Forced Labour in the Russian Federation Today: Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Human Beings [antikvár]

Throughout the world, more and more attention is now being given to the problem of trafficking in human beings. The trade in human beings and the use of slave labour are - as President Vladimir Putin himself observed on 27 October 2003 - serious and burning issues which are also relevant for Russia at present. Indeed, almost no country in the world is exempt from the new and unac- ceptable forms of forced labour associated with the trafficking of humans for different forms of exploitation. Four years ago in 2001, in his Global Report on Stopping Forced Labour, the ILO Director-General observed that the newly burgeoning phenomenon of trafficking in persons was a truly global problem, in which most countries of the world were either sending, transit or receiving countries, or a combination of all of these. The Global Report also called for more research into the labour market conditions that create opportunities for such abuses as human trafficking, and into ways to eliminate them. In November 2001, the ILO Governing Body established the Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL), as part of activities to promote the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. The Declaration restates the obligation of all ILO member States to respect, promote and realize the principles concerning fun- damental rights dealt with in core labour Conventions, including the two Conventions on the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour. The Declaration and SAP-FL have allowed for a positive and promotional approach to the realization of these standards, combining research, technical assistance and advisory services to ILO member States and key partners. In its research, SAP-FL has given particular attention to what we call the forced labour outcomes of trafficking and irregular migration in destination countries. We have launched some research into the so-called "origin" or