Combating Slavery, Forced Labour and Human Trafficking. Are Current International, European and National Instruments Working?. Issue 4 (29th November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Marx, Axel; Wouters, Jan
• Is Part Of: Global policy. Volume 8:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 495
• Page End: 497
• Publication Date: 2017-11-29
• Subjects: Globalization -- Periodicals; International relations -- Periodicals; World politics -- Periodicals; 327.1705
• DOI: 10.1111/1758-5899.12506
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1758-5880

Abstract

Abstract: All throughout history, slavery has been a constant and a key factor in economic development. Also for many centuries slavery and forced labour was legal. Only from the beginning of the 20th century onwards slavery became illegal and criminalized. Many international commitments were made to address the issue of forced labour and slavery. However, despite these international legislative efforts slavery, forced labour and human trafficking still persist today. New regulatory instruments have been developed in recent years to further enforce these international commitments. These instruments aim to force private and public actors to comply with the international conventions. Little is known about their effectiveness. Do these initiatives have any impact? This special section seeks answers to this question by analysing different instruments and their implementation. Abstract : All papers show that there is a significant implementation deficit which makes it difficult to hold corporate actors to account. If the target of the total elimination of forced labor and slavery, as laid down in the SDGs, is to be reached, international regulatory actors and governments worldwide should urgently step up their actions.