Forced labour constitutes the antithesis to decent work and violates
all core labour standards. Forced labourers are often victims of
discrimination based on ethnicity or sex, and cultural preconceptions
about inferiority of certain groups of people are therefore – together with
economic hardship – the main root causes of the entire phenomenon.
Up to 50 percent of all forced labour victims are children in forced child
labour, a “worst forms of child labour”. These workers are under extreme
exploitation and often isolated from their peers. Freedom of association
and the right to organise will seem a distant dream to them – let alone
their right to collective bargaining.
