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Mahesh

20/03/24 14:24 PM IST

3.5 people for every 1,000 engaged in forced labour: ILO study

In News
  • A study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), released in Geneva recently, has found that forced labour generates illegal profits worth $36 billion per year.
Major highlights
  • The report, titled ‘Profits and poverty: The economics of forced labour’, also estimates that traffickers and criminals are generating close to $10,000 per victim, up from $8,269 (adjusted for inflation) a decade ago
  • Total annual illegal profits from forced labour are highest in Europe and Central Asia ($84 billion), followed by Asia and the Pacific ($62 billion), the Americas ($52 billion), Africa ($20 billion), and the Arab States (US$18 billion).
  • The report also said forced commercial sexual exploitation accounts for more than two-thirds (73%) of the total illegal profits, despite accounting for only 27% of the total number of victims in privately imposed labour.
  • After forced commercial sexual exploitation, the sector with the highest annual illegal profits from forced labour is industry, at US$35 billion, followed by services (US$20.8 billion), agriculture (US$5.0 billion), and domestic work (US$2.6 billion).
  • These illegal profits are the wages that rightfully belong in the pockets of workers but instead remain in the hands of their exploiters, as a result of their coercive practices.
  • There were 27.6 million people engaged in forced labour on any given day in 2021, the report said, meaning 3.5 people for every 1,000 people in the world.
  • Between 2016 and 2021, the number of people in forced labour increased by 2.7 million
  • The report also stresses the urgent need for investment in enforcement measures to stem illegal profit flows and hold perpetrators accountable.
  • It has recommended for strengthening legal frameworks, providing training for enforcement officials extending labour inspection into high-risk sectors, and better coordination between labour and criminal law enforcement.
Source- The Hindu

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