ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL)

Forced Labour in 2012:

Global Estimate and

European Trends

Bangkok, June 2012

Collecting quantitative data

Global Estimate:

• Extrapolation from reported cases and non-reported

cases (using capture – recapture method)

National Surveys:

• Extrapolation from statistical surveys on forced labour

and trafficking

2

20.9 million people in forced labour

All regions are affected

4

11,700,000

1,600,000

3,700,000

600,000

1,500,000

1,800,000

Prevalence (per 1,000 inhabitants)

5

More women than men

6

More adults than children

7

With or without migration

8

Trends in the EU

• Most forced labour is in the private economy

• Majority of cases are for labour exploitation, rather than

sexual exploitation

• Most cases in domestic work, construction, agriculture

and garments manufacturing

• Average length of time spent in forced labour varies –

but on average (global average) nearly 18 months before

being rescued or escaping

9

Vulnerable populations

• Migrants

– From within EU and from outside EU

– Often representative of the larger migrant population

– Documented and undocumented

• Roma and traveler communities

• Reliance on intermediaries to arrange travel and job

placement

• Labour trafficking often takes place under a legal cover

10

Reporting

• Efforts to improve reporting and information sharing in

the EU

• National rapporteurs, a process accelerated by the

Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking

• Common indicators of trafficking (EC-ILO Project using

the Delphi methodology)

11

Ongoing challenges

• In some countries, most shelters are only for women, so

few places for men and for couples

• Prosecution rates remain low, with people prosecuted for

other crimes

• Limited awareness of frontline officers

12

“Hard to see, harder to count”

Survey guidelines to estimate forced labour

• operational definition of what constitutes forced labour,

and indicators with which to identify it

• steps to conduct a survey on forced labour

• sampling techniques

• minimum set of questions necessary to assess forced

labour

• guidance on data analysis

• ethical considerations with regard to research on forced

labour

13

For more information

14

Forced Labour Global Estimate: www.ilo.org/sapfl

Max Tunon

TRIANGLE Project Coordinator

ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

tunon@ilo.org