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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:04 pm
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Results for bonded labor
5 results foundAuthor: Zhang, Sheldon X. Title: Looking for a Hidden Population: Trafficking of Migrant Laborers in San Diego County Summary: Although labor trafficking has received much attention in recent years, there is limited empirical research into the depth, breadth, and scope of the problem. The scarcity of reliable estimates on labor trafficking activities has long caught the attention of major international organizations and government agencies. Both policy makers and advocacy groups recognize that anti-trafficking campaigns cannot gain much credibility without the support of empirical evidence, and more importantly, reliable statistical estimates. However, empirical research on labor trafficking is no easy undertaking. It is expensive and faces major methodological challenges. Taking advantage of recent advances in sampling methodology as well as unique access to unauthorized migrant workers in San Diego County through a partnership with a community organization, this study attempts to answer some of the basic questions confronting current anti-trafficking discourse. The overarching goal of collecting empirical data that can produce valid estimates on the scope of labor trafficking activities was divided into the following two objectives: 1. To provide statistically sound estimates of the prevalence of trafficking victimization among unauthorized migrant laborers in San Diego. 2. To investigate the types of trafficking victimization experienced by these laborers. Details: San Deigo, CA: San Diego State University, 2012. 155p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 4, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/240223.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/240223.pdf Shelf Number: 127118 Keywords: Bonded LaborHuman Trafficking (California, U.S.)Illegal MigrantsLabor TraffickingMigrant Labor |
Author: Oosterhoff, Pauline Title: Using Participatory Statistics to Examine the Impact of Interventions to Eradicate Slavery: Lessons from the Field Summary: This CDI Practice Paper reflects on the use of participatory statistics to assess the impact of interventions to eradicate slavery and bonded labour. It deals with: (1) the challenges of estimating changes in the magnitude of various forms of slavery; (2) the potential of combining participatory approaches with statistical principles to generate robust data for assessing impact of slavery eradication; and (3) the practical and ethical questions in relation to working with people living within a context of modern slavery. The paper draws lessons from the realities of using participatory statistics to support the evaluation of a slavery eradication programme in North India. Details: Brighton, UK: Institute of Develoipment Studies, Centre for Development Impact, 2016. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Practice Paper no. 16: Accessed April 1, 2016 at: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/9582/CDIPracticePaper_16.pdf?sequence=5 Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/9582/CDIPracticePaper_16.pdf?sequence=5 Shelf Number: 138519 Keywords: Bonded LaborBonded LabourForced LaborHuman TraffickingModern Slavery |
Author: Oosterhoff, Pauline Title: The Modern Slavery Trap: Bonded Labour Summary: International enterprises, sex work, organised crime groups, and exploitative recruitment agencies have dominated the discussion on modern slavery in recent years. However, while this work is important, it is just the tip of the iceberg. It misses the diversity of relationships and perpetrators colluding to make modern slavery, and particularly bonded labour, a public secret in the twenty-first century. Across the world bonded labour is taking place in formal and informal industries, such as brick kilns or quarries and in restaurants, tea shops, nail salons, or carpet-making. In areas of South Asia, some families marginalised by customs and traditions are living in poverty and turning to illegal moneylenders to cover emergency costs, such as a sudden illness. This leads some to become trapped in a cycle of bonded labour. Financially illiterate, they are forced to pay off the debt by working for the moneylenders directly or for third parties linked to the moneylenders, who may be local landlords or businesses in local activities such as brickmaking, farming, stone breaking and garment making, and in some cases trafficking. Details: Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2018. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: IDS Modern Slavery Briefing: Accessed June 25, 2018 at: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/13764/Modern_Slavery_Briefing.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2018 Country: International URL: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/13764/Modern_Slavery_Briefing.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 150649 Keywords: Bonded LaborBonded LabourModern Slavery |
Author: LeBaron, Genevieve Title: The Global Business of Forced Labour: Report of Findings Summary: The era of globalisation has been characterised by a growth of the world's biggest retail and brand companies, coupled with a deepened concern regarding the presence of forced labour in global supply chains. Indeed, one of the gravest and growing risks that brand companies face is the use of forced labour, human trafficking, or other illegal labour practices within their supply chain. Research on this topic has focused almost entirely on the big brand businesses at the top of the supply chain, rather than the worksites that actually deploy and manage forced labour and exploitation, which usually involve much smaller and more informal business actors. However, the overwhelming and singular focus on multi-national corporations (MNCs) at the top of supply chains has hindered our understanding of some of the broader patterns surrounding the business dynamics of forced labour in the global economy. Designed to address this gap, the Global Business of Forced Labour project is a first-of-its kind international research study investigating the business models of forced labour in global agricultural supply chains. The project has systematically mapped the business of forced labour, focusing on case studies of cocoa and tea supply chains. Through extensive primary research in the cocoa industry in Ghana and the tea industry in India and with domestic and international business actors, the project generated an original dataset that sheds light on the drivers and patterns of forced labour in agricultural supply chains feeding UK markets. This dataset includes in-depth interviews with over 120 tea and cocoa workers, a survey of over 1000 tea and cocoa workers, and over 100 interviews with business and government actors. Summary of Findings Business of Forced Labour There is a coherent pattern of labour exploitation including forced labour at the base of global tea and cocoa supply chains. Tea and cocoa businesses profit from forced labour and exploitation in two main ways: Employers use forced labour to reduce their costs of doing business. Our research uncovers that employers systematically under-pay wages and under-provide legally-mandated essential services for workers. Employers are legally required to provide basic services for tea workers on permanent contracts and their families. However, our study found that 47% of tea workers do not have access to potable water