The regulatory overview of the International Labour Organization in the fight against forced labor: from Conventions n. 29 and n. 105 to the 2014 Protocol and responsibility in transnational production chains

Abstract

In March 2024, the International Labour Organization (ILO) published the report Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour, which pointed to the alarming growth of profits derived from forced labour since 2014: an increase of 64 billion dollars (37%). This amount results both from the rise in the number of victims subjected to private labour exploitation and from commercial sexual exploitation. Average profit per victim also increased, reaching 10.000 dollars, compared to the 8.269 estimated a decade earlier. The report highlights that, on any given day in 2021, there were 27.6 million people in situations of forced labour worldwide. The persistence of this violation of human rights and economic justice standards reinforces the need to implement the 2014 Protocol to ILO Convention nº. 29, in addition to strengthening international governance in combating this practice. This scenario is further aggravated by the transnational nature of supply chains, which, in the context of neoliberalism, foster exploitation, particularly in peripheral countries. This paper examines the historical and normative evolution of the ILO’s actions against forced labour and contemporary slavery. Since its creation in 1919, the Organization has established fundamental conventions, such as nº. 29 and nº. 105. Later, in response to the challenges of globalization, it advanced with the 2014 Protocol and Recommendation nº. 203, which introduced measures of prevention, protection, and reparation. The analysis also considers the obstacles to the effectiveness of these norms and the limits between economic development and the protection of human rights in the world of work.