Propozycja definicji pracy przymusowej – projekt art. 115 § 22b Kodeksu karnego

Abstract

Many legislations struggle with defining forced labour. There is not much help from international law, since the only regulation in this matter is the 1930 International Labour Organisation Convention No. 29, which is out of date and not fit for the current needs. The lack of a clear definition of forced labour is one of the main obstacles making this phenomenon (which is becoming increasingly common nowadays) so difficult to identify for law enforcement agencies, which is why its perpetrators are so rarely brought to justice. There are many discussions about whether forced labour should be construed as a separate offence or whether it is (and should be) understood as a form of human trafficking (as many international documents suggest). The authors of this paper prefer the latter view. We believe that such a solution is more productive (especially in the Polish perspective), because Poland has developed a whole system of counteracting human trafficking and providing assistance to its survivors. In addition, law enforcement agencies are well trained in identifying this phenomenon, while a legal definition of forced labour will be an additional (currently lacking) element that can make their efforts in fighting this offence more effective.