By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The world has reached a “major milestone” in the drive to combat modern slavery after Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a United Nations treaty against forced labour, the U.N. International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.
The legally binding 2014 pact - a protocol to the 1930 ILO Forced Labour Convention - compels nations to enact measures to prevent forced labour, protect victims and provide compensation.
The ILO - with the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - has led the “50 for Freedom” campaign to encourage governments to ratify the protocol and raise awareness about modern slavery.
Date Time
50 for Freedom forced labour campaign reaches landmark target
The milestone was met with the ratification of the treaty by Sudan on 17 March.
This international treaty commits governments to take effective measures to prevent forced labour, protect its victims and ensure their access to justice and remedies, including compensation.
“We reached a major milestone,” said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization. “A future of work that is free of forced labour, human trafficking, child labour and modern slavery is a future that we must shape together. Because forced labour has no place in the better normal we want to start building as of today.”
Invisible plight
March 13, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the extreme vulnerability of garment workers to the fore, as apparel brands responded to the economic crisis triggered by this unprecedented public health emergency by cutting orders and refusing to pay for those already in production.
The result has been mass job losses. An estimated 10 percent of the garment workforce suddenly found themselves unemployed, with many failing to receive any severance pay or even the wages already owed to them.
These workers are in production countries that often offer no social security or safety nets. They are desperate, starving, unable to pay rent or support their families. These workers are the backbone of the trillion-dollar global garment industry and yet those at the top, the brands, are only paying lip service to their plight.
International SOS: Global Duty of Care Awards 2021 Launched Focusing on Redefining Duty of Care in a COVID-19 World
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311006022/en/
(Photo: Business Wire)
Empowering the Future of Workforce Resilience: Redefining Duty of Care in a COVID-19 World.
There are three new Award categories; COVID-19 Ambassador (individual contributor), COVID-19 Agility Response and Inclusion Diversity. The Awards will be supported by a panel of sector-leading expert judges and a host of internationally recognised organisations.
The International SOS Foundation is proud to present Chubb, the world s largest publicly traded property casualty insurance company, as Gold sponsor of the 2021 Duty of Care Awards Summit.
Ready made garments workers seen at work in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on January 31, 2021. [Ahmed Salahuddin/NurPhoto via Getty Images]
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the extreme vulnerability of garment workers to the fore, as apparel brands responded to the economic crisis triggered by this unprecedented public health emergency by cutting orders and refusing to pay for those already in production.
The result has been mass job losses. An estimated 10 percent of the garment workforce suddenly found themselves unemployed, with many failing to receive any severance pay or even the wages already owed to them.
These workers are in production countries that often offer no social security or safety nets. They are desperate, starving, unable to pay rent or support their families. These workers are the backbone of the trillion-dollar global garment industry and yet those at the top, the brands, are only paying lip service to their plight.