Consumers urged to help end exploited labour - IOM

Accra, Oct. 19, GNA - Eliminating the demand for trafficked and exploited labour to provide the cheap goods and huge profits desired by consumers and businesses the world over is critical if global efforts to end human trafficking are to be successful, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Launching a new campaign on Monday in Brussels on the third EU Anti-Trafficking Day and the start of a European ministerial conference on global EU action against human trafficking in Brussels, IOM is urging consumers in particular to play a greater role in ending human trafficking. Encouraging the public to question "What Lies behind the Things We Buy?" the campaign, designed by Saatchi & Geneva, hopes to kick-start a change in consumer behaviour, according a statement from IOM said. "For too long the belief has been that poverty and gender discrimination are root causes of human trafficking, which can only be tackled at source. This is short-sighted," says IOM Director General William lacy Swing.

"Quite simply, human trafficking is driven by the demand for unreasonably cheap labour and goods from around the world." It said as well as a television spot for broadcasters to air, the "Buy Responsibly" campaign is being launched in Brussels with an enactment of the spot involving an inverted giant shopping trolley imprisoning models representing trafficked migrant workers. It said ageing populations, falling birth rates and labour force participation in industrialized countries coupled with an over-supply of labour in developing countries without sufficient channels for legal migration, had paved the way for human traffickers to profit from the demand for cheap labour and services. The statement said some estimates put the number of people in forced or bonded labour and sexual servitude in the world at any given time at 12.3 million.

It said although focus had largely been on the issue of trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation, greater incidences were emerging of trafficking for labour exploited involving all ages and both sexes. Figures from IOM's Global Counter Trafficking Database, which tracks and details assistance provided by the Organization to victims, show that over the past 11 years, IOM has assisted an increasing number of people trafficked for labour exploitation with the largest increases in the last five years. This has largely invo lved men and boys trafficked to work in the agricultural, construction, fishing and domestic services sectors. The statement said up until now, global counter trafficking efforts had mainly focused on prevention and post-rescue assistance in source countries with little work done to tackle the equally critical demand side. "Some sectors of an economy, such as construction and agriculture, depend on irregular cheap labour for growth and profits. But economic growth shouldn't depend on exploitation," the IOM Director General said. He said despite best efforts by all those involved in countering human trafficking, indications were that it was at least widespread today as it was 10 years ago. "Clearly this is not acceptable. A change in mindset and practices among consumers and businesses alike needs to occur", Swing adds.