Modern slavery

Forced labour generates annual profits of $150b globally

ILO report finds the highest profits are in Asia and the Pacific and forced sexual exploitation. Viet Nam has no comprehensive studies on this issue.

Press release | 20 May 2014
HANOI (ILO News) – Forced labour in the private economy world-wide generates US$150 billion in illegal profits per year, with the highest profits (more than one third of the global total) in Asia and the Pacific, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The ILO report, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour, said two thirds of the estimated total of $150 billion, came from commercial sexual exploitation, while the remainder resulted from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities.

“Forced labour is bad for business and development and especially for its victims. Our new report adds new urgency to our efforts to eradicate this fundamentally evil, but hugely profitable practice as soon as possible,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

The new figure is based on ILO data published in 2012 that estimated the number of people in forced labour, trafficking and modern slavery at 21 million.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number (56 per cent of the global total). However, annual profit per victim in the Asia-Pacific region ($5,000 per victim) is the second lowest in the world. The highest is in the developed economies ($35,000 per victim) and the lowest in Africa ($3,900).

The ILO data indicate that more than half of the people in forced labour world-wide are women and girls, primarily in commercial sexual exploitation and domestic work, while men and boys are primarily in forced economic exploitation in agriculture, construction, and mining.

Profits per victim are highest in forced sexual exploitation ($21,800 per year per victim), which can be explained by the demand for such services and the prices that clients are willing to pay, and by the low capital investments and low operating costs associated with this activity.

The report highlights income shocks and poverty as the main economic factors that push individuals into forced labour. Other factors contributing to risk and vulnerability include lack of education, illiteracy, gender and migration.

“If we want to make a significant change in the lives of the 21 million men, women and children in forced labour, we need to take concrete and immediate action,” the ILO Director-General said. “That means working with governments to strengthen law, policy and enforcement, with employers to strengthen their due diligence against forced labour, including in their supply chains, and with trade unions to represent and empower those at risk.”

Other ILO recommendations include:

• Bolstering social protection floors to prevent poor households from abusive lending or indenture in the event of sudden income shocks;

• Investing in education and skills training to fortify job opportunities for vulnerable workers;

• Promoting a rights-based approach to migration to prevent irregular employment and abuse of migrant workers; and

• Supporting the organization of workers, including in sectors and industries vulnerable to forced labour.

According to the ILO, forced labour is all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which that person has not offered himself voluntarily. The indicators of forced labour include:

• Abuse of vulnerability
• Deception
• Restrict of movement
• Isolation
• Physical and sexual violence
• Intimidation and threats
• Retention of identity documents
• Withholding of wages
• Debt bondage
• Abusive working and living conditions
• Excessive overtime.


Forced labour in Viet Nam: an unclear picture


• Viet Nam has no comprehensive studies on forced labour.

• Although Viet Nam’s laws prohibit forced labour, sanctions against forced labour, especially penal sanctions, have not been stipulated in a comprehensive, adequate and effective way.

• According to an official report from the Vietnamese Government to the ILO, a total of 131 cases of human trafficking in the country were prosecuted, involving 237 defendants in 2011. It was an increase from the previous year, with 124 cases involving 207 defendants. The majority of these cases involved trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation because cases of trafficking for forced labour in economic sectors are not prosecuted as trafficking crime under Viet Nam’s laws.

• As international labour migration has been on a rise in Viet Nam, migrant workers with inadequate understandings of safe migration are at risk of forced labour. According to the Department of Overseas Labour, they receive approximately 300 requests, including complaints, from migrant workers each year. Most of the complaints are about high costs (which could lead to debt bondage), unfair wage deductions, placement in jobs different to which they was informed before departure by the recruitment agencies, which fall into ILO indicators of forced labour.

• The ILO has two conventions on forced labour – the Forced Labour Convention 1930 and subsequent Abolition of Forced Labour Convention 1957. Viet Nam ratified the former in 2007.