and 26% do not have access to a toilet. Workers also reported being charged by employers for services like electricity but not receiving these. In the cocoa industry, employers seek to cut costs through a complex system of financial calculations, including fines (e.g. for failing to carry out mandatory unpaid labour), fees (e.g. for obtaining a job on a cocoa farm), and deductions (e.g. for costs of inputs like pesticides and safety equipment) to systematically under-pay workers and create situations of debt bondage. In both industries, these widespread forms of exploitation are also sometimes accompanied by physical violence, threats, verbal abuse, and/or sexual violence. Employers use forced labour to generate revenue. In the tea industry, employers seek to generate revenue by lending money or providing services to workers and charging high interest on debts, thus engendering situations of debt bondage. Situations of debt bondage are closely linked to the under-provision of services; most tea workers reported borrowing money to pay for food or medical care (which employers are legally required to provide). In the cocoa industry, employers seek to profit by forcing workers to carry out additional labour beyond the agreed terms and conditions of the work, such as working for free on the employer's other farmlands for periods as long as three months. Failure to perform this involuntary labour results in deductions from the worker's wages, fines, threats, or even dismissal. In both industries, these widespread forms of exploitation are also sometimes accompanied by physical violence, threats, verbal abuse, and/or sexual violence. Workers face severe constraints on their ability to exit exploitative tea plantations and cocoa farms. Although chocolate and tea companies are highly profitable, the tea and cocoa workers at the base of their supply chains are living far below the poverty line and are routinely subjected to abuse. According to the World Bank, the poverty line for lower middle-income countries such as Ghana and India is $3.20 (L2.35) per day. Tea workers' wages in India are as low as 25% of the poverty line amount and cocoa workers' wages are around 30% of the poverty line amount. Producers - tea plantation owners and cocoa farmers - claim they do not receive enough payment for their products to obey labour laws and pay the minimum wage. Details: Sheffield, UK: University of Sheffield, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, 2018. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 25, 2018 at: http://globalbusinessofforcedlabour.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Report-of-Findings-Global-Business-of-Forced-Labour.pdf Year: 2018 Country: International URL: http://globalbusinessofforcedlabour.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Report-of-Findings-Global-Business-of-Forced-Labour.pdf Shelf Number: 150650 Keywords: AgricultureBonded LaborDebt BondageForced LaborHuman Rights AbusesLabor ExploitationModern Slavery |
Author: Oosterhoff, Pauline Title: Participatory statistics to measure prevalence in bonded labour hotspots in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: findings of the baseline study Summary: The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) 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 nongovernmental organisations (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 3,466 households across 82 hamlets in locations covered by 14 NGOs. This is being 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 approximately two years after the data collection for this study has been completed. A central 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. The study does not extrapolate from this estimate to make an estimate of the prevalence beyond this intervention area. 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. A range of other indicators could therefore be generated from the causal factors emerging from the life story analysis. 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. The estimates from this participatory statistical analysis show the correlations of bonded labour with various factors. Where possible, conclusions have been drawn about whether this quantitative analysis corroborates certain widely held assumptions with regard to forms of bonded labour in India. Key findings are as follows: - Within the sample of 3,466 households, most households have a member in bonded labour. Among the 51% of the families that had people in bonded labour, 29% had all of the working family members in bonded labour and 22% had at least one enslaved family member. The interventions are clearly in the right spot. - There are huge geographic variations within our sample: in some intervention areas, the vast majority of households had some form of bonded labour (>95%), while in others the rate was less than 10%. - Within the intervention communities, the prevalence rate of households with at least one member in bonded labour was 53.0%. With a standard deviation of 0.4991032, and a desired confidence level of 90%, the corresponding confidence interval is ± 0.014, meaning that we can be 90% confident that the true population mean falls within the range of 51.72 to 54.51%. - Among the total number of 3,366 bonded labourers in 3,466 households, 568 were bonded labourers aged below 18 years and 467 of these were boys. Most of the boys who were involved in bonded labour worked outside the village. Adults in bonded labour worked more often inside the village. - Caste, gender, age, access to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) benefits, and loan-taking are the key factors at the individual and household level related to bonded labour in this hotspot. Within the hotspot as a whole there are different economic activities but there are currently few economic opportunities available that do not involve some form of bondage. - With regard to social status, most people in the intervention areas belonged to the Dalit (or Scheduled Caste) social category, followed closely by Other Backward Classes (OBC). - The data show a link between land ownership status and bonded labour. While 61.9% of landless households have at least one person in bonded labour, as many as 75.9% of landless households have every working member of the household in bonded labour. As the size of the land holding increases, the prevalence of bonded labour in those households decreases. Within the intervention communities in both states, most people have a stable lease for the house they live in. - Health expenses are the main reason for taking out a loan among all households in the intervention areas. - With regard to MGNREGA, as payment received for the number of days worked increases, the incidence of bonded labour decreases slightly. - Access to a bank account does not have any significant impact on the status of bonded labour. Details: Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies; Institute for Participatory Practices, 2017. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2018 at: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/13294/Participatory_statistics_to_measure_prevalence_bonded_labour_hotspots_Uttar_Pradesh_Bihar-Updated.pdf;jsessionid=F6499342A64338979F2609003F2B81A2?sequence=3 Year: 2017 Country: India URL: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/13294/Participatory_statistics_to_measure_prevalence_bonded_labour_hotspots_Uttar_Pradesh_Bihar-Updated.pdf;jsessionid=F6499342A64338979F2609003F2B81A2?sequence=3 Shelf Number: 153102 Keywords: Bonded Labor Bonded Labour Forced LaborModern Slavery |