Forced labour in Europe today is largely a result of human trafficking and irregular migration. It involves deception, coercion, threats or actual physical harm, and debt bondage. The numbers of convictions of traffickers and unscrupulous employers are low, so trafficking continues to grow and cases of exploitation get more and more severe.

Mariaam Bhatti, a victim of slavery in Ireland, said, “I suffered at the hands of my employer. I was treated as a slave. My passport was taken, I was not paid for my work, I was not allowed to go out of the house and I was threatened. I still have not found justice. My fear is that the authorities do not fully understand the modern day phenomenon and therefore they are unable to protect us.”

While most countries recognise trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in their criminal justice systems, there are gaps in their legislative environment in linking trafficking and labour exploitation. In January the Irish Goverment decided to to criminalise forced labour but there is still the need to dramatically increase the number of victims identified and supported and the number of cases prosecuted.

At the meeting, John Douglas, General Secretary of Mandate and Vice-President of ICTU stated, “We welcome the proposal by the government to bring forward a law to criminalise all forms of modern-day slavery. This sends a strong message to employers that inhuman treatment of workers will not be tolerated. This law needs to be monitored to ensure that victims of slavery are identified and steps need to be taken to ensure the phenomenon is clearly understood by the authorities.”

Gráinne O’Toole of MRCI stated, “Slavery remains a reality in Ireland. MRCI have uncovered over 180 cases of slavery in domestic, restaurant, agricultural, construction and entertainment sectors. It is imperative that we act to root out slavery, past and present in Ireland.”

Dr. Philipp Schwertmann, Trade Union Federation of Berlin-Brandenburg stated, “Trade unions are at the heart of the struggle of combating forced labour and trafficking. Trade unions and the state – including the Labour Inspectorate – have a responsibility to act, plan and organise for the eradication of slavery once and for all.”

This meeting was organized in the frame of the new trade unions-NGOs project coordited by the ITUC. The project focus on strenghtening partnerships and exploring new trends in trafficking – such as gender dimension of labour trafficking, more and more severe exploitation of increasingly large groups of exploited migrant workers in mainstream economic activities and new labour trafficking recruitment methods including the use of Internet and ICTs.

rafficking for labour exploitation in Europe needs to be better addressed. While actors in the field have only discovered a tip of an iceberg, any solution to the problem will require understanding of new trends, developing new responses and partnerships.

For that reason trade unions, NGOs and faith based organizations launched a partnership to contribute to anti-trafficking response in Europe. Through the new project ITUC, together with Anti-Slavery International and Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe as international partners, will improve responses to labour trafficking. The three organzations, as well as national partners in Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania and Spain will in particular focus on exploring new trends in trafficking – such as gender dimension of labour trafficking, more and more severe exploitation of increasingly large groups of exploited migrant workers in mainstream economic activities and new labour trafficking recruitment methods including the use of Internet and ICTs.

The FINE TUNE project is supported by the ISEC/EU DG Home grant and it forms a part of the ITUC global action for protection of rights of trafficked workers and strenghtening labour standards for decent work.

The MRCI press release is available here