ILO defends report on ‘modern slavery’:

ILO defends report on ‘modern slavery’:

Context

• The International Labour Organization (ILO), produced a report titled ‘Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage 2017’ along with Australia-based Walk Free Foundation (WFF) showcasing the statistic of modern day slavery.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labour problems, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all.
• The UN member states which are not members of the ILO are Andorra, Bhutan, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, and North Korea.
• In 1969, the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize for improving peace among classes, pursuing decent work and justice for workers, and providing technical assistance to other developing nations.
• The ILO registers complaints against entities that are violating international rules; however, it does not impose sanctions on governments.
• Unlike other United Nations specialized agencies, the International Labour Organization has a tripartite governing structure – representing governments, employers, and workers .

WFF-AUSTRALIA

The Walk Free Foundation is an organization attempting to end contemporary slavery and human trafficking. The organization was founded by Andrew Forrest and Nicola Forrest. Its CEO is Nick Grono. It is known for its Global Slavery Index.

What problem does the government have with the report?

• Union government has questioned the authenticity of the report’s estimates.
• Union government made a remark saying that “neither the Central government was consulted before the study nor its credibility has been established.”
• The government is enquiring the basis on which the data has been verified for credibility as apparently it has been neither verified with any official data source.
• The government is firm that neither ILO nor any national governments have been consulted regarding the survey methodology.

What is the response of ILO?

• ILO in its defense said that the report doesn’t focus on specific countries but provides a global and regional picture of the situation.
• The report did not cover country-wise figures but a global figure, the study showed that 40.3 million people were victims of ‘modern slavery’ in 2016.
• The ILO does not recommend using these estimates to generate national statistics; however, the ILO encourages member-states to implement their own national surveys for which the ILO can provide tested tools and technical support upon request.

Rebuttal from the Labour and Employment Ministry

• The Labour and Employment Ministry’s rebuttal came following an official letter from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) asking the government to counter multiple international organizations on reports about slavery in India that can hurt India’s image and exports.
• The Centre is exploring a rebuttal at an international level through consultations with the Ministry of External Affairs and other departments.
• The Labour and Employment Ministry is also planning to conduct its own surveys on bonded labour in a bid to counter various estimates by private agencies.

Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage 2017

• The 2017 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery focus on two main issues: forced labour and forced marriage.
• The estimate of forced labour comprises forced labour in the private economy, forced sexual exploitation of adults and commercial sexual exploitation of children, and state-imposed forced labour.
• The estimates herein are the result of a collaborative effort between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). They benefited from inputs provided by other UN agencies, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• In the context of this report, modern slavery covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, other slavery and slavery like practices, and human trafficking.
• Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term that focuses attention on commonalities across these legal concepts. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.