Objective

This project aims to provide a high-level indication of how the world’s most developed countries are connected to modern slavery not only through exploitation occurring within their own borders but also through the goods they import. Our focus is the G20 countries as they rank among the largest importers (and exporters) in the world, accounting for three-quarters of global trade and taking 80 percent of developing country exports.1

Accordingly, as a first step we developed a list of products at risk of modern slavery. We then compiled import data for all G20 countries targeting the products and source countries that were identified to be at risk of modern slavery. The bibliography of the research on products with risk of modern slavery is included in this appendix.

Identifying a list of products at risk of modern slavery

Initial list

Our starting point was the 2016 US Department of Labor list of goods produced by forced labour and child labour.2 The list was first filtered by “forced labour” to ensure that products suspected of being produced only by child labour were excluded. A simple country count of products was performed to determine a ranking: the product with the highest number of countries listed against it was ranked first, the product with the second highest numbers of countries against it was ranked second, and so on. The top 15 products were then chosen from this list to produce an initial list of product/source country combinations at risk of modern slavery (see Table 1).

Table 1Initial list of goods at risk of being produced by modern slavery

Literature review 

As a next step, a literature review of this list of product/source country combinations was conducted to independently validate this list, using the following parameters:

• Reference period: published between 1 January 2012 to 1 March 2018.
• Mix of media and non-media sources (peer reviewed journal articles, research reports, government documents, international oganisation reports, NGO reports, etc.), whenever possible.

There was a hierarchy of sources that was used in conducting this research (see list below). It should be noted that this list is not exhaustive, and we performed additional searches where suggested sources did not provide sufficient information.

Hierarchy of sources:

1. Peer reviewed publications, e.g. articles from scientific journals identified through database searches and, if required, through Google Scholar.
2. Reports of international organisations, e.g. ILO, IOM, UN.
3. Reports of international NGOs, e.g. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International.
4. Government websites, e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
5. National NGOs
6. Media, through Google searches.

Inclusion criteria of product/source country combinations on basis of literature review

Once the literature review was completed, a product/source country combination was included if it was EITHER on the 2016 Department of Labor list of goods produced by forced labour OR had been identified as at risk through research conducted by Walk Free (in the case of fishing and cocoa). In addition, at least one of the following criteria had to be met:

• A journal article identifies modern slavery in the product sector/source country.
• A primary research report (qualitative or quantitative) confirms modern slavery in the product sector/source country.
• A report from an international organisation identifies modern slavery in the product sector/source country.
• Cases of modern slavery were reported in the product sector/source country either through NGO or media reports and these reports were based on eye witness accounts or interviews with victims.

If no relevant references were found, the product/source country combination was excluded.

Final list of products at risk of modern slavery

The literature review resulted in the following final list. The results of our research are written up in Section 4 of this Appendix. Source countries marked in red were deleted from the list. The countries marked in green were added to the final list on the basis of Walk Free’s research on modern slavery in the fishing and cocoa industry (see Table 2).

Table 2Final list of products at risk of modern slavery by source country

Import data

Country list: G20 countries

Trade data were obtained for 18 of the total number of the G20 member countries. South Africa was excluded as it does not report trade data individually but only through the Southern African Customs Union, which comprises five countries (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland). The European Union was excluded as much of its trade data were already captured in the data of Germany, Italy, France, and the UK.

The final list of countries includes:

1. Argentina
2. Australia
3. Brazil
4. Canada
5. China
6. France
7. Germany
8. India
9. Indonesia
10. Italy
11. Japan
12. Mexico
13. Russia
14. Saudi Arabia
15. Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
16. Turkey
17. United Kingdom
18. United States

Data source and definitions

BACI dataset    

The import data used for this project were taken from the BACI dataset.3 BACI is the world trade database developed by the French research centre CEPII (Centre d’ Études Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales) at a high level of product disaggregation.

Original trade data are provided by the United Nations Statistical Division (COMTRADE database). BACI is constructed using a procedure that reconciles the declarations of the exporter and the importer. This harmonization procedure enables us to extend considerably the number of countries for which trade data are available, as compared to the original dataset. The dataset gives information about the value of trade (v, in thousands of US dollars) and the quantity (q, in tons). Individual trade flows are identified by the exporter (i), the importer (j), the product category (hs6), and the year (t). BACI is available with versions 1992, 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2012 of the Harmonized System (HS) with six-digit disaggregation.

For this project, we used the 2015 BACI trade data set with the 2012 HS nomenclature, which is the most recent one available at the time of writing.

The codebook for countries in the BACI database can be downloaded from http://www.cepii.fr/cepii/en/bdd_modele/presentation.asp?id=1.

Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding Systems (HS)

The Harmonized System is an international nomenclature for the classification of products. It allows participating countries to classify traded goods on a common basis for customs purposes. At the international level, the Harmonized System (HS) for classifying goods is a six-digit code system.

The HS comprises approximately 5,300 product descriptions that appear as headings and subheadings, arranged in 99 chapters and grouped into 21 sections. The six digits can be broken down into three parts. The first two digits (HS-2) identify the chapter the goods are classified in, e.g. 09 = Coffee, Tea, Maté and Spices. The next two digits (HS-4) identify groupings within that chapter, e.g. 09.02 = Tea, whether or not flavoured. The next two digits (HS-6) are even more specific, e.g. 09.02.10 Green tea (not fermented). Up to the HS six-digit level, all countries classify products in the same way (a few exceptions exist where some countries apply old versions of the HS).

