Trafficking of Migrant Workers from Romania: Issues of Labor and Sexual Exploitation

Part of a major research project on the forms of forced labor today developed by the ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL), this paper argues that trafficking for labor exploitation is an emerging issue in Europe and in particular in Romania. Features a detailed comparison of living conditions prior to the emergence of immigration, trafficking, and/or forced labor

Participatory Statistics to Measure Prevalence in Bonded Labour Hotspots in Tamil Nadu: Findings of the Base- and Endline Study

This report documents the findings of the Institute of Development Studies’ (IDS) and its partner, ‘Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices’, programme of research, learning and evaluation of the Freedom Fund funded operational work in a ‘modern slavery hotspot’ in Tamil Nadu to reduce the prevalence of bonded labour in the states of Tamil Nadu. Research was undertaken in this programme between 2016 and 2019 by IDS and Praxis Institute teams.Freedom Fun

Participatory Statistics to Measure Prevalence in Bonded Labour Hotspots in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: Report of Preliminary Findings of the Baseline Study

The Institute of Development Studies has been carrying out a programme of research, learning and evaluation in relation to the Freedom Fund ‘hotspot’ in northern India, a project that seeks to reduce bonded labour in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The work for this baseline study builds upon scoping visits comprising interviews with NGOs, focus groups with community members, field observations, the participatory collection and analysis of 353 life stories to identify the most significant indicators of change, and the generation of a baseline of participatory statistics of 3466 households across 82 hamlets in locations covered by 14 NGOs. This will be followed by the rollout of a systemic action research programme which combines stakeholders analysing and developing solutions to their problems with follow-up participatory statistical analysis. We will conduct an end-line survey two years after the data collection for this study has been completed. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of bonded labour in the selected intervention communities of the Freedom Fund hotspot in northern India. Prevalence data help mainly to understand the profile of families in bonded labour and any correlations with different variables. The analysis of life stories provided a better insight into the life situations of families in bonded labour and explored questions of why and how. With clear causal factors emerging from the life story analysis, the current prevalence study was able to focus on these important indicators. The team facilitated a discussion on the results at the end of the data collection process in each site. These discussions focused on the reasons for the differences in prevalence results using the tallied-up data to explore how gender, age and caste dynamics shape bonded labour, with most adults in bonded labour working inside the village; most boys in bondage working outside the village; and a group of families with all members in bonded labour working outside the village.Freedom Fun

Slavery in Indias Brick Kilns & the Payment System

The brick-making industry in India is vast. It is estimated that there are upwards of 125,000 functioning brick kilns in India, employing an estimated 10-23 million workers. In our work we have found endemic levels of debt-bondage and the worst forms of child labour, despite both being prohibited in the Constitution of India, numerous domestic laws and international law. This report discusses some of the underlying factors that perpetuate the cycle of slavery in India's brick kilns, in particular the way brick kiln moulders are recruited and paid in the kilns, which is critical to understanding the system of power relations which keep workers poor and vulnerable to debt-bondage, child labour and under the control of employers. These common practices – payment of workers as a family unit according to a piece rate, payment of advances, withholding of wages and payment below minimum wage - must be tackled, to address the constant poverty and marginalisation which leads to exploitation and slavery. Anti-Slavery International and Volunteers for Social Justice (VSJ) have undertaken this research report to illustrate exactly how these employment systems work to trap people in bondage and/or child labour, in the hope that the various stakeholders – government, unions, brick kiln owners, workers, oversight bodies, non-government organisations and the international community – will agree meaningful reform to the sector. The report focuses on brick kiln moulders only (patheras), who form the majority of the workforce at brick kilns in Punjab, and who mould and dry the bricks from clay. The findings of this report are based on two primary data sources, using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods

Spartan Daily, April 3, 1984

Volume 82, Issue 45https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7163/thumbnail.jp