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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:23 pm
Time: 11:23 pm
Results for trafficking for labor
2 results foundAuthor: GRETA (Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings Title: 7th General Report on GRETA's Activities Covering the period from 1 January 20 31 December 2017 Summary: I am pleased to introduce the Seventh General Report on GRETA's activities and to highlight the on-going work of the Council of Europe in combating trafficking in human beings and vindicating the rights of victims of trafficking. The human rights-based approach to combating human trafficking is critical to all aspects of GRETA's work, recognising as it does that trafficking in human beings is a serious human rights violation, one that, as the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly noted, treats human beings as commodities to be bought and sold. This General Report covers the activities of GRETA from 1 January to 31 December 2017. The year 2017 marked further progress in the application of the Convention across Europe, with the ratification by the Czech Republic on 29 March 2017. All member States of the Council of Europe, with the exception of the Russian Federation, have now ratified the Convention, and Belarus is also a State Party. While the expansion in ratifications of the Convention is significant to ensure greater reach in our work, more effective implementation by States Parties of the Convention standards remains critical. Against a backdrop of millions of people forcibly displaced worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of people on the move in Europe, the risks of exploitation are great. Of particular concern are the risks faced by victims of trafficking on arrival in Europe, with many barriers in place to accessing protection and heightened risks of re-trafficking within Europe. The gender dimension of human trafficking, and gender inequality as both a cause and a driver of exploitation, is central to many of GRETA's country reports. The risks faced by children and young people remain of particular concern, as weaknesses in child protection systems in many countries lead to failings in ensuring timely responses to the rights and needs of migrant and asylum-seeking children at risk. Strengthening the impact of GRETA's work in combating human trafficking is critical and the report highlights examples of where implementation of Convention standards is securing incremental change. Legislative changes continue, as well as policy and practical measures to improve early identification of child victims, steps to provide assistance to male victims of trafficking, and more proactive approaches to ensure access to compensation and legal redress. In this Seventh General Report, GRETA highlights the particular challenges of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. Labour exploitation was chosen as one of the thematic focuses of the second evaluation round of the Convention because of GRETA's concern that Convention obligations were not being met, and that many victims of labour trafficking were not being identified as such nor granted access to assistance and protection. 2017 saw the adoption of the landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Chowdury and Others v Greece, in which the Convention and its Explanatory Report, together with GRETA's reports on Italy and Spain, were widely cited. The judgment is an important contribution to European human rights law in recognising the complex and subtle forms of coercion that underpin trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. The judgment is significant given GRETA's findings that many domestic courts fail to fully understand the gravity of labour exploitation or the nexus with human trafficking. As of the end of 2017, GRETA had adopted 42 country reports under the first evaluation round and 25 country reports under the second evaluation round. These reports highlight that in many States Parties, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is the predominant form of human trafficking identified. There is, however, an increase in the number of identified victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, and in several countries, labour trafficking has emerged as the predominant form of trafficking. While there are considerable variations in the number and proportion of labour trafficking victims among countries, all countries indicate an upward trend of labour exploitation. hese trends are of great concern to GRETA and highlight the urgent need for closer co-operation between States, civil society, trade unions and the private sector. GRETA has repeatedly stressed the need for comprehensive legislation on trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, including recognition of the irrelevance of the victim's consent to the intended exploitation, and the need for heightened attention to the abuse of a position of vulnerability. Trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation occurs in the formal and informal economies, with migrant workers particularly at risk. Men constitute most of the identified victims of labour trafficking, in sectors as diverse as agriculture, construction, hospitality and fisheries. Women are also victims of trafficking for labour exploitation, often in the more isolated setting of domestic and care work. The possibility of trafficking occurring in diplomatic households is now well recognised, and GRETA's country reports highlight examples of good practice in prevention of such exploitation and in overcoming the barriers presented by state and diplomatic immunity claims. Poverty and discrimination on grounds of 'race' or ethnicity, as well as migration status, continue to contribute to the risks faced by minority communities, including risks of labour exploitation. The increasing precariousness of work, and the risks encountered by seasonal and migrant workers in particular, are documented in several of GRETA's country reports. The fisheries industry is recognised as posing particular challenges to the resourcing and functioning of inspectorates and other oversight bodies. GRETA's reports highlight steps being taken to strengthen preventive measures, yet the limited oversight of agricultural and other sectors contributes to difficulties in outreach to those often most at risk of exploitation. Limited resources for labour inspectorates, restrictions on collective bargaining and restricted access to channels for legal migration all contribute to labour trafficking. Access to information and to legal assistance remains a challenge for many victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, and GRETA highlights the importance of ensuring that victims are not criminalised, and can secure access to compensation and effective legal redress. The move towards greater transparency in supply chains, with significant legislative developments as well as policy initiatives, is highlighted as a potentially useful tool to combat human trafficking. In 2017, GRETA again invoked its urgent procedure mechanism, undertaking a short country visit to Hungary, in response to concerns raised in relation to the identification and access to assistance and protection of victims of trafficking. The use of the urgent procedure ensures a more timely response to potentially serious violations of human rights. Combined with the one-year follow-up reporting by States Parties now adopted, GRETA's monitoring work is developing to be more responsive, timely and effective. Complementing GRETA's monitoring work is the continued expansion of the Council GRETA's recommendations. GRETA is also working with other Council of Europe bodies to strengthen the impact of its work, including with MONEYVAL to highlight the importance of financial investigations in disrupting trafficking networks, as well as with other international organisations and civil society to assist in the identification of victims of trafficking among asylum seekers and migrants. 2017 came to an end with images of human trafficking in Libya and concerns at labour exploitation of many migrants travelling en route to Europe. This highlights the urgent need for strengthened co-operation between states and prevention measures to combat exploitation and abuse. Details: Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe, 2018. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2018 at: https://rm.coe.int/greta-2018-1-7gr-en/16807af20e Year: 2018 Country: Europe URL: https://rm.coe.int/greta-2018-1-7gr-en/16807af20e Shelf Number: 149745 Keywords: Asylum SeekersForced LaborHuman TraffickingLabor ExploitationLabor TraffickingMigrantsSexual ExploitationTrafficking for Labor |
Author: Crowe, Sara Title: Human Trafficking on Temporary Work Visas: A Data Analysis 2015-2017 Summary: Over the course of this year, hundreds of thousands of laborers from around the world will be invited to our shores as guest workers. They will come in search of economic opportunity, or for a summer job and an adventure. As the debate over immigration rages on, these men and women will pick our fruits and vegetables, mow our lawns, care for our children and clean our homes. They will be here legally, as guests of the United States government, under temporary work visa programs that have existed for decades and grown steadily over that time. Many of these men and women will become victims of human trafficking. A study by Polaris based on data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified some 8001 individual victims of human trafficking from January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2017 who were here and working under temporary work visas. Overall, nearly half of the victims of labor trafficking reported to the National Hotline during this period whose immigration status was identified were foreign nationals holding legal visas. Human trafficking is notoriously underreported, meaning that the individuals whose cases were reported likely represents only a very small fraction of the number of actual victims. Regardless, even the number that we know about is shocking and unacceptable within the context of this population. Human trafficking flourishes in the gaps between legitimate systems, the spaces where law enforcement doesn't quite sync up with government and where social services fall just a little bit short. Undocumented immigrants are always extremely vulnerable to traffickers, who can unlawfully use threats of deportation and imprisonment to coerce and control. Guest workers, at least in theory, enjoy key additional protections around their recruitment and working conditions that are embedded in regulations and designed to minimize risk of exploitation. Clearly, that system is badly broken. The dysfunction is due in part to the patchwork nature of regulation and a lack of reliable, timely and adequately resourced enforcement of what regulatory structures do exist. But it is also the result of baking into the system one of the most powerful weapons for traffickers to control victims - the threat of deportation. The vast majority of these temporary visas are "tied," to the employer. If the worker leaves the job, he or she is immediately deportable. In this report, Polaris details how human traffickers are using workers under H-2A, H-2B and other popular temporary work visas as their personal ATM machines and along the way, making legitimate businesses, consumers and the U.S. government complicit in the $150 billion business of global human trafficking. Details: Washington, DC: Polaris, 2018. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 6, 2018 at: https://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/Polaris%20Temporary%20Work%20Visa%20Report.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/Polaris%20Temporary%20Work%20Visa%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 150494 Keywords: Human Trafficking Labor Trafficking Trafficking for LaborWork Visas |