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Should aid agencies set their sights on modern slavery?

Given that this is the nub of it, it is wholly bizarre that the global estimates barely mentions the Forced Labour Protocol, an international law agreed in 2014. Because this protocol answers that very question.

The Forced Labour Protocol is about several things. But at its heart, it requires those governments that ratify it to commit to developing, with businesses and trade unions, action plans to combat modern slavery and human trafficking. In other words, it is centrally about process. It is about the how of combatting slavery, rather than the what.

The problem is, not many countries have ratified it – 59 at last count. If authors of reports as high profile as the Global Estimates continue to forget about it, it is difficult to imagine that list of countries growing fast.

Money is almost certainly why some countries are hesitating; any meaningful action plan comes with a high price tag. Who will pay, for example, for student grants so that girls can go to school without their families becoming more indebted? Or for hiring more labour inspectors to ensure that workers have decent work with a living wage? For some countries, particularly in the Global South at times of economic downturn, the answer must be ‘not us, not now'.

Orient aid budgets to reducing slavery

This is where those development and humanitarian policy makers and practitioners, who rarely deign to think about slavery, need to step up to the plate. Many aid programmes have shown the impact that direct cash transfers can have on poverty. With some more careful targeting on the 10 million currently in , they could also demonstrate the impact that such approaches could have on slavery.

Furthermore, commitments by development policy makers to open new budget lines in their aid programmes to fund credible action plans would be a considerable incentive for governments that have not ratified the Forced Labour Protocol to do so, and for those who have only tinkered with action plans to seriously engage.

Given that any serious action plan must address the challenge of expanding access to decent work, the action plans of the Global South could be complemented by anti-slavery action plans in the Global North that include domestic and transnational legislation to prevent businesses from squeezing suppliers in their supply chains. Decent work would also enhance the impact of direct cash transfers by reducing both the pressure on individuals to migrate and the risk of indebtedness.

Approaches such as these would be much better use of domestic and foreign aid budgets than recent right-wing efforts to waste tax-payers' money on punitive measures to prevent migration overseas.

If we're to see a real and measurable reduction in slavery before the next global estimates are released in five years' time, policy makers will have to pay careful attention to the processes of slavery reduction, customised and financed to meet the national and regional challenges. For now, when it comes to anti-slavery action, policy makers are merely wringing their hands when they are not sitting on them.

 

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original location.

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PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.

 

EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.