Compendium of good practices in addressing trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation (2020)

A compendium of measures taken by States Parties to the Convention to combat trafficking in human beings

Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation is one of the most challenging aspects of “modern-day slavery”. It is challenging on many accounts: because differences arise in practice in the interpretation and application of labour standards and in defining labour exploitation, because victims prefer not to lodge complaints or stand as witnesses as they are often dependent on their traffickers for work and housing, and not least because combating trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation requires co-ordinated action between the State, civil society, trade unions and the private sector.3 Awareness among institutions of the specificities of trafficking for the purpose of la-bour exploitation has for a long time been limited compared to the level of awareness about trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. This clearly has implications with respect to the lack of proactive identification of situations of labour exploitation. The purpose of this compendium is to highlight the measures taken by States Parties to the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings to prevent and combat trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, and to provide food for thought and direction in their future efforts.