Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

By Sifelani Tsiko

MORE than 660 000 people in sub-Saharan Africa are still trapped in forced labour out of the estimated 12,3 million people in compulsory labour worldwide, says the International Labour Office in a new study.

The new report, entitled: "A global alliance against forced labour" indicates that 10 million people are exploited through forced labour in the private economy, rather than imposed directly by states.

The labour agency estimates that out of this total, 2,4 million people are victims of human trafficking.

Africa is still grappling with the problem and labour experts say in Nigeria, more than 15 million children are working of which up to 40 percent are at risk of being trafficked for forced labour, forced prostitution and armed conflict.

It is estimated that six million children do not attend school and two million work more than 15 hours a day.

In another study, it was reported that child labour affects 72 percent of Sierra Leone’s children with minors aged between 5-14 years working either in paid or unpaid work.

Almost three-quarters of children in this West African country are engaged in some kind of work with children being forced to work in mines and girls being kept sexual in slavery.

In most parts of Africa, worst forms of child labour include child prostitution, working in mines under extremely hazardous conditions, domestic work and begging.

The latest ILO report estimates that a whopping US$32 billion has been generated from the exploitation of trafficked women, children and men.

An average of US$13 000 is made from every single trafficked forced labour.

"Forced labour represents the underside of globalisation and denies people their basic rights and dignity," says ILO director general Juan Somavia. "To achieve a fair globalisation and decent work for all, it is imperative to eradicate forced labour."

The comprehensive report outlines the facts and the underlying causes of contemporary forced labour in all the world’s regions. Out of the 12,3 million people trapped in forced labour worldwide, 9,5 million forced labourers are in Asia – the region with the highest number, 1,3 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 660 000 in sub Saharan Africa, 260 000 in the Middle East and North Africa, 360 000 in industrialised countries and 210 000 in transition countries.

Forced economic exploitation in such sectors as agriculture, construction, brick making and informal sweatshop manufacturing is more or less evenly divided between the sexes.

However, the labour agency says forced commercial sexual exploitation entraps almost entirely women and girls.

In addition to this, the report shows that children aged less than 18 years bear the heavy burden making up 40 to 50 percent of all forced labour victims.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, the proportion of trafficked persons is less than 20 percent of all forced labour while in industrialised and transition countries and in the Middle East and North Africa trafficking accounts for more than 75 percent of the total.

Most forced labour today is still widespread in developing countries where older forms of forced labour are changing into new ones notably in the informal sector business activities.

Debt bondage affects minorities including indigenous populations that have long experienced discrimination on the labour market and locks them in a vicious cycle of poverty from which they find it even more difficult to escape.

The report also sheds new light on the emerging forms of forced labour affecting migrant workers in all the parts of the world.

It also examines the labour market conditions under which forced labour is most likely to occur, such as where there are inadequate controls over recruitment agencies and sub-contracting systems or weak labour inspection.

"Forced labour is the very antithesis of decent work, the goal of the ILO," says Somavia. "There is critical need for devising effective strategies against forced labour today. This requires a blend of law enforcement and ways of tackling the structural roots of forced labour, whether outmoded agrarian systems or poorly functioning labour markets."

The ILO describes forced labour as all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of a penalty and which the person has not entered into of his or her own free will.

It occurs where work is forced by the state, private companies or individuals who have the will and power to impose on workers by severe deprivations such as physical violence or sexual abuse, restricting people’s movement or imprisoning them, withholding wages or identity documents to force them to stay on the job.

It also occurs when workers are entangled in fraudulent debt from which they cannot escape.

Mechanism of force applied, the labour agency says, include debt bondage, slavery, misuse of customary practices and deceptive recruitment systems.

The ILO has adopted two Conventions on forced labour – the Forced Labour Convention of 1930, which calls for the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour and the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labour Convention adopted at a time when there was growing use of forced labour for political purposes.

Labour experts say forced labour is for the most part rooted in poverty, inequality and discrimination and driven by the pursuit of financial profit at the expense of the vulnerable, unprotected and unorganised workers.

The biggest culprits are private individuals, agents and enterprises working within the illegal or underground economy who are the main exploiters of forced labour.

"Getting rid of forced labour calls for action on many fronts. It requires gaining a clearer understanding of how forced labour operates in different contexts, of who is affected and how.

"It requires countries to adopt and implement strong laws and policies that outlaw the different forms of forced labour, protect the victims and allow appropriate punishment of the perpetrators," read part of the report.

Labour experts say raising public awareness of the risks of forced labour, providing alternative local income opportunities and regulating the activities of recruitment agencies, labour contractors and employers and rehabilitation and reintegration of rescued forced labour victims.

In the long term, forced labour prevention rests on targeted poverty reduction initiatives such as creating income earning activities, land reform and guaranteeing the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively.

"Although the numbers are large, they are not so large as to make abolishing forced labour impossible," Somavia says. "Thus, the ILO calls for a global alliance against forced labour involving governments, employers and workers organisation, development agencies and international financial institutions concerned with poverty reduction and civil society including research and academic institutions."

Where armed conflicts and ethnic tensions have flared up on the African continent, nations have been confronted with the forced recruitment of child soldiers, abductions and enslavement of whole sections of their population.

Trafficking towards Europe, of women and girls for prostitution and pornography, has prompted authorities into action.

Several African countries are in the process of adopting legislation to punish offenders and protect victims. In sub-Saharan Africa 80 percent of forced labour is imposed by private agents for economic exploitation, state imposed forced labour accounts for 11 percent and forced commercial sexual exploitation for eight percent.

Total annual profits generated by trafficked forced labour in Africa amount to US$159 million.

In Zimbabwe, child labour has been an issue mainly on farms and in homes owing largely to the negative impact of the HIV and Aids pandemic and poor economic performance.

Nigerian women trafficked to Italy for prostitution state that they are told that they owe 50 000 to 60 000 euros for their travel and are subjected to physical and psychological violence if they fail to follow orders until their debt is repaid in full.

There are extensive reports of children in Cote d’Ivoire being forced to work on plantations while in Ghana, one form of forced labour is the "kayaye" girls or head porters who migrate from the rural areas to urban centres to earn money for their marriages and are often exploited by those who offer them shelter.

The report makes the case that forced labour can be abolished through a combination of active policies, vigorous enforcement and a commitment to eradicating such treatment of human beings.

"With political will and global commitment over the next decade, we believe forced labour can be relegated to history," Somavia says.

http://www.zimbabweherald.com/index.php?id=43812&pubdate=2005-05-27