By Alice Fereday

This report assesses risks of exploitation and labour trafficking in gold-mining areas in northern Niger and northern Mali. It examines the modalities of recruitment and employment, the risks they pose to workers and the structural factors that contribute to the vulnerability of gold miners. The report also identifies key opportunities for policy makers to address these risks while recognising the crucial role of gold mining for local livelihoods and stability.

OCWAR-T Research Report 3 . Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2023. 34p.

  By Anni Lietonen and Natalia Ollus

  The guide has been prepared in connection with the Action plan for effective public procurement (i.e., the Procurement Finland Strategy), coordinated by the Min - istry of Finance and the Association of Finnish Local and Re - gional Authorities. The project was built on the objectives of the Social Sustainability Group operating as part of the Pro - curement Finland Strategy, which include the promotion of human rights in public procurement and respecting funda - mental rights at work. By combating labour exploitation and human trafficking as part of public procurement procedures, contracting units can contribute to preventing fraudulent ac - tivities and crimes, and to promoting the implementation of human rights and respect for the fundamental principles of working life. The proposed measures, views and interpretations presented in this publication represent the authors' views and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the par - ties involved in the implementation of the Procurement Fin - land strategy. This guide has been prepared for the public procurement context in Finland, and for the application of Finnish laws and instructions. However, public procurers and businesses from other countries can also benefit from the content of the guide. When implementing the recom - mendations in the guide, public contracting entities must ensure that their measures comply with the na - tional procurement and data protection legislations, the Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liabili - ty when Work is Contracted Out, including other key obligations.   

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations HEUNI, 2021. 61p.  

By Alice Fereday

This report assesses risks of exploitation and labour trafficking in gold-mining areas in northern Niger and northern Mali. It examines the modalities of recruitment and employment, the risks they pose to workers and the structural factors that contribute to the vulnerability of gold miners. The report also identifies key opportunities for policy makers to address these risks while recognising the crucial role of gold mining for local livelihoods and stability.

  OCWAR-T Research Report 3 . Institute for Security Studies, 2023. 34p.

By Alessandro Stanziani

For the first time, this book provides the global history of labor in Central Eurasia, Russia, Europe, and the Indian Ocean between the 16th and 20th centuries. It contests common views on free and unfree labor, comparing the latter to many Western countries where wage conditions resembled those of domestic servants. This gave rise to extreme forms of dependency in the colonies, not only under slavery, but also afterwards via indentured labor in the Indian Ocean and obligatory labor in Africa. Stanziani shows that unfree labor and forms of economic coercion were perfectly compatible with market development and capitalism, proven by the consistent economic growth that took place all over Eurasia between the 17th and the 19th centuries. This growth was labor intensive: commercial expansion, transformations in agriculture, and the first industrial revolution required more labor, not less.

New York; Oxford, UK: Berghahn Books , 2014. 270p.

By Pekka Ylinen, Anniina Jokinen, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen, Natalia Ollus, Katja-Pia Jenu

Identifying and investigating labour exploitation and trafficking is a challenging task. These are often international crimes in which migrant workers from one or more countries are brought to a third country, where their vulnerable position and ignorance are exploited by the offenders in multiple ways. Labour exploitation is found particularly frequently in labour-intensive sectors such as restaurants, cleaning, agriculture and construction (e.g. Jokinen et al. 2011; Ollus et al. 2013; FRA 2015). The offenders seek to conceal their criminal activities in any way possible and intimidate their victims so that they do not dare speak out about being exploited. Ultimately, the motive underlying labour exploitation is maximising financial profits. Unfortunately, labour exploitation can be highly lucrative, particularly since the risk of being caught is usually quite low. (Jokinen & Ollus 2019.) The present investigation tool was developed in the EU-funded FLOW project1 , whose target group comprises of criminal investigation authorities and labour inspection authorities in Finland, Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia. Its purpose is to increase awareness of labour exploitation and trafficking and to offer concrete steps in identifying and investigating these phenomena. The tool is based to a large degree on the experiences of the Finnish police and labour inspection authorