3.1. Defining Human Trafficking and Forced Labour

Described by the Human Rights Centre of the American Bar Association as “the fastest-growing and third-largest criminal industry in the world today after the arms and drugs trades, [and] generating billions in profits each year” (Foot, 2010), conversations around human trafficking and forced labour have gathered prominence in the past decade (Weitzer, 2007, p. 455). However, there appears scant literature on Sri Lanka. Given this scarcity, this Chapter examines key issues related to trafficking and forced labour in order to place Sri Lanka within the global literature.

According to ILO estimates, forced labour appears to be more common than generally thought of, by the public. It is estimated that globally, over 24 million people were experiencing forced labour conditions in 2016. Alarmingly, 16 million of these individuals encountered forced labour conditions in the private sector, employed in varied types of work ranging from domestic work and agriculture to construction. Women, it is argued, are “disproportionately affected by forced labour, accounting for 99 per cent of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58 per cent in other sectors” (International Labour Organization , 2017, pp. 9-10).

3.1. Defining Human Trafficking and

Forced Labour

Defining what constitutes human trafficking and separating it from human smuggling and also understanding what forced labour constitutes, is challenging especially given the different ways in which key decision-making bodies have opted to view these elements.

In 2014, the International Labour Conference adopted a protocol to the Forced Labour Convention of 1930. The Protocol defines Forced Labour as “All work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” (International Labour Organization, 2014) In accordance with the Forced Labour Protocol of 2014, the ILO has identified indicators of forced labour which include: withholding of wages, debt bondage, intimidation and threats, isolation, restriction of movement, abuse of vulnerability, deception, physical and sexual violence, excessive overtime, abusive working and living conditions and the retention of identity documents.

For the ILO, therefore, human trafficking is a sub feature of the overall phenomenon of forced labour. According to the 2014 Forced Labour Protocol “the definition of forced or compulsory labour contained in the Convention is reaffirmed, and therefore the measures referred to in this Protocol shall include specific action against trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced or compulsory labour.” The Protocol also recognises “that the context and forms of forced or compulsory labour have changed and trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced or compulsory labour, which may involve sexual exploitation…requires urgent action for its effective elimination.” (International Labour Organization , 2015)

In contrast, the U.S Department of State, in its annual TIP report, defines human trafficking as those involving both sex trafficking and forced labour. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), divides human trafficking into three categories. Though not specified in any order of importance, the way in which the categories are identified, shows the prominence attributed to each category. The category mentioned first is sex trafficking which identifies factors such as force, threats of force, fraud, coercion or a combination of such means to denote that a victim has been trafficked. The second, identified as forced labour and labour trafficking essentially understands recruitment through the use of force or physical threats, psychological coercion, abuse of the legal process, deception, or other coercive means to compel someone to work. The third category identified under the TVPA is the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers and focuses on the illegal recruitment or use of children - through force, fraud, or coercion - to act as either combatants or in different forms of labour (United States Department of State, 2017). Hence within the TVPA, forced labour conditions are considered a subset within trafficking.