Labour Exploitation Trafficking and Migrant Health

Each of the selected study countries – Argentina, Peru and Kazakhstan – has destination locations
for either international or internal trafficking into these sectors. In Argentina, the capital, Buenos
Aires, and its environs host a growing textile sector where individuals, including a majority of Bolivian
migrants to Argentina, are drawn into small- and large-scale production work, mostly informal, that
exposes them to various occupational and other hazards, including violence. 19 In Peru, the Madre de
Dios region has a well-known gold mining sector that includes legal medium- and large-scale mines
as well as artisanal and small-scale mines that are often informal or illegal and that lure high numbers
of internal migrant labourers, particularly those from poor rural areas. Kazakhstan has had a rapid
growth in the construction industry; this has drawn migrants from other countries in Central Asia.
Workers in each of these sectors – textiles, gold mining and construction – are frequently exposed to
serious health hazards, potential abuse and deprivation.
The multiple opportunities for exploitation of migrant workers engaged in work in low-skilled sectors
mean that common hazards and occupational health risks specific to the sector are likely to be
exacerbated and assistance needs greater. 20
As concerns about the human effects of global trade, increasingly mobile and precarious labour forces
and extreme levels of exploitation – including human trafficking – have become more prominent in
international dialogues, including within the Sustainable Development Goals, there is now a need for
a stronger evidence base to understand the links between low-skilled labour migration and human
trafficking and health in order to feed into appropriate and effective responses.
Study objectives
Aim
The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the experiences of exploitation and exposures to
occupational risk (both physical and psychological), and how these impacted the health of trafficked
persons and exploited migrant workers in Argentina, Peru and Kazakhstan working, respectively, in
textiles, artisanal gold mining and construction.
Objectives
The study research objectives were:
1. To identify, through literature reviews, occupational risk exposures and their impact on health
in selected sectors according to each country;
2. To explore and describe, through semi-structured interviews, experiences and perceptions
of exploitation, occupational risk exposures and health impacts among identified trafficked
persons and exploited migrant workers in selected labour sectors; and
3. To compare experiences of exploitation, health risks and health impacts among identified
trafficked persons and exploited migrant workers in selected labour sectors and across
countries.
This report presents the results from interviews with the study participants. These interviews explored
interviewees’ experiences of exploitation and the health hazards and exposures they faced, as well as
the impact of this on their health.
19
Fabiana Frayssinet, “Garment sweatshops in Argentina an open secret”, Inter Press Service, 30 May 2015, Buenos Aires. Available from
www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/garment-sweatshops-in-argentina-an-open-secret/. Accessed 2 November 2015.
20
Cathy Zimmerman and Marc B. Schenker, “Human trafficking for forced labour and occupational health”, Occupational and
Environmental Medicine 71, no. 12 (2014), pp. 807–808, doi: 10.1136/oemed-2014-102452.
Labour Exploitation, Trafficking and Migrant Health
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