) purpose.’ Should the crewmember be unhappy with the arrangement, then the contract states that the crewmember has ‘fully understood’ that ‘I will not claim back any amount of money I spent for securing this job’, i.e. the recruitment fees. Based on the above figures the crewmember is expected to ‘work hard, obediently and diligently’ about hours over a three-year period with an average pay of US$ 0,37 an hour. From this the cost of the recruitment fee and repatriation must be deducted (‘minimum US$ 2000’), making the crewmember a possible victim of debt bondage.

Recommendations Ensure that Member States have the capacity to make trafficking in persons for forced labour a low profit-high risk crime Reduce the opportunity of impunity Improve intelligence gathering/investigations/law enforcement/prosecutions Raise awareness Increase international cooperation Further research

Bridging the implementation gap Strategic areas of technical assistance: 1. Prevention and Awareness-raising 2. Data Collection & Research 3. Legislative Assistance 4. Strategic Planning & Policy Development 5. Criminal Justice System responses 6. Protection of Victims 7. International Cooperation

Prevention and Awareness-Raising

Data Collection and Research

Legislative Assistance

Strategic Planning and Policy Development

Criminal Justice System Response

Victim Protection and Support - TIP and SOM Model laws - Victim centered approach (supported within all 23 TIP technical assistance projects) - Promotion of Law enforcement – NGO Cooperation (e.g. regional project on fostering NGO – Law Enforcement cooperation in preventing and combating human trafficking in, from and to the Baltic Sea Region )

International Cooperation Regional workshops & Handbook on International Cooperation in TIP cases –Balkans; East Asia; Central Asia United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, OSCE Global Migration Group Inter-Agency Cooperation Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT)

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