Forced Labour Essay

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In 2005, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) published its 5th edition of “A global alliance against forced Labour,” a report that acknowledged the presence of forced labour and modern forms of slavery in the industrialized world. It described human trafficking for forced labour as being the "underside of globalisation and that “rapid globalization was the sole catalyst to many privatised firms engaging in immoral practices in order to reap maximum profits.” However, people and major labour organizations are realizing that along with being morally unjustified, slave labour has larger hidden economic implications through being less beneficial to national economies and hampering globalization. These reasons make forced labour one of the alarming world issues of today and actions should be taken in order to stop its hidden and continuous expansion.
Forced Labour involves forcing people to work in detrimental environmental conditions with lower then minimum wages and extensive working hours through coercion. The management may resort to physical, verbal and mental abuse in order to control the labour force which damages the workers both physically and psychologically. According to Erich From, a German social psychologist, “if a person perceives himself as being what he owns, then when that person loses (or even thinks of losing) what he "owns" (e.g. the good looks or sharp mind that allow him to sell his labor for high wages), then, a fear of loss may create anxiety and authoritarian tendencies because that person's sense of identity is threatened.” This theory directly applies to the many employees engaged in the global forced labour trade today. The labour force has a depleted financial status and do not own any material po...

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...y slowing down economic growth. It is an expansive world issue that should be pursued and tried to stop as soon as possible in order to prevent resulting problems which may be growth-impeding. Currently, the root of the problem is a lack of awareness – or a refusal to acknowledge – that slavery or forced labour still exists under many different disguises. The way people are compelled into work is invisible and subtle and many people still do not give it enough importance for it to be considered an urgent world issue because of some advantages it has brought along for multinational corporations. In order to resolve this issue, international labour organisations must work together in order to use the combined resources to track down traffickers and factories employing slave labour and enforce strict legislations against their actions to nip this issue from the bud.

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