PURPOSE: to authorise Member States to ratify, in the
interest of the European Union, the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) with regard to matters related to judicial cooperation in
criminal matters.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No
29) of the ILO is one of the ILOs eight fundamental
Conventions that make up the core international labour standards,
and it is considered a human rights instrument.. Yet, more than 80
years later, despite almost universal ratification of the
Convention, the practice still exists, albeit in different forms to
those that provoked such concern in the early twentieth century.
The ILO estimates that at least 20.9 million people globally are
victims of forced labour.
In 2014, the International Labour Conference adopted
the Protocol on the forced labour convention seeks to
address gaps in implementation and to make progress on preventing
trafficking for labour exploitation and protecting and compensating
victims of forced labour.
The European Union (EU) is committed to promoting
human rights and decent work and to eradicating trafficking in
human beings, both internally and in its external relations. In
ratifying ILO Conventions and related Protocols, EU Member States
send an important signal on the coherence of the EUs policy
in promoting fundamental principles and rights at work and
improving working conditions worldwide.
CONTENT: the proposed Decision seeks to authorise the
Member States to ratify the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour
Organisation.
The Protocol is a binding international agreement,
subject to ratification, and is linked to the Convention. It
creates legal obligations applicable to ratifying States and can
only be ratified by States that have ratified the
Convention.
In accordance with case law of the Court of Justice of
the European Union (ECJ), and more specifically on concluding and
ratifying an ILO Convention, Member States are not able to decide
to ratify the Protocol outside the framework of the EUs
institutions, as parts of the Protocol fall into areas of EU
competence. However, the EU as such cannot ratify an ILO Protocol,
because under the ILO rules only States can be parties to such
Protocols.
The Protocols provisions strengthen the
international legal framework by establishing obligations to
prevent forced labour and to provide victims with protection
and access to remedies, such as compensation.
The Protocol sets out the measures that ILO Member
States must take to prevent forced labour, namely:
- educating and informing people, especially those who
are particularly vulnerable, and employers;
- making efforts to ensure that the coverage and
enforcement of legislation relevant to the prevention of forced
labour apply to all workers and all sectors of the economy and that
labour inspection services are strengthened;
- protecting people, especially migrant workers, from
potentially abusive and fraudulent recruitment and placement
practices;
- supporting due diligence by both the public and
private sectors; and
- addressing the root causes heightening the risks of
forced labour.
The Protocol addresses areas of EU law that are
already subject to an advanced degree of regulation: (i) certain
aspects relating to judicial cooperation in criminal matters, in
respect of which EU law sets minimum standards on anti-trafficking
and victims rights; (ii) certain aspects relating to rules on
asylum and immigration.
The Commission proposes that the Decision should be
based on the one hand on Article 218(6) TFEU, in conjunction
with Article 82(2) TFEU, which provides the main legal basis
for EU legislation on judicial cooperation in criminal matters
relevant to addressing trafficking in human beings and
victims rights.
The provisions of the draft Protocol other than the
provisions related to judicial cooperation in criminal matters will
be subject to a Decision adopted in parallel
to this Decision.
The Decision recommends that Member States should take
the necessary steps to deposit their instruments of ratification of
the Protocol with the Director-General of the International Labour
Office as soon as possible, preferably by 31 December
2016.