Earth: Come for the capitalism, stay for the slavery.

[billyoc]

ILO report warns of forced labor growth during economic crisis

Brussels, 12 May 2009 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has welcomed a new ILO Global Report on forced labour worldwide, which will be submitted to the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference in Geneva in June.

Entitled “The Cost of Coercion”, it details, among other aspects, the growing number of unethical, fraudulent and criminal practices that can lead people into situations of forced labour, and calls for increased efforts to eradicate these forms of exploitation. The report also charts the significant international and national progress in reducing and preventing forced labour, but warns of the possible negative impacts of the global economic and jobs crisis on efforts to eliminate it.

The report’s USD 20 billion estimate of the “opportunity cost” of the coercion of workers affected by these abusive practices, in terms of lost earnings, puts the economic case alongside the clear moral andlegal imperatives to eliminate forced labour.

It also points out that among intensified international and national efforts to reduce and prevent forced labour, are new laws and policies at national and regional levels as well as growing provision of social protection for those most at risk of forced labour and trafficking. Inaddition, it offers much-needed guidance and expertise on effectivemeans to combat these practices.

...

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/ilo-report-warns-of-forced-labor-growth-during-economic-crisis/

[babylonsister]

1. Oh, puhleeze! nt

[imdjh]

2. The definition is going to piss some people off.

23. Forced labour cannot be equated simply with
low wages or poor working conditions. Nor does it
cover situations of pure economic necessity, as when
a worker feels unable to leave a job because of the
real or perceived absence of employment alternatives.
Forced labour represents a severe violation of human
rights and restriction of human freedom, as defined
in the ILO Conventions on the subject and in other
related international instruments on slavery, practices
similar to slavery, debt bondage or serfdom.