Dr. Alok Kumar
Assistant Professor at Department of Law,
D.D.U.Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur.
Abstract:
Global trade is very common in today’s time. It has created great interconnected Supply networks through which goods and services disseminated across the world. Although this contributed to economic growth, employment and international trade and commerce. In this chain of transportation vulnerable groups of people fetch the exploitation, forced labour and human trafficking. In current times slavery occurs at different levels in the supply chain and many times it is hidden in the shade of contractors, labour brokers and sometimes in informal employment agreements. Human trafficking is not merely an economic or social issue this is serious case of infringement of human rights as well as fundamental rights i.e human dignity, liberty etc. The labours subjected to coercion, threat, debt bandage, confiscation of identity of documents or abusive working conditions may may have little practical ability to leave their employment. This International Supply chain causes misconception among the workers and employer company. This paper is going to examine human trafficking, forced labour at Global level. I also examine the Constitutional Perspective, Bonded labour system Abolition Act, 1976, Immoral Traffic (Prevention)Act,1956, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023 and other all relevant rules and regulations forms at national and international level. Human trafficking needs to be prevented. And all the business mechanisms should be in line with the legal framework and global commerce do not came at the cost of human dignity and freedom.
Keywords: Human Trafficking, Focerd Labour, Global Supply Chains, Human Rights, Fundamental Rights, Constitutional laws, Exploitation of labour, International laws, Immoral Trafficking.
Introduction:
In today’s world we are very much familiar with world goods and services. It’s all because of globalisation which transformed the manner of producing goods and providing services. It is quite possible that a product has been manufactured by one country and raw materials available in another country and packaging has been done by some other country. This kind of system creates a speedy and efficient International trade. But it is very obvious to face the drawback of this kind of efficiency; this may lead the difficulties in detecting exploitation of laborers. In this complexity human trafficking and modern slavery exist. Once a worker employed by a company directly he will get more legal protection than the workers employed by local contractors instead of performing the same responsibility. Business at a broad level unable to see the manufacturing process and the conditions of workers at ground level. This may lead to a legal issue. It is not possible for a company to force someone to work as labour but the goods they purchased may be produced by forced labour. In this way there is a very big distance between the purchaser and the supplier due to which difficulties can not be established. Modern Slavery can not be concluded in one criminal act this is an structured form of crime that may caused in different layer such as,
●Labour market,
●Poverty,
●Corporate governance, and
●International trade.
The main concern is whether the legal system is able to protect the workers when this complex form of exploitation occurs.
2.Understanding Human trafficking and modern slavery:
In general human trafficking involves “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons.” Art-23 of the Constitution of India clearly prohibited “traffic in human beings and beggars and other similar forms of forced labour.”
Chapter 6 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita deals with the offences affecting the human body specially criminalising slavery, kidnapping abduction and forced labour. Sec-143 deals with trafficking of persons, Section 146 deals with unlawful compulsory labour, Section 139 deals with kidnapping for beggary and 141 deals with importation for exploitation.
Modern Slavery is quite a bigger term used to explain the situation when individuals are deprived of meaningful freedom and compelled to work in exploitative conditions. It is also possible that a person faced forced labour without being trafficked at an international border.
Modern Slavery includes:
●Forced labour;
●Debt Bondage;
●Trafficking for labour exploitation;
●Slavery practice;
●Child exploitation;
●Other situations in which restrictions on freedom are imposed.
3.Reason behind creating risk by Global Supply chain:
Global Supply chain created forced labour due to several reasons that are as follows:
- Multiple layer of contracting:
Big companies work through suppliers and contractors. In which these suppliers are also engaged additional contractors. As many layers are created, transparency rate decreases. The institutions purchasing the final product rarely have a strong connection with the workers who produced it.
- Informal labour
Informal employment of labour is very common in today’s time and in this kind of employment labourers don’t have any written employment agreement, social security and effective labour union to deal with their issues. Migrant worker faced a lot of difficulty because they don’t even have knowledge of the local laws so that they are completely dependant upon the employer for their accommodation and documentation. - Labour recruitment agencies:
They have played a very crucial role however they have charged excessive fees, causing deception regarding wages and working conditions. They effectively restrict the freedom of workers. - Pressure to reduce cost
Global competition motivates the producers to reduce the production cost. when suppliers are under pressure to deliver the goods at cheapest price the labours also become the part of this pressure.
4.Human trafficking as a human rights violation:
Human trafficking derogate many fundamental rights available under part III of the Constitution of India such as, freedom of movement, bodily autonomy, privacy and right to choose employment without any pressure. Forced labour also hamper dignity of an individual’s because in this an individual is treated a machinery to produce economy. UDHR established that, ” no person should be held in slavery or servitude and recognises freedom from forced labor as a fundamental principle”. The International Labour Organization is also addressing this issue.
5.International Legal Frameworks:
International law has created so many legal provisions to tackle with Trafficking slavery and Forced labour which are as follows:
- United Nations Trafficking Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish Trafficking in person.
- International Labour Organization has adopted many conventions related to forced labour and fundamental labour rights such as the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 establish important international standards. The ILO’s Forced Labour Protocol, adopted in 2014, further strengthens obligations relating to prevention, victim protection and access to remedies.
- Sustainable Development Goals recognises the importance of eliminating forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking.
6.Corporate Responsibility and supply chains:
With the advent of legal protection it has been discovered that corporation are responsible for this kind of human rights protection under the supply chains. At primary level it the State Government is expected to investigate and prosecute the offender and saves the victim of trafficking and forced labour.
Corporate responsibility should therefore include:
●identifying potential human-rights risks;
●assessing suppliers;
●monitoring working conditions;
●preventing abusive recruitment;
●addressing identified violations;
●providing grievance mechanisms; and
●reporting on remedial action.
7.Human Rights Due Diligence
This has become an important tool for addressing supply chain exploitation. Due Diligence doesn’t means merely completing basic questions and obtaining supplier certificate rather it involves many stages-
- Identifying the risk
- Prevention of that risk once it has been identified
- Monitoring the document’s as well workers
- Take appropriate steps to remedy the harm.
8. Transparency in Global Supply Chains
This is required for maintaining accountability. No layers of the business could evaluate the corporate conduct without having information about the supply chain that has been provided by the business. Transparency includes the disclosure about;
●major suppliers;
●sourcing countries;
●identified human-rights risks;
●due-diligence procedures;
●reported violations;
●corrective measures; and
●grievance and remediation mechanisms
Risk management is more important than mere disclosure by the company.
9.Recruitment Practice and Migrant Workers
Workers become vulnerable at the recruitment stage because they are promised by the employer a particular salary and employment conditions that may vary with the actual conditions of employment. Therefore, a responsible recruitment process should be based on these principles:
●no deception regarding the job;
●transparent employment contracts;
●a ban on charging unfair or excessive recruitment fees;
●safeguarding of identity documents;
●freedom to leave the job in accordance with the law; and
●an accessible grievance redressal mechanism.
Migrant workers should receive information about their legal rights in a language they can understand.
10.Indian legal framework
- Constitutional protection has been given under Article 21,23and 24 these articles established that exploitation of labour is not merely an employment issue rather it constitutes a derogate of fundamental rights.
- Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act,1976 has abolished the Bonded labour system and extinguishes obligations arising from Bonded labour arrangements.
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023 Classifying human trafficking as a crime reflects the State’s responsibility to investigate and punish conduct that deprives individuals of their liberty and exploits them for commercial or other purposes.
11. Role of the Judiciary
Courts have played a pivotal role in interpreting constitutional safeguards against forced labor and exploitation. the Indian constitutional justice system has recognized that forced labor cannot be viewed from a narrow perspective.
In the case of People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India the Supreme Court examined the “constitutional prohibition against forced labor and held that economic compulsion can be a crucial factor in determining whether work is truly being performed voluntarily.”
Similarly, the case of Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India,” contributed significantly to evolving the judicial perspective regarding bonded labor, human dignity, and the State’s responsibility to protect vulnerable workers.”
12.Challenges in enforcement
Instead of having plenty of laws serious enforcement challenges still remain. These are as follows:
- Forced labour is often concealed from regulator and consumer
- Workers may avoid reporting abuse become because they fear dismissal deportation violence and loss of a accommodation
- Labour authorities may use efficient personnel and resources to inspect Complex supply networks.
- Companies may genuinely struggle to identify every sub contractor operating several level below their immediate supplier
13.Conclusion and suggestions.
Despite having so many laws at National and international level human trafficking and modern slavery remains a serious challenge this complexity of supply chain needs to be changed and many times the workers are not directly employed by the companies and they still produce the product in speed if they are working through the contractor sub contractor recruiter or recruitment intermediaries. Strict investigation has been done by the government and the remedy has been given to the victim at the same time the business sector has to be meaningfully responsible for addressing and understanding the Human Rights risk within the supply chain. So many measures could be strengthened for tackling the trafficking and modern slavery in the Global supply chain such as strengthening supply chain, due diligence, regulate recruitment agencies, improve labour inspection, protect Whistleblower and workers, improve corporate disclosure, strengthen cross border Cooperation, improve access to the compensation and promote responsible procurement.
The fundamental principle should remain clear: no Global supply chain should be built upon the exploitation of human dignity and freedom.
References
- United Nations, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000).
- United Nations, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011).
- International Labour Organization, Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).
- International Labour Organization, Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105).
- International Labour Organization, Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930.
- United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
- Government of India, Constitution of India.
- Government of India, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.
- Government of India, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.
- Government of India, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
- People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, (1982) 3 SCC 235.
- Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, (1984) 3 SCC 161.