The Harmonized System was introduced in 1988 and has been adopted by most countries worldwide. It has undergone several changes in the classification of products. These changes are called revisions and entered into force in 1996, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017.

Data compilation

Each of the 15 products from the final list is represented by multiple HS product categories within the BACI trade dataset. The relevant HS 2012 product categories for the 15 products were identified using the online directory https://foreign-trade.com/reference/hscode.htm.

Using STATA, import data for all relevant product categories and source countries in Table 2 were extracted from the 2015 BACI dataset for all 18 countries listed above.

The 15 products were then ranked from highest to lowest according to import value in US$. The resulting list of top five products at risk of modern slavery (according to US$ value) imported by each of the G20 countries is presented in Table 3. The data are also presented in the Importing risk maps.

Table 3Top five products at risk of modern slavery (according to US$ value) imported by G20 countries4

Bibliography of products at risk of modern slavery

The following section sets out the results of the literature review that we conducted to identify risk of modern slavery in the products listed in Table 2.

Cotton

Kazakhstan

Various United Nations organisations have collected evidence that the cotton sector in Kazakhstan is affected by modern slavery, particularly among migrant workers. The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery conducted an official mission to Kazakhstan in 2012. Kazakhstan is a major destination for low-skilled migrant workers, mainly from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Forced and bonded labour occurs in the cotton, tobacco, and construction industry. A majority of the migrants come for approximately six months to harvest the cotton but often they do not have official work permits.5 The Special Rapporteur stated during her follow-up visit in 2014 that forms of slavery and forced and bonded labour persist, in particular in the cotton and construction industries.6 In 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee voiced its concerns over reports of forced and bonded labour, particularly of migrant workers, in the tobacco, cotton, and construction industries as well as abuse of migrant workers, including poor and hazardous working conditions, delayed payment, and confiscation of identity documents.7

Tajikistan 

Forced labour of adults and children during the cotton harvest in Tajikistan has decreased over the last few years. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) conducted studies in 2012, 2013, and 2015 assessing the exploitation during cotton harvest through surveys and interviews with adults and children. IOM found that the observed number of students and children participating in the 2012 cotton harvest (including those that were forcibly mobilised) was a lot smaller than in previous years. Still, the researchers identified frequent labour violations among adults picking cotton, including not being paid for the work and not having a written contract.8 The results from the 2012 cotton harvest largely confirmed the 2011 results.9 However, the assessment of the 2015 cotton harvest in Tajikistan showed improvement, where only a limited number of children had to pick cotton and none reported having been forced to work. Equally, no adult workers reported having been mobilised or forced to work in the harvest, with only two labour violations being reported.10 On the other hand, the 2017 US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report suggests that Tajik adults and children may still be subject to forced labour in the annual cotton harvest.11

Turkmenistan

Amnesty International’s 2016/17 annual human rights report alleges that the Turkmen government continued to use forced labour in the country’s cotton picking industry, which is one of the largest in the world. To harvest the cotton, local authorities compel public sector workers, including teachers, medical staff, and civil servants, to pick cotton and to meet individual government-set quotas or else they risk losing their jobs.12 The ILO Committee of Experts also noted in 2017 that tens of thousands of adults from the public and private sectors were forced to pick cotton and farmers were forced to fulfil state-established cotton production quotas, all under threat of a penalty.13 Other threats of penalties that have been reported include loss of land, expulsion from university, loss of wages or salary cuts, termination of employment, and other sanctions.14 Monitoring of the 2017 harvest by Alternative Turkmenistan News, a Turkmen media initiative, found that the government continued to forcibly mobilise tens of thousands of civil servants to pick cotton under threat of dismissal, blackmail or other forms of intimidation. The monitoring report includes evidence from government officials, farmers, public sector workers, and businessmen who provided first-hand accounts, documentary evidence, and photographs showing that Turkmenistan violates international and national laws by forcing farmers and other citizens to work in the cotton sector.15

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has been under scrutiny for a long time for forced labour in its annual cotton harvest. A monitoring report of the 2017 cotton harvest published by the ILO states that most cotton pickers were recruited voluntarily and that the systematic use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest has come to an end.16 The previous ILO monitoring report of the 2016 cotton harvest stated similar results on child labour but concluded that forced labour remained a risk for some categories of people, such as staff of educational and medical facilities and students.17

However, other research published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights details the existence of forced labour in the cotton industry in Uzbekistan, mostly based on interviews and field visits. A 2017 report documents forced adult and child labour in one World Bank project area and demonstrates that it is highly likely that the World Bank’s other agriculture projects in Uzbekistan are linked to ongoing forced labour in light of the systemic nature of the abuses.18 The Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights found that despite the presence of the ILO monitors, forced mass mobilisation of public sector workers, students, people receiving public benefits, and employees of public and private companies to pick cotton or to pay for replacement workers to pick cotton occurred in the 2016 harvest. The Forum estimated that the scale of mobilisation was similar to previous years, with more than a million people of all backgrounds forced to pick cotton in the fields against their will and under threat of penalty.19 Exploitation reportedly continued to occur in the 2017 harvest.20

Bricks

Afghanistan

Bonded labour in Afghanistan is reportedly most prevalent in the brick kilns near Kabul and the Nangarhar province. Each kiln employs around 10 to 30 families, who live on site and work 10 to 15 hours per day exposed to sun and dust. Children work in hazardous conditions alongside their debt-bonded parents. The seasonality of the work is one reason children do not go to school, another reason being that families need all children to work as many hours as possible to help pay off the family debt.21 The ILO and UNICEF conducted a study of Afghanistan’s brick industry, using a mix of focus group discussions and interviews with children, adults, and kiln owners. They found that 68 percent of child labourer respondents said they could not stop working at brick kilns if they wished to. About 86 percent of children said their parents are forcing them to work at the kilns and, of these, 83 percent cited the reason that their parents owed money to someone else.22 Workers’ debt can be sold off several times, with higher interest rates attached to each sale; this can be negotiated by the workers themselves or among kiln owners. In this way, indebted families must follow their debt to the next kiln owner.23

India

The brick industry in India is huge with more than 150,000 brick production units in the country employing an estimated 10 million workers and contributing £3bn (US$4.2bn24) to the Indian economy annually. During the six-month production season, tens of thousands of families come to work in the brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh. The industry is known to rely on entire families working in bonded labour, with minimum pay and few or no health and safety regulations.25 Families work 12- to 18-hour days under squalid conditions, including severe abuses.26 The Andhra Pradesh state labour commissioner has denied bonded labour exists.27 In 2015, the International Justice Mission (IJM) reportedly tipped off officials to a bondage situation in a brick kiln in Thiruvallur district, which led to the rescue of 333 bonded labourers, including 75 children. The workers each had to pay recruitment fees and were promised 300 rupees (US$4.628) a day but were only paid 200 rupees (US$329) a week.30 In 2017, a brick kiln owner who was accused of trapping and abusing 12 labourers was found guilty under India’s Bonded Labour System Abolition Act (1976) and Section 370 of the penal code covering human trafficking.31

Myanmar

In a 2016 case in Kyaikmaraw township in Mon State workers claim they were starved and abused while working at a brickyard. The workers, many of whom were young women and children, said they had been forced to work from 3am to 10pm with no time off for food or rest, and were paid less than they were promised. The workers were freed during two raids by officials, including anti-trafficking police.32 The owners of the brick works denied the accusations. In January 2017, the state’s factories and general labour law department announced a reversal on plans to pursue legal charges against the brickyard owner. It was reported that the brickyard owner will not be facing charges but instead a warning will be issued.33 It remains therefore unclear if the alleged accusations were valid or not.

Nepal

Due to the seasonal nature of the job and the tough and demanding working conditions, brick kiln workers in Nepal often come from marginalised and poor communities and have few employment alternatives. Many brick kiln owners ensure a steady supply of cheap labour through a system of loans and debt that ties workers to the kiln for months or years. Brought to the kilns by middlemen, workers are offered the financial incentive of an advance to get them through the monsoon months. In return, they must turn up for work at the start of the next brickmaking season, which runs from November to May, in order to pay back the loan.34 A 2015 Guardian investigation revealed that bricks tainted by human rights abuses, such as child labour, have been used in major construction projects in Nepal. The findings suggest that international donors, aid agencies, multinational companies, and the Nepalese government are systematically failing to ensure that effective policies are in place to keep brick supply chains free of child and bonded labour and that they have failed to recognise the appalling conditions prevalent in Nepal’s brick industry.35

Pakistan

Ethnographic research into brick kilns in the areas of Gujarat, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi in 2015 and 2016 showed that they are the primary sector in which bonded labour occurs in Pakistan. Debt chains drive the brick industry because they guarantee cheap labour and a continuous supply of workers. Debt passes down through the generations and from one kiln to another.36 A 2014 study looking at Pakistan’s peshgi system of debt bondage found that workers in brick kilns were working under squalid conditions that lacked safe drinking water and access to health facilities, and they were denied any chance of upward mobility or contact with their families.37 Several UN treaty bodies were concerned that, despite Pakistan’s adoption of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1992, bonded labour practices persisted in the brick kiln industry.38 The UN Human Rights Committee reported in 2017 that it was concerned by the high number of children engaged in labour under hazardous and slavery-like conditions in Pakistan’s brick kilns.39

Garments

Brazil

A 2012 study interviewing cross-border migrants from Bolivia who worked in the garment sector in Brazil found workers reporting conditions of “unfree” labour and exploitation, including workplace hazard, sub-standard accommodation, extremely long working hours, non-payment, and illegal pay deductions.40 A 2013 report notes that any migrant workers from poorer Latin American countries such as Bolivia, Peru, or Haiti have to endure abuse and exploitation working in the booming textile sector in São Paulo.41 In 2016, an Aljazeera investigative journalist team discovered clandestine textile sweatshops in the Bras neighbourhood in the heart of São Paulo, in which underpaid workers toil for long and exhausting hours in dreadful conditions to mass produce garments for the country’s clothing industry.42

China

Between 2007 and 2013, researchers interviewed 59 people recently released from drug detention “re-education through labour” centres in China. Respondents reported that they were forced to work in clothing production (among other activities). Detainees also reported being punished if they refused to perform labour. They received no pay for their work.43 In 2017, workers at a factory producing shoes for international brands in south eastern China reported they were physically and verbally abused.44 Another news report alleges forced overtime at the same factory.45 In 2017, inspections by the Fair Labour Association, a US-based industry monitoring group, in a factory in China producing clothes for international brands exposed that workers were made to work excessively long hours to hit production targets and were paid below China’s minimum wage.46 The audit also found that the factory breached 24 international labour standards set by the International Labour Organization although it is unclear if the Forced Labour Convention was one of them.47

India

A 2016 qualitative research report details the grievances of young women under the Sumangali or “camp labour” schemes, whereby workers are housed in company-owned hostels with restricted freedom of movement. This approach is used to ensure the women are available to work on call and are unable to unionise. A portion of their pay is withheld until completion of their fixed-term contracts. Women from lower castes in remote regions are specifically targeted during recruitment.48 Other research based on interviews with more than 150 girls and young women on annual leave from mills in Tamil Nadu in 2013 concluded that girls and young women are lured to the Tamil Nadu spinning industry by false promises and are forced to work under appalling conditions. It was mentioned that their freedom of movement is restricted, mobile phones are not allowed, and workers are effectively locked up in the mills. They work 60 hours per week year-round and cannot refuse overtime. Management employs humiliating disciplinary measures and does not provide paid sick leave despite harsh conditions without protective equipment.49 Many women under the Sumangali scheme never receive the lump sum payment they are promised will be paid at the end of their term because they leave early, often due to illness. Although this is recognised by Indian courts as a form of slavery, it is widely practiced in states such Tamil Nadu.50 It is also suggested that bondage in the garment industry is not only the result of debt-based structures but also forced labour and wage theft. Overtime is required without workers’ consent and sometimes even without proper compensation and enforced by threat of firing.51

Malaysia

The garment and textile industry in Malaysia has been found in many cases to be dangerously negligent about enforcing legal standards regarding wages and working conditions of migrant women workers. Research based on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 30 migrant women workers from Burma who came to Malaysia to work in the garment industry found that workers had no employment contracts or, where they did, the contracts were illegal. Workers regularly worked 10-hour days without overtime pay and faced harassment and unsafe working and living conditions. In return, they received wages far below the minimum needed to survive. All interviewed women also reported that their passports were held by their employer or an outsourced hiring agent.52

Thailand

Research involving interviews in the field with migrant workers working in garment factories in the Mae Sot region of Thailand during 2014 shows how migrants working in the textile and garment factories there are vulnerable to labour rights violations and exploitation, including being paid less than other Thai workers, having their documentation confiscated, and paying too much into health and social benefit plans that they do not know how to claim.53 While the research does not clearly reveal modern slavery, practices such as withholding of identity documents can be indicators of that.

Vietnam

Between 2007 and 2013, researchers interviewed 34 people recently released from drug detention centres in Vietnam. Researchers found forced labour reported by all respondents detained in Vietnam, with some of the detainees forced to work in textile production. Regulations give treatment centre management the authority to punish detainees who refuse to perform labour. Respondents indicated being paid an average wage of US$7.30 a month before deductions for food, though several former detainees reported still owing the detention centres money for additional fees at the end of their sentences.54 A 2013 media article reported the case of three boys who escaped a garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City where they had spent two years making clothes for no pay. It is also reported that during a recent raid of a garment factory, Vietnam-based charity Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation found 14 people that were working under exploitative and dangerous conditions.55

Cattle

Bolivia

Bolivia’s cattle industry is suspected to be at risk of modern slavery. In 2010 to 2011, US-based NGO Verité carried out both qualitative and quantitative field research on cattle, corn, and peanuts in the Chaco region. The research detected severe indicators of forced labour, including physical confinement at the work location, psychological compulsion, induced indebtedness, deception or false promises about terms of work, and withholding and non-payment of wages. There was also evidence of the presence of indicators of menace of penalty, including physical violence against workers, sexual violence, and loss of social status. Other issues of concern detected during research included excessive working hours, a lack of days off for workers in animal husbandry, subminimum wages, serious hazards to workers’ health and safety, and child labour.56

Brazil

In 2017, the Government of Brazil was ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to pay US$5 million to 128 former farm workers who were enslaved on a Brazilian cattle farm between 1988 and 2000.57 During a 2017 raid at a cattle ranch in the Amazonian rainforest of northern Brazil, labour inspectors found seven workers who claim they were made to live in shacks, worked 12-hour days, were paid infrequently, and had money deducted from their wages for alleged debts they owed to their boss.58 UK supermarket chain Waitrose announced it was taking its own-branded corned beef from Brazil off supermarket shelves after it was revealed that one of the world’s largest meat processing companies previously purchased cattle from a farm under federal investigation for using workers as modern-day slaves in 2016. Prosecutors believe the workers were in debt bondage, with payments for food and protective equipment illegally deducted from their wages.59

Niger

Niger continues to be afflicted by descent-based slavery where people are born into slavery with slave status being passed down the maternal line. The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery conducted a mission to Niger in 2015 which found that despite being legally abolished, descent-based slavery continues to exist in Tuareg, Fulani (Peul), Toubou, and Arab communities where slaves still live with their masters. The slaves are at the entire disposal of the master; in exchange, they are fed and clothed. Slaves reportedly work long hours, mainly in cattle rearing, agriculture, and domestic work, and are not paid.60

Paraguay

According to a 2013 report of the ILO Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, various worker representatives of Paraguay stated that debt bondage of indigenous communities on land used for cattle-raising is an issue the Paraguayan authorities are well aware of. One of the most serious issues is reportedly the debts incurred by farm workers through having to buy food from their employers, who determine the prices. The worker representatives also requested that further measures should be taken by the government to prevent forced labour and provide support to indigenous communities in the cattle industry.61

Sugarcane

Brazil

A 2012 study examining slave labour in Brazil conducted semi-structured interviews with internal migrants in the sugarcane industry. Workers reported indicators of “unfree” labour and exploitation, including workplace hazards, sub-standard accommodations, extremely long working hours, non-payment, and illegal pay deductions.62 The Brazilian sugar industry has also been highlighted in the media. More than 10,000 workers were liberated from slave-like conditions in sugar production between 2003 and 2011.63 During harvest time, one single sugar mill can hire as many as 5,000 workers and those who come from outside the area end up becoming trapped in debt to survive, working in precarious conditions.64

Dominican Republic

Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, Verité conducted research on the supply chain of sugar in the Dominican Republic during the 2008 to 2010 harvests. They detected evidence of multiple indicators of forced labour, including indicators of lack of consent (e.g. physical confinement in the workplace, deception about terms of work) and indicators of menace of penalty (e.g. physical violence against workers and deprivation of food and shelter). Other issues of concern detected during the research included illegal deductions and working hours in excess of legal limits.65 Another paper published in 2016 explores the use of workers from neighboring Haiti in the Dominican agricultural sector and the widespread human rights violations they face, particularly in the country’s sugarcane “batey” communities.66

Gold

Democratic Republic of the Congo

There is evidence indicating that the gold mining industry in DRC is at risk of modern slavery. Field research conducted by “Free the Slaves” in three mining sites in the South Kivu province from June 2012 to January 2013 revealed that forced labour affected 10 percent of individuals in Kamituga, 24 percent of those in Lugushwa, and 61 percent of those in Nyamurhale. In Nyamurhale, forced labour occurred primarily at the hands of the military and local authorities. In Kamituga, the so-called President Director Generals (PDGs, a term coined to designate the owner of one or more mining shafts who employs several miners) and conductors (miner team leaders who supervise the work undertaken by the miners) subjected individuals to forced labour in the form of excessively heavy labour and/or long days.67 Another study found that while the type of mineral mined is not generally found to be a predictor of trafficking, respondents in cassiterite mines were twice as likely to report sexual violence as those in gold mines.68

North Korea

A UN Human Rights Council report describes how a former inmate of a prison camp worked in the limestone quarry and the gold mine of Ordinary Prison Camp (kyohwaso) No. 4 in Kandong County, South Pyongan Province. The inmates there were so tired and exhausted that work accidents were very frequent. On one occasion, one inmate suffered an open fracture of his foot in a mining accident. The skin was sewn together without anaesthesia and he was ordered to report back to the mine the same day. The inmate reportedly survived only because the head of his work unit reassigned him to lighter duties.69

Peru

Verité carried out qualitative research, interviewing workers from August 2012 through January 2013, to assess the risk of forced labour in illegal gold mining in Peru. Workers reported that when they arrived at the mining camps, many were told that they owe their recruiters for the advances. The workers found that their pay and working conditions were not what they had been promised. They were told that they would have to work at least 90 days to pay off their debt before they would be paid anything or before they would be allowed to leave, which constitutes induced indebtedness. Workers are unable to leave their employment before their contracts are up due to their extreme physical isolation and their lack of money to pay for transportation to leave their workplaces, which constitutes physical confinement in the work location. Interviewees reported that workers who wanted to leave were held against their will with the threat of physical violence by heavily armed guards. 70

Carpets

India

A 2014 report by Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights documented more than 3,200 cases of forced labour under Indian law and 2,600 cases of forced labour under the ILO Forced Labour Convention (no. 29) across nine states in India’s hand-made carpet industry. The findings include 2,010 cases of bonded labour, 1,406 cases of child labour, and 286 cases of human trafficking. The research used both primary and secondary sources. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through individual interviews with labourers in the carpet sector. Semi-structured interview questionnaires were used for discussion with key informants to gather information on the nature of their work in the carpet industry.71

Pakistan

A 2017 study conducted in provinces of Sindh, Punjab, and Baluchistan, using witness opinions, case profiles, and secondary information, found that children working in carpet-weaving are often engaged in hazardous work, suffering injuries such as eye and lung diseases due to unsafe working conditions. The report also notes that bonded child labour exists in Pakistan’s carpet industry.72 Although hazardous child labour is not necessarily considered modern slavery, it is perceived to be a severe problem in the carpet industry of Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey of 320 children working in the carpet industry in Punjab province found that hazardous forms of child labour are evident, with notable consequences to the health of the children.73

Coal

North Korea

It is reported that North Korea relies on forced labour on a large scale to operate its mining industry. The allocation of labour to the coal and mining industries is not formally regulated by law. However, the ruling party compels certain individuals to work in these sectors as a matter of policy. For those working in this industry, moving to a different sector or occupation is strictly limited and controlled. Under the regime’s songbun classification system (a loyalty-based social discrimination system) the most powerless members of society and those of low songbun are forcibly assigned to work in the mining sector. This occupational assignment is passed down from generation to generation.74 The political prison camps run their own factories, farms, mines, and logging operations, producing among other things coal, clothing for the military, and consumer goods. A witness cited in a UN report, Ms. Kim Hyesook, said she had to work in a coal mine at Political Prison Camp No. 18 from age 15. Although there was nominally a system of three shifts, they ended up having to work 16 to 18 hours a day to maximize output. The men dug up the coal with picks and shovels. The women then had to manually transport the coal to the surface using sacks, buckets, or coal trolleys. Both her husband and her brother died in mining accidents. Like many others forced to work in the mines, Ms. Kim still suffers from black lung disease.75 Forthcoming research on modern slavery in North Korea, based on interviews conducted with a sample of North Korean defectors, notes that being a coal miner is inherited rather than being a choice. One interview notes that “In North Korea if your parents work in the coal mines, so will you.” He reported he was not paid for this work and he was not free to leave or quit. He had also never seen or even heard about an employment contract for the work he was doing at the coal mine.76

Pakistan

A 2014 survey by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan identified coal mining as one of 34 industries in which hazardous child labour occurred.77To make ends meet, children are forced to work regardless of occupational hazards. Such is the case of children interviewed during the course of research conducted in Shahrig, Balochistan. Though many yearn to be enrolled in schools, they have no choice but work in the coal mines to earn a stable income for the family.78 The 2017 US TIP report notes that bonded labour is concentrated in Sindh and Punjab provinces but also occurs in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, mainly in in agriculture and brickmaking but also to a lesser extent in mining.79 Although the references listed in this paragraph do not provide clear-cut evidence of modern slavery in Pakistan’s coal industry, it should be noted as a potential issue.

Fish80

Ghana

In 2013, the International Justice Mission (IJM) conducted an operational assessment in the southern region of Lake Volta and found that more than half (57.6 percent) of children working on southern Lake Volta’s waters were trafficked into forced labour. In 2015, in-depth qualitative research was conducted in the top three destination and top three source communities for trafficking. Each of the fishing communities sampled during the qualitative study confirmed the presence of child trafficking. Both studies revealed that the majority of children working in Lake Volta’s fishing industry are generally 10 years old or younger. 81

Our forthcoming research suggests that of the top 20 fishing countries (by volume of catch), China, Japan, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are at highest risk of modern slavery in their respective fishing industries.82 Given that instances of serious labour abuses have been clearly documented for China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand (see below), we have added those countries to the original list of countries at risk of using modern slavery in the fishing industry.

China

A report by IOM and the NEXUS Institute describes the labour exploitation of Cambodian migrants aboard commercial fishing vessels operating in South African waters. The report is based on the experiences of 31 Cambodian men trafficked for fishing to South Africa by Giant Ocean, a legally registered recruitment agency in Cambodia, between 2010 and 2013, as well as on interviews conducted with more than 40 key informants in 2014. In the cases where the exploited fishers could remember the flag of the vessels on which they worked (which was about one third of the men), vessels from China were identified. The exploited fishers from Cambodia were recruited by brokers in their own villages but were often misled about where they would be going and what exactly the work would entail. All the men reported being forced to work long hours in harsh conditions, even when sick or injured, and that they had their identity documents withheld while on the vessels.83 According to a 2014 media report, a group of 28 immigrants from Ghana and Sierra Leone were held in slavery on a Chinese-flagged fishing vessel off the coast of Uruguay, where they were beaten and forced to work without pay.84

Indonesia

A 2018 report draws from investigations conducted by the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), the Indonesia Presidential Task Force to Combat Illegal Fishing, and from assessments conducted by the IOM Indonesia with fishers and seafarers, both foreign nationals and Indonesians, who were identified as victims of trafficking and provided with IOM assistance. Victims reported being recruited from numerous countries and forced to work illegally within Indonesia. They suffered severe human rights violations, including 18- to 20-hour workdays, no payment, withholding of identity documents, physical and mental abuse, and inhumane living conditions.85 Another study analyses data from interviews with 446 males who participated in the Study on Trafficking, Exploitation and Abuse in the Mekong (STEAM) and who reached the country of exploitation. STEAM is a multi-site, longitudinal survey carried out with men, women, and children receiving post-trafficking assistance in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The main destination country was Indonesia (46.9 percent) for fishermen.86

Japan

In the same report by IOM and the NEXUS Institute mentioned above, some of the exploited Cambodian fishers identified that the vessels they had been exploited on were from Japan. Similarly, they reported having been recruited by brokers in their own villages who worked for a legally registered recruitment agency. All the men reported being forced to work long hours in harsh conditions, even when sick or injured and had their identity documents withheld while on the vessels. They reported that crew on the Japanese-flagged fishing vessels were usually of mixed nationalities – Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan Province of China, and Vietnam. 87

Russia

After the sinking of a Russian trawler in April 2015 that left 42 fishermen from Myanmar dead, a media report revealed that two of the five Myanmar recruitment agencies responsible for sending the men from Myanmar aboard this vessel had knowingly falsified workers’ registration cards. The agencies said that such practices were standard in the industry and that they regularly registered recruited seamen to government-approved vessels, but after doing so sent the workers into uncharted territories and unpermitted industries such as the fishing sector. Families of the deceased crewmen reported that the men did not know they were being sent to a fishing vessel until it was too late. When the men found out they had been deceived, they were given no other employment options. Since the fishermen had already paid excessive fees to the recruitment agency, they reportedly felt they had little option but to work in fishing in exchange for promised high wages.88

South Korea

Reports from media and NGOs cite severe labour abuse aboard South Korean or South Korean-flagged vessels. In 2011, abuses were identified aboard a South Korean-flagged ship manned by Indonesian fishers, trawling in the waters off New Zealand.89 In 2011 and 2012, an investigation conducted by the Environmental Justice Foundation uncovered numerous instances of South Korean-flagged vessels involved in illegal fishing. In two of these cases, human rights abuses were reported involving fishermen from Senegal, China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Sierra Leone. The investigation uncovered child labour involving crew members as young as 14 years old, with crew forced to sleep in cramped and unhygienic sleeping quarters and paid in trash fish instead of cash.90

