ABSTRACT
Forced and trafficked labour is the very antithesis of decent work. This chapter presents some of the strategies adopted by the global trade union movement in order to identify and address those factors that increase worker vulnerability to trafficking. It considers under which conditions persistent withholding of wages could be recognized as an indicator of coercion, or an indicator of involuntariness, taking into account that 'menace of penalty' and 'involuntary offer to work' are constitutive elements of the crime of forced labour. The chapter discusses the legal gap in access to a judicial remedy for victims of forced labour and trafficking committed by, or in the interest of, corporate actors. It describes rights-based approach and discusses its potential to identify factors that significantly increase worker vulnerability to trafficking, but that are often ignored by anti-trafficking policies, those factors that derive from labour and employment laws, as well as from other relevant regimes that might affect enforcement of labour rights.
