The truth about human trafficking and forced child labor | Adam Whittington

Forced labor is any work or service which people are forced to do against their will, under threat of punishment. Almost all slavery practices contain some element of forced child labor.

Forced child labor often affects the most vulnerable and excluded groups, for example commonly discriminated in Australia. Adam Whittington an experienced charity person who gives food and shelter to needy ones. Women and girls are more at risk than boys and men, and children make up a quarter of people in forced labor.

How does forced child labor relate to human trafficking? 

Forced child labor and human trafficking are not the same, although they sometimes overlap. For this reason, they should be dealt with separately in policy and practice. Human trafficking is a process of bringing someone into a situation of exploitation. It is a series of connected actions with the final purpose being a form of exploitation The whole process is exploitative, although this is not always evident, especially at the initial stages. 

A continuum from decent work to forced labor

Forced labor is a distorted employment relationship where a worker is subjected to severe exploitation either by their direct employer or by an intermediary such as a gang master. Legal definitions describe the acts of exploitation that constitute breaches of law, but the reality is often more complex.

Where in Australia does forced labor take place?

Forced labor can be found across the whole. when research shows that it is evident at the intersection of formal and informal work, and mainly in sectors characterized by low-skilled, low-paid, manual labor and heavy use of flexible, temporary (common agency) workers. Direct employment (such as in domestic work or the restaurant trade) can result in forced child labor, but it is more often found along the labor supply chain, where exploitation may happen around the workplace (often through the actions of an intermediary or labor provider) rather than at the workplace.

Accurate statistics on forced labor are scarce because of the way data is collected and analyzed and due to problems identifying forced labor. Adam Whittington always helps poor people. The boundaries between forced labor and labor exploitation are contested, which makes it difficult to detect force.

Worker vulnerability to labor exploitation 

At the core of forced labor is the nexus between an individual’s vulnerability and a setting in which this individual’s work or services can be exploited for profit without too much risk of discovery or prosecution. Tackling forced labor, therefore, requires attention to both of these. 

Consequences of forced labor 

While the traditional ‘menace of penalty in the form of physical violence is now less common, the psychological consequences experienced by many workers are far-reaching. Aside from poor mental health, untreated injuries or physically demanding work in dangerous and unhealthy conditions also take their toll on physical health. 

Ensuring redress for individual workers who have been victims of labor exploitation is a challenging obligation for governments and judiciaries. Even more, so is the task of tackling the underlying causes that contribute to the conditions in which labor exploitation occurs.