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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:16 am
Time: 3:16 am
Results for labor practices
4 results foundAuthor: Verite Title: Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal and Corporate Supply Chains Summary: More than twenty million men, women and children around the world are currently believed to be victims of human trafficking, a global criminal industry estimated to be worth $150.2 billion annually. As defined in the US Department of State's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), the terms "trafficking in persons" and "human trafficking" refer broadly to "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion," irrespective of whether the person has been moved from one location to another. Trafficking in persons includes practices such as coerced sex work by adults or children, forced labor, bonded labor or debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Many different factors indicate that an individual may be in a situation of trafficking. Among the most clear-cut indicators are the experience of coercive or deceptive recruitment, restricted freedom of movement, retention of identity documents by employers, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions, forced overtime, isolation, and physical or sexual violence. The United States Government is broadly committed to combating trafficking in persons, as guided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, and the UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. In September 2012, the United States took an unprecedented step in the fight against human trafficking with the release of a presidential executive order (EO) entitled "Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts." In issuing this EO, the White House acknowledged that "as the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the world, the US Government has a responsibility to combat human trafficking at home and abroad, and to ensure American tax dollars do not contribute to this affront to human dignity." The EO prohibits human trafficking activities not just by federal prime contractors, but also by their employees, subcontractors, and subcontractor employees. Subsequent amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense Acquisition Regulations System (DFARS) in the wake of the EO will affect a broad range of federal contracts, and will require scrutiny by prime contractors of subcontractor labor practices to a degree that has not previously been commonplace. Top level contractors will now need to look actively at the labor practices of their subcontractors and suppliers, and to consider the labor involved in production of inputs even at the lowest tiers of their supply chains. Details: Amherst, MA: Verite, 2015. 152p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 31, 2015 at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/237137.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/237137.pdf Shelf Number: 134508 Keywords: Child LaborForced LaborHuman Trafficking (U.S.)Labor PracticesOrganized CrimeSupply Chains |
Author: Danzer, Alexander M. Title: Coerced Labor in the Cotton Sector: How Global Commodity Prices (Don't) Transmit to the Poor Summary: This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently. We identify the wage pass-through by capitalizing on Tajikistan's geographic variation in the suitability for cotton production combined with a surge in the world market price of cotton in 2010/11 in two types of firms: randomly privatized small farms and not yet privatized parastatal farms, the latter of which command political capital to coerce workers. The expansion in land attributed to cotton production led to increases in labor demand and wages for cotton pickers; however, the price hike benefits only workers on entrepreneurial private farms, whereas coerced workers of parastatal enterprises miss out. The results provide evidence for the political economy of labor coercion and for the dependence of the economic lives of many poor on the competitive structure of local labor markets. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2016. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper no. 9971: Accessed June 8, 2016 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp9971.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Tajikistan URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp9971.pdf Shelf Number: 139316 Keywords: Forced LaborLabor PracticesPoverty |
Author: Crates, Emma Title: Building a Fairer System: Tackling Modern Slavery in Construction Supply Chains Summary: The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is calling for greater industry collaboration to eradicate unfair labour practices. Clients and tier one organisations need to take greater responsibility for their supply chains. Priority should be given to tackling illegal recruitment fees, according to a new report Building a fairer system: tackling modern slavery in construction supply chains, launched today (Wednesday 13 July). The report, produced in consultation with a number of businesses and NGOs, including Amnesty International, Verite, Engineers Against Poverty and the Institute for Human Rights and Business, examines the root causes of slavery, and sets out priority actions for moving the industry towards greater transparency. Slavery remains a problem hidden in many sectors. The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 21 million people in forced labour around the world, generating profits in the private economy of $150 billion. Interpol estimates that only 5 to 10 per cent of cases are ever reported. With its fragmented supply chains, opaque procurement processes and high demand for migrant labour, the construction sector faces a unique set of challenges in tackling human rights abuses. It is a priority area for the UK's first Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland OBE, who writes a foreword for the report. Building a fairer system examines how workers from developing countries become tricked or coerced into paying illegal and extortionate recruitment fees, and, once in debt, become vulnerable to exploitation in their place of work. Abuses range from forced or bonded labour, late payment, unsanitary living conditions, unfair deductions from wages, withheld passports and loss of freedom of movement, lack of representation, violence, intimidation and physical abuse. The report also examines how faults in the procurement process allow exploitative practices to remain hidden in building materials supply chains. It includes a series of case studies and recommendations from organisations that are working to shift cultural practices and norms: How ethical recruitment firm FSI Worldwide‘s integrated cross-border operations are eradicating illegal recruitment fees The steps that CH2M has taken to implement a new global worker welfare policy Hewlett Packard’s move to direct labour Qatar Rail’s worker welfare strategy Marshalls’ ten-year initiative to protect vulnerable children and migrant workers in stone quarrying communities Bechtel’s "bottom up" approach to tackle exploitation in metal mining. Details: Bracknell, UK:Chartered Institute of Building, 2016. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2016 at: https://policy.ciob.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CIOB_Modern_Day_Slavery_WEB.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://policy.ciob.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CIOB_Modern_Day_Slavery_WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 146971 Keywords: Construction IndustryIllegal PracticesLabor PracticesMigrant WorkersModern SlaverySupply Chains |
Author: Verite Title: Recommendations for Addressing Forced Labor Risk in the Cocoa Sector of Cote D'Ivoire Summary: Forced Labor - and human trafficking for forced labor - have been documented as recently as 2018 in the cocoa sector in Cote d'Ivoire, with one recent study by the Walk Free Foundation and Tulane University estimating the number of victims at approximately 2,000 children and nearly 10,000 adults. In late 2016, Verite completed a qualitative rapid appraisal study to understand the nature of the root causes of forced labor in the Ivoirian cocoa sector using an indicator-based approach grounded in methodological guidance from the International Labor Organization. Verite's research found that some cocoa workers may be at risk of forced labor due to deception or other exploitation in the course of their recruitment, and may face debt bondage and other risks once at their workplaces on cocoa farms. Isolation, nonpayment or exploitative terms of payment, induced indebtedness, and other factors can potentially compound workers' vulnerability to forced labor. Verite found that migrants (from Burkina Faso, Mali, and non-cocoa producing areas of Cote d'Ivoire) who are carrying debt related to their recruitment and migration, and who are relatively early in their employment tenure in the cocoa sector, are the workers most likely to be at risk for these issues. The findings from Verite's research are published separately in the report Assessment of Forced Labor Risk in the Cocoa Sector of Cote d'Ivoire. With support from the International Cocoa Initiative, and in consultation with a range of industry, government, and civil society actors, Verite used these findings as the basis to develop the set of recommendations presented here. Details: Amherst, MA: Author, 2019. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2019 at: https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Verite-Recommendations-Forced-Labor-in-Cocoa-in-CDI.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Africa URL: https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Verite-Recommendations-Forced-Labor-in-Cocoa-in-CDI.pdf Shelf Number: 155495 Keywords: Child Labor Cocoa Industry Forced Labor Human Rights Abuses Labor Practices Modern Day Slavery |