The Cost of Forced Labor, Exploitation and Human Trafficking

This Social Development Brown Bag Lunch is part of the Conflict Crime and Violence Cluster's (CCV) continued work to promote an improved understanding of the role of CCV within the development context and promoting effective, practical strategies to reduce and prevent CCV through the World Bank's work.

In its May 2009 report “The Cost of Coercion,” the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that the “opportunity cost” of coercion to the workers affected by forced labor, in terms of lost earnings, now reaches over $20 billion. It presented a powerful economic argument, as well as a moral imperative, as to why governments and international finance and development organizations should accord higher priority to ensuring that all people are working in freedom. Yet in many places, the legal impunity of slaveholders and traffickers persists because forced labor is hidden in plain sight - undermining accountable government and rule of law.  This means that where there are concentrations of forced labor, agencies designing and implementing development programs need to understand the social and cultural contexts in which it operates and be skilled in responding to the presence of slavery.

This BBL invites Free the Slaves' Freedom Award winners to share their research findings and their experience to eradicate bonded labor. The first speaker Roger Plant, former head of the ILO Forced Labor unit that produced "The Cost of Coercion," will highlight ways in which in certain economic sectors and countries, forms of forced labor and exploitation are a constraint on development, harming progress against poverty. Roger Plant is in the U.S. to receive the William Wilberforce Freedom Award 2010 for his outstanding achievements against slavery, especially while at the ILO. The second speaker Kiran Kamal Prasad, Founder and Coordinator of JEEVIKA, will share his experience of starting the courageous movement against bonded labor and provide insight to the impacts of bonded labor within many villages in Karnataka, South India. He will also talk about the measures needed to enable bonded laborers’ freedom and the wider benefits of their economic and social participation. JEEVIKA is the recipient of the Harriet Tubman Freedom Award 2010 for its contribution towards eradication of slavery in the state.

Tuesday, November 9th || 12:30 - 2 p.m. || MC9-100

Participants:

  • Speakers:
  • Roger Plant, Former Head of the ILO Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour and Consultant at the Asia Development Bank, Recipient of William Wilberforce Freedom Award 2010
  • Kiran Kamal Prasad, Founder and Coordinator of JEEVIKA, Recipient of Harriet Tubman Freedom Award 2010

Chair: Cyprian Fisiy, Director, Social Development Department

Discussant: Varun Gauri, Senior Economist, Human Development, Development Research Group