Taiwan

Fishers who were interviewed by Greenpeace in 2014 and 2015 at ports in Taiwan and Fiji described regularly not being paid by their agent or captain, being debt bonded, receiving very low pay rates, having their pay heavily reduced by exorbitant fees, and living in horrific conditions.91 Research by the IOM found that the majority of Indonesian fishermen victims of trafficking assisted by IOM Indonesia between 2011 to 2015 worked on Taiwanese fishing vessels.92 In 2014, a media article reported exploitation in Taiwan’s fishing industry. An interviewed worker described that he was forced to work almost 24 hours a day and did not get paid a full salary. Other workers were allegedly not given enough food and during two years at sea, the boat reached port just once as transport boats normally took the catch to land.93

Thailand

A Human Rights Watch report based on 248 interviews with current and former workers in the fishing industry conducted from 2015 to 2017 documents forced labour and other human rights abuses in the Thai fishing sector. It identifies poor working conditions, recruitment processes, terms of employment, and industry practices that put already vulnerable migrant workers into abusive situations – and often keep them there. A 2016 study found that 76 percent of fishers had been in debt bondage and almost 38 percent of fishers had been trafficked into the Thai fishing industry between 2011 and 2016. The study identified that 6.5 percent of fishers surveyed had been deceived into working aboard Thai vessels, 3.6 percent had been confined, 31.5 percent had been forced to work, and 15.7 percent had been physically abused.94 Surveys conducted among fishers employed on Thai boats fishing in national and international waters identified that almost 17 percent of fishers interviewed reported that they were working against their will and were unable to leave. Of these fishers, 12 percent identified financial penalty as the reason they were unable to leave, and 4.9 percent identified threat of violence and fear of being reported to authorities as the reason.95 Greenpeace interviewed 15 human trafficking victims who worked as fishers aboard Thai fishing vessels between 2014 and 2016. Several victims reported being deceived into working aboard fishing vessels and into paying large sums for passport documentation, witnessing physical abuse against the crew, and accruing large debts from recruitment.96 Another paper discusses the findings of a large-scale survey of 596 fishers from Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar undertaken in four coastal provinces in Thailand. Nearly 17 percent of respondents identified themselves as being victims of forced labour for human trafficking.97 In-depth interviews conducted by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) with six victims of slavery in 2015 uncovered multiple abusive fishing companies in a town where corrupt officials continue to operate with impunity, trafficking networks remain unbroken, and men are still forced to fish aboard Kantang boats – trapped in an endless cycle of debt, exploitation, and abuse.98

Rice

India

There is evidence of some cases of modern slavery in India’s rice industry. An Indian rice mill owner was convicted of holding multiple families inside the mill, initially binding them with debt through advances and locking the facilities and denying workers permission to leave.99 In another instance, the International Justice Mission Chennai helped the government rescue 17 children, women, and men from forced labour. They had been forced to work 12-hour days and lived inside a rice mill in Kancheepuram, trapped for at least five years and were forced to transplant paddy.100 A media article reported of a couple celebrating freedom after 22 years of bonded labour at a rice mill factory in Punjab.101

Myanmar

A 2014 report on human rights abuses in Myanmar since the 2012 ceasefire notes that although it has decreased, forced labour, often imposed by the army, still exists in Myanmar. The head of a village who was interviewed as part of the research, reported that people in his village had to perform forced labour every year. This included ploughing, sowing rice, reaping the paddy, and then collecting the cut paddy in the storage place.102 Other research conducted over a six-month period from November 2011 to May 2012 observed forced labour practices, mostly exacted by the army, in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State of Myanmar. A decrease in forced labour was found in Central and North Maungdaw. Some of the interviewees reported being forced to supply rice to the army camp in their areas.103 The ILO maintains together with the Government of the Union of Myanmar a forced labour complaint mechanism that gives Myanmar residents the opportunity to confidentially report cases of forced labour.104 Although reductions in the use of forced labour have been recorded since 2011 and particularly since the commencement of the peace negotiations,105 the situation in Myanmar is currently difficult to determine given the violence against Rohingya refugees, which has created the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis.106

Timber

Brazil

In 2017, Brazilian NGO Repórter Brasil documented the rescue of men working in a logging camp in the Brazilian state of Pará who were at risk of fatal accidents and experiencing slave labour conditions. It is reported that many likely remain in other camps scattered throughout the Brazilian rainforest.107 Another investigation by Repórter Brasil further alleged that US-based companies bought timber from Brazilian traders that sourced forest products from several sawmills in the Amazon where workers toiled under conditions of modern slavery.108 An Aljazeera article documents the stories of multiple individuals who were previously enslaved on a farm in the Para region of Brazil where they were forced to deforest land for timber production. The workers were not paid and were told they had a debt to their masters they would have to repay.109

North Korea

Human Rights Watch reported that North Korea’s political prison camps are characterized by systematic abuse in which political prisoners face backbreaking forced labour, including in logging.110 Similar information can be found in the report of the UN Human Rights Council from 2014, which found that North Koreans forcibly repatriated from China are often sent to holding facilities. There, adults were forced to work hard for 10 hours a day in brick laying, timber cutting, and farming. If they did not fulfil their daily work quota they had to work even longer hours.111

Peru

According to the UN Universal Period Review on Peru, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighted in a 2017 report that it was concerned about trafficking of adolescent girls for sexual or labour exploitation, particularly in Peru’s mining and logging industries.112 Research carried out during 2014 studied the role of teenage labour in the timber industry of one of Peru’s main timber producing regions, the Ucayali region. The study shows that out of a sample of 27 male teenagers aged between 15 and 17 years old, three met the ILO criteria for forced labour and reported having been trafficked.113 Fieldwork carried out in the same region in 2011 examines commercial sexual exploitation of children and teenagers in the wood mills and river ports of the city of Pucallpa, where the timber industry is one of the main economic activities. The paper finds that women generally act as pimps for children and teenagers, and in many cases they are either blood-kin to the victims or their “godmothers.”114

Brazil nuts/chestnuts

Bolivia

Verité carried out research on the presence of indicators of forced labour in the production of brazil nuts in Bolivia between 2009 to 2010. The research was based on surveys and found that respondents working in the production of brazil nuts reported multiple indicators of forced labour. This included being denied leave, being confined in inaccessible places, experiencing death threats and/or physical abuse against themselves or family members who said they wanted to leave, induced indebtedness, being deceived about the type of work they would be doing, and withholding of wages or identity documents.115

Cocoa

Côte d’Ivoire

Surveys conducted by Walk Free and Tulane University in Côte d’Ivoire in 2017 identified cases of modern slavery among adults and children working in cocoa agriculture, between 2013-2017 (rate of forced labour for adults was 4.2/1000 adults working in medium and high growing regions; for children the rate was 3.1/1000 children working in medium to high growing regions). To provide some context, the cocoa sector of Côte d’Ivoire has long faced allegations of child labour and hazardous child work. Research conducted by Tulane University during the 2013/2014 harvest season found that almost 2.3 million children between 5 and 17 years of age were working in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Of those children, approximately 2.1 million were in child labour, including 2 million in hazardous work.116 An earlier study conducted in 2008/2009, also by Tulane University, found that just over seven percent of the interviewed children in Côte d’Ivoire and just over five percent of the children interviewed in Ghana reported they were forced to perform work in cocoa agriculture. The majority of these children indicated that a parent or other relative had forced them to work.117 The same study documented fewer than 10 cases of potential forced adult labour in cocoa agriculture in both countries.118 The Fair Labour Association conducted 13 unannounced independent external monitoring visits to four cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire supplying to Nestlé via the Nestlé Cocoa Plan. One case of forced labour was revealed as well as 31 young workers between the age of 15 and 18.119 According to media, police in Côte d’Ivoire freed 48 child slaves in raids on plantations in the country’s Western cocoa belt and arrested 22 people accused of trafficking or exploiting children.120

Ghana

Surveys conducted by Walk Free and Tulane University in Ghana in 2017 identified cases of modern slavery among adults and children working in cocoa agriculture, between 2013-2017 (rate of forced labour for adults was 3.3/1000 adults working in medium and high growing regions; for children the rate was 20/1000 children working in medium to high growing regions). While no other recent studies have focused on forced labour in the cocoa industry, it should be noted that hazardous child labour has been found to be common in the cocoa sector in Ghana. There have also been instances of trafficking of children to cocoa growing areas in Ghana.121 Research conducted by Tulane University during the 2013/2014 harvest season found that almost 2.3 million children between 5 and 17 years of age were working in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Of those children approximately 2.1 million were in child labour, including 2 million in hazardous work.122 An earlier study conducted in 2008/2009, also by Tulane University, found that just over seven percent of the interviewed children in Côte d’Ivoire and just over five percent of the children interviewed in Ghana reported they were forced to perform work in cocoa agriculture. The majority of these children indicated that a parent or other relative had forced them to work.123

Diamonds

Angola

Diamond extraction in Angola has over the past decades been linked to torture, murder, and forced displacement, and relies on both child labour and forced labour. Research published in 2016 suggests that undocumented migrant children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo enter Angola to work in diamond-mining districts and experience conditions of forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation in mining camps.124

Electronics – laptops, computers and mobile phones

China

A 2015 report based on expert interviews and interviews with interns and workers identifies forced labour in internship programmes at electronic factories in China. Chinese students are sent to electronics factories under the pretence of “internships” during their university holidays to be able to get their university degree.125 In 2012, China Labor Watch reported children and students being exploited at an electronics factory supplying to Samsung. The abuses included underpayment, excessive working hours, illegal salary deductions, and not giving employees a copy of their work contract. Child workers had to carry out hazardous tasks resulting in injury.126 Another investigative report reveals some instances of exploitation and forced labour at some of Apple’s largest suppliers. Major violations included poor living and working conditions, wage deductions, working overtime without compensation, and withholding of identity documents.127

Malaysia

In 2014, Verité conducted interviews with 501 workers in more than 100 electronics factories throughout Malaysia and found that 28 percent of the workers were in forced labour. Among foreign workers alone, 32 percent were in forced labour. The forced labour experiences were usually linked to recruitment fees that workers had to pay to get a job. Seventy-seven percent of workers who were charged fees had to borrow money in order to pay them. Other abuses experienced by workers were passport retention, restriction of freedom of movement, being unable to leave their employer before the end of their work contracts, and poor living conditions.128 Another case study by Verité confirms those findings on exploitative practices in Malaysia’s electronics sector.129 According to a news report, Samsung and Panasonic, two of the world’s leading electronics brands, are also facing allegations that workers in their supply chains are being exploited and underpaid in Malaysia. Both have launched investigations into allegations of abuse made by Nepalese workers who said they had been deceived about pay, had their passports confiscated, and had been told that they would have to pay extensive fines if they wanted to return to Nepal before the end of their contract.130