ABSTRACT
The notion of exploitation is commonly ascribed to the Marxist theory that explains exploitation, in the context of labour relations, as that of a powerful employer and a powerless worker. This chapter considers how the absence of a clear international definition of exploitation has been dealt with in practice, and discusses whether a strict definition of exploitation would assist identification and remediation of the variety of situations of exploitation in which workers find themselves. In 2015, the Fundamental Rights Agency published the report Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union. Formal recruitment agencies, as well as informal agents, often operate within very little or no regulation, despite the fact that they often supply large numbers of workers. Cases of trafficking for forced criminality have risen significantly in the EU in recent years. Exploitation of workers in the production of goods and the delivery of services is widespread around the globe, and has become almost common knowledge.
