Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union at the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference concerning a Recommendation to supplement the Forced Labour Convention No 29, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation

As part of the objective of continuing and strengthening existing successful practices of cooperation between the Union and its Member States and in line with the rules of the Treaties, this proposal aims at establishing the Union position at the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference, as regards a Recommendation to supplement the Forced Labour Convention No 29, 1930 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The Forced Labour Convention No 29, 1930, of the ILO, hereinafter "the Convention", is one of the eight fundamental Conventions of the ILO - the core international labour standards - and is considered as a Human Rights instrument. In adopting the convention in 1930, the International Labour Conference called upon member States to suppress the use of forced labour within the shortest possible period, and to criminalize the offence. Yet, over 80 years later, and despite almost universal ratification of the Convention, the practice still exists, albeit in different forms to those that provoked such concern in the early twentieth century, with the ILO estimating that at least 20.9 million people are victims of forced labour globally.

The aim of the ILO Recommendation to be considered by the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference, hereinafter "the Conference" is to address implementation gaps to advance prevention of trafficking for labour exploitation as well as protection and compensation of victims of forced labour.

The adoption of a Protocol on the same subject is also on the agenda of the Conference and is subject to a separate Recommendation for a Council Decision authorising the opening of negotiations.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)239: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:239:FIN

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