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U.S. Department of Labor Office of Child Labor, Forced
Labor, and Human Trafficking
IVLP Presentation 2015Program Topic: Trafficking in Persons
Presentation Overview
• OCFT: History and Guiding Standards• Research• Technical Cooperation• OCFT Counter-Trafficking Activities
Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) Organizational Chart
Brief History of DOL-OCFT
• 1993: Congress requests that DOL conduct research and report on child labor around the world.
• 1995: ILAB receives its first Congressional appropriation to carry out technical cooperation projects.
Guiding Standards
ILO Convention 182, Worst Forms of Child Labor
• Slavery, sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom, forced or compulsory labor, forced child soldiers
• Prostitution and pornography• Illicit activities, in particular drug production and
trafficking• Work which harms the health, safety or morals of children
Guiding Standards
ILO Convention 29,
Forced or Compulsory Labor
• Defines Forced or Compulsory Labor– Work or service – Exacted under menace of a penalty– Coerced (involuntary)
OCFT Focus Areas
•Research
•Technical Cooperation
Research
International Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports
International Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports: TDA Report
International Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports: TVPRA Report
International Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports: EO Report
Purpose of ILAB Reports
• Respond to Congressional and Executive mandates for reporting on international child labor and forced labor.
• Demonstrate that abuses of fundamental human rights related to labor still persist in the 21st century.
• Focus on global problems. All countries face situations of labor abuses, including the United States.
• Provide consumers, firms, governments, labor unions and other stakeholders information to translate their economic power into a force for good that ultimately will eliminate abusive child labor and forced labor.
Research Process for ILAB Reports
• ILAB collects information for its 3 reports through:– Desk research– Reporting from U.S. Embassies– Selected In-Country research– Public Information Requests
Removal from the Lists
• Procedural Guidelines require that problem be “significantly reduced if not eliminated”
• Government Actions– Enactment and enforcement of laws, basic social services
and education, policies to promote livelihoods and decent work
• Industry Actions– Reducing CL & FL: A Toolkit for Responsible Businesses
Technical Cooperation
USDOL-funded Technical Cooperation Projects
Accomplishments
• Since 1995, ILAB has funded more than 275 projects to combat child labor in over 90 countries and worked with more than 65 organizations.
• ILAB projects provide direct services to children and their families and help build national and local capacity to address child labor. As a result of these efforts, close to 2 million children have been provided education and vocational training services and 160,000 vulnerable families have received livelihood support to reduce their reliance on child labor.
Combating Child Labor
• OCFT funds projects that use an integrated approach that includes increasing access to education for children and supporting sustainable livelihood opportunities for adults.
• OCFT projects focus on geographic areas and sectors with a high incidence of child labor, such as commercial agriculture, mining, and small-scale manufacturing. They also focus on the worst forms of child labor, including forced labor, trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Combating Child Labor
• OCFT projects train labor inspectors and law enforcement officials on child labor law enforcement; help develop community-based, child labor monitoring systems; and support child labor monitoring and enforcement efforts in the supply chains.
• OCFT projects work to strengthen the enforcement of workers’ rights.
• OCFT projects work with governments to develop and implement specific policies to combat child labor and forced labor. OCFT projects also integrate child labor issues into broader social protection programs.
OCFT Projects in Latin America
Current ProjectsHonduras- CL, WR
Dominican Republic/Haiti- CL, WRColombia-CL
Panama/Ecuador- CLBrazil/Peru- CL, FL
Peru-CLEl Salvador- CL
CL= Child Labor, FL= Forced Labor, WR= Workers Rights
