The abolition of forced and compulsory labour

Abstract

The previous parts have dealt with the efforts of the ILO to induce compliance with international labour standards in general. In this chapter, the abolition of forced and compulsory labour is at the centre of the analysis. In contrast to other fundamental labour rights such as freedom of association or the elimination of child labour, forced labour is an issue area that has not received much scholarly attention so far. Moreover, examining the specific issue area of forced labour and its abolition, allows observing how the ILO works in practice in achieving compliance with a specific set of standards. The efforts of the ILO to achieve the successive abolition of forced labour comprises setting relevant standards, supervising these, determining adequate behaviour in terms of the instruments, and finally the application and implementation of these in practice. The chapter describes the historical context and the evolution of the relevant ILO standards Conventions No. 29 and 105, which define forced and compulsory labour and prescribe state behaviour for abolishing these practices. In a second step, the evolution of different forms of forced labour is presented, thereby examining the difficulties ILO member states have in putting Conventions No. 29 and 105 into practice. The extent of forced labour today suggests that non-compliance with the relevant ILO instruments is widespread and some cases severe. However, the case of forced labour also shows the complexity of the process of inducing compliance in practice. Once noncompliance is detected, it is not always sufficient to amend existing legislation, more often additional (state) action is required to put the forced labour instruments into practice, as predicted and proposed by the different compliance schools.