An alternative action plan addresses the root causes of labour trafficking in Israel
TraffLab suggests a new approach to Israel’s anti-trafficking policy, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act comes into effect in the U.S., and a landmark decision gives workers in Australia greater access to fair pay.
The TraffLab project at Tel Aviv University yesterday launched a new policy paper that offers an ambitious vision and plan of action to identify the forces driving human trafficking in Israel and the limitations of the solutions adopted thus far. The Alternative Anti-Trafficking Action Plan: A Proposed Model Based on a Labor Approach to Trafficking seeks to address the economic, social and legal conditions that cause vulnerability and exposure to labour abuse in Israel, and to narrow the power disparities between workers and those who benefit from their exploitation.
The paper sets out what its authors say would be a more effective alternative to the country’s current approach to anti-trafficking, which focuses on criminal enforcement, migration restrictions, awareness raising and victim support, but does not tackle the laws and practices that enable and facilitate abuse in the first place.
The action plan consists of three parts: Prevention, Enforcement and Partnerships, all of which reflect the need to address the underlying causes of trafficking and exploitation. Prevention, the largest section of the plan, includes discussions of migration policy and the labour market, recruitment fees, and the role of recruitment and placement agencies as key actors in the migratory process. Enforcement includes criminal justice along with the need to enforce protective employment legislation. And Partnerships considers the potential role of migrant communities and trade unions – actors often overlooked by anti-trafficking policymakers. Each chapter introduces a problematic aspect of the migrant labour regime and concludes with policy guidelines for change.
While the overarching themes of these areas are similar to those of Israel’s current approach, the strategies proposed are markedly different. For example, the report puts forward the complete elimination of all binding arrangements – in which a worker’s legal residence is tied to a specific employer – as one of its main policy recommendations. Although the Supreme Court ruled this tied visa system unconstitutional in 2006, many non-citizen workers, particularly documented migrant workers and documented Palestinian workers from the occupied territories, are excluded from the new arrangement.
In smaller industry sectors, where jobs require unique sets of skills, a case-by-case assessment may be necessary, says the report. Enhanced enforcement measures should be implemented at both the recruitment and employment stages to limit the risk of workers being coerced into abusive working conditions through a perceived lack of alternatives. And practical obstacles preventing migrant workers from changing employers legally – such as language barriers and a lack of information – should be removed.
TraffLab hopes that policymakers, researchers and the general public will find the diverse range of policy proposals presented in the plan useful, and that it will both facilitate a deeper understanding of the root causes of human trafficking in Israel and encourage a wider use of the tools available to comprehensively address this phenomenon. Furthermore, while some issues and proposed solutions are unique to the Israeli context, many challenges are common to migrant-receiving countries in the Global North, and some issues may also be relevant to countries in the Global South. Specific chapters of this plan may therefore assist practitioners, activists and scholars elsewhere. The organization welcomes requests for information and consultation about the process that led to this plan or the policy areas focused on, or any other aspect that might be helpful for similar projects.
The Alternative Anti-Trafficking Action Plan is also available in Hebrew.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began to implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which prohibits imports from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) into the U.S.. Importers of products that may incorporate materials or components suspected to have links with XUAR face heightened diligence and supply chain tracing requirements and experts state that, “There is almost no company in the United States currently truly prepared for this type of enforcement.”
A coordinated online joint action day that targeted criminal networks grooming Ukrainian refugees for sexual and labour exploitation via websites and social media platforms took place last month. Law enforcement authorities from 14 EU member states took part in the hackathon, coordinated by the Netherlands. The investigators monitored different online platforms to detect criminal networks attempting to recruit vulnerable Ukrainian refugees.
And, it has also been reported that bad actors continue to leverage social media groups and communications apps to sexually exploit and traffic Ukrainians seeking shelter and information. Potential traffickers target those digital spaces in which refugees look for assistance to spread misinformation or pose as well-meaning volunteers offering housing to those fleeing the conflict. Experts say tech companies could be doing more to protect Ukrainians from such threats amid an apparent rise in demand for trafficking victims from the besieged country.
Kenyan migrant workers and recruitment agents say the cost of recruitment to the Gulf, particularly Qatar, has risen dramatically in the past five years. Migrant-Rights.org has reviewed requests for proposals, job orders, email conversations and WhatsApp messages which support these claims, and notes that few mechanisms are in place to ensure that employers, not employees, pay for recruitment costs – while recruitment fees charged by agencies in countries of origin are often siphoned back to companies or recruiters in the GCC.
A landmark decision in Australia will allow the most vulnerable workers greater access to fair payment. Workers who have been underpaid, but whose former employer no longer has any assets to pursue (usually a strategic decision by company directors) will now be able to ask a court to make an order not only against the employer (be it a company, a partnership or a sole trader) but also against any individual who was knowingly involved in the underpayments – allowing them to recover up to $20,000.
Care workers recruited from overseas to look after elderly and disabled people in Britain are being charged thousands of pounds in illegal fees and forced to work in exploitative conditions to pay off their debts. An Observer investigation has uncovered a network of agencies supplying workers to care homes and homecare agencies which charge recruitment fees, often disguised as “processing”, “service” or “admin” charges, trapping some in debt bondage.
A BBC undercover investigation has exposed a human trafficking network smuggling disabled children from Tanzania to Kenya. Many are taken from their parents with the promise of a better life. Instead, the children are forced to beg on the streets – often for years – while their captors take the profits.
This week, the three-day conference Generating Evidence to Support the Elimination of Child Labour, Forced Labour, and Human Trafficking, organized by ILO, IOM, and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), is taking place. The goal is to advance discussions among researchers, policy actors, social partners and practitioners around the world, in order to strengthen partnerships and explore the logistics of refining evidence on effective solutions to labour exploitation and trafficking. Join Day 3 online.
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