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GLOBAL ACTION TO COMBAT FORCED LABOURway to incorporate similar sessions into the trainingconducted by the National Police Academy, CivilServices Academy and other major public training institutions.A training programme under developmentin Punjab Province targets key labour departmentand other officials at provincial and district levels.Such training is expected to sensitize key officials,who can make a practical difference through actionon the ground, on bonded labour.354. In Pakistan, as well as in Tamil Nadu, India,the ILO is supporting the establishment and trainingof Vigilance Committees, which have the primary responsibilityat local level for the detection, release andrehabilitation of bonded labourers, but which oftenneed revitalization. In Tiruvallur District of TamilNadu, India, in close collaboration with the DistrictCollector’s office, the ILO conducted a training workshopin October 2003 for prospective members of theDistrict Vigilance Committee (DVC) and concernedgovernment and civil society partners, on the basis ofwhich a district-level action plan on bonded labour wasprepared. A training seminar in February 2004 withpanchayat leaders (village council) aimed to encouragecommunity-level monitoring of bonded labour.Already, 13 panchayat-level committees have been setup in the project area and others are in the process ofbeing formed. Similar work is planned at the projectsite in Andhra Pradesh, India, where a pilot “SpecialMobile Court” is proposed to address reported casesof bonded labour. In Pakistan, work has focused onSindh Province, where six DVCs have been set up inbonded labour-prone districts, and will be trained. InPunjab Province, a capacity-building programme washeld for all DVCs in early 2005, led by the provincialdepartment of labour, with ILO support.355. The ILO has already produced some materialsto support training delivery. These include the abovementionedmanual on monitoring of recruitmentagencies and the legal guidelines against human traffickingand labour exploitation; the GENPROM informationguide on preventing discrimination againstwomen migrant workers; 25 IPEC’s guide on genderequality and child trafficking; 26 and MIGRANT’smanual on developing safe migration systems. 27 TheTurin Centre is preparing a training manual on forcedlabour for ILO constituents, in collaboration with SAP-FL. An important new output in South Asia will be a“toolkit” on bonded labour, with guidance and toolsfor use by different stakeholders, including government,workers’ and employers’ organizations, microfinanceinstitutions, NGOs and human rights groups.356. A further vehicle for capacity building of ILOconstituents and others on forced labour issues is theProject Advisory Committees (PACs) set up to guideproject implementation and policy development. Forexample, the national-level Broad-Based Task Forceof the Nepal bonded labour project brings togetherrepresentatives from relevant Ministries (includingthose of Land Reform, Labour and Forestry) as wellas the social partners. It has actively supported projectimplementation in the face of a very challenging implementationenvironment. In Nigeria and Ghana,the PACs operate under the direction of the Ministryof Labour. The national agencies and task forces ontrafficking and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, aswell as the immigration and police authorities, playan active role in adapting project interventions to nationalneeds. PACs from countries participating insubregional projects can usefully be brought together.For example, members of the Russian Federation andTajikistan PACs engaged in constructive dialogueand agreed on future collaboration at a joint meetingin September 2004 in Moscow.357. In Israel, the ILO is working with the GeneralFederation of Labour in Israel (Histadrut) to promotethe inclusion of foreign workers, especially Chinesemigrants, as members with equal trade union rights.Recruited from rural areas, most Chinese migrantshave only a basic education and do not speak Englishor Hebrew, making it difficult for them to integrateinto Israeli society. Their precarious legal status aggravatesisolation and vulnerability to forced labourexploitation. The Histadrut aims to enhance Chineseworkers’ awareness of working rights, legal status andavailable local assistance. With SAP-FL support, afirst training programme for mainly Chinese constructionworkers was held in late 2004, providingpractical information on trade unionism, protectionof rights, the situation of migrant workers in Israeland elsewhere, and relevant ILO Conventions.Community-based preventionand rehabilitation358. ILO experience in community-based preventionof forced labour and rehabilitation of its victimsis most advanced in the fields of combating child traffickingglobally and of bonded labour, specifically inSouth Asia. The former issue will be treated in the2006 Global Report on child labour. This Report focuseson ILO experience in tackling bonded labourin South Asia.359. The ILO’s first project to tackle over-indebtednessand bonded labour in the South Asian subregioninvolved Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.Initiated by the Social Finance Programme (SFP) in25. ILO: Preventing discrimination, exploitation and abuse of women migrant workers: An information guide, Gender Promotion Programme(Geneva, 2003).26. N. Haspels; B. Suriyasarn: Promotion of gender equality in action against child labour and traffi cking: A practical guide for organizations(Bangkok, ILO, 2003).27. M. Abella: Sending workers abroad: A manual for low- and middle-income countries (Geneva, ILO, 1997).77
A GLOBAL ALLIANCE AGAINST FORCED LABOUR2000, it was based on the premise that appropriate microfinanceservices, adapted to the special situation ofvery poor households, should be a core component ofan effective strategy to prevent debt bondage. At thattime, approaching bonded labour from the perspectiveof preventing indebtedness was most acceptable topartner governments in the subregion. More recently,with SAP-FL and SFP joining forces, the project topromote the prevention and elimination of bonded labourin South Asia (PEBLISA) has partially reorientedits approach. In Nepal, a joint DECLARATION/SAP-FL and IPEC project addresses the specific issueof rehabilitation of former kamaiya families.360. Bonded labour arises from a web of relationsbetween worker and employer, including butnot limited to fi nancial dependency. Discriminationand social subordination are important root causes.Hence, PEBLISA seeks to develop financial andnon-financial interventions for both the preventionof bonded labour and the rehabilitation of releasedbonded labourers. Many components are commonto all project sites, but adapted to the local circumstances– primarily, the development and testing ofmicrofinance services that meet the special needs ofmainly women members of the target group, organizedin self-help groups (SHGs) (see box 3.4), accompaniedby various other interventions for social andeconomic empowerment.361. In Ranga Reddy District, Andhra Pradesh,India, the target group was chosen using selected indicatorsof vulnerability to debt bondage: these are thepoorest of the poor households (mostly dalits). 28 Themajority work as casual agricultural wage labourers,and women dominate the agricultural labour force.Landlords often prefer to employ children and youthas bonded labourers, as their cash advances tend tobe considerably lower than for adults. Operatingthrough a local dalit organization, the project federatedwomen’s savings and credit groups (SCGs) intocooperatives that function as microfinance institutions,owned and managed by community members.These have disbursed over 2,500 loans to meet consumptionand income generation needs. Bridge educationfor children, adult functional literacy, health careand awareness raising on social issues are complementarycomponents. Research has sought to understandbetter the factors that lead employers to use bondedlabour, as well as the gender dynamics. New projectcomponents include work with Vigilance Committeesand with workers’ and employers’ organizations.362. In Tamil Nadu, India, the project works indrought-prone Tiruvallur District, where agricultureis the mainstay of the rural economy. Brick kilns,power looms and rice mills are also significant employers.It targets over 2,200 of the poorest families(of which 12 per cent are headed by women), thevast majority belonging to Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes, all at risk of bondage or currentlywith bonded family members. At this project site,individual family savings boxes, where money canbe deposited on a voluntary daily basis, have provedparticularly popular – in many cases, more than doublingthe amounts saved, as well as inducing men tosave by cutting down their alcohol consumption.363. Street theatre has been used to encourage thereduction of unsustainable social expenditures; diversetraining is delivered, including market-oriented vocationalskills; an insurance scheme provides incentivesfor enrolment of children in schools and functionalliteracy classes are provided for adults. The increasedconfidence of women group members is reflected intheir demanding that the local government providetitle deeds for their house plots, pre-schools for childrenand ration shops for their villages. The genderdynamics within households are starting to changefor the better, thanks to initiatives to involve men inSCGs, joint action committees, literacy and vocationalskills training and “gender mapping” sessions. Newefforts to explore how SCGs might be linked to tradeunion structures, so as to build strong village-basedworker organizations, show considerable promise.364. The project’s work with Vigilance Committeeshas taken on heightened significance, given recent activismon bonded labour in rice mills in the district.The project is endeavouring to promote social dialoguebetween the different parties. A project-sponsoredmeeting in late 2003 was attended by around100 employer association representatives from thepower looms, rice mill and brick kiln sectors, andresulted in a series of resolutions. It represents a startin engaging employers in effective action to regulatethe system of advance wage payments. The involvementof employers’ and also workers’ organizations isessential if bonded labour practices are to be curtailedeffectively.365. Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, ACTRAV has alsobeen organizing women’s SHGs, through six tradeunion organizations. Almost 1,200 women’s groupsare meeting regularly to save and seek loans for income-generatingactivities, such as cattle raising,weaving and baking. Group members pay a nominalcharge for trade union membership. Collective actioncan be used to solve many problems. In onearea, collective action through the trade unionUnited Front for Rural Plantation and ConstructionWorkers (UNIFRONT) has brought about a 75per cent increase in the daily wage for women agriculturallabourers. In another area, workers in theweaving sector have also secured improvements inpay and conditions from their employers and contractors,and now plan to form their own cooperatives.Collaboration between ACTRAV and PEBLISApromises to bring additional benefits through mutualsupport and lesson-learning.28 “Dalit” is the term popularly used to refer to Scheduled Castes; literally, it means “the oppressed”.78
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A Global AllianceAgainst Forced Lab
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REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERALA glo
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ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . .
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Introduction1. Four years ago, the
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PART IUnderstanding and measuringfo
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UNDERSTANDING AND MEASURING FORCED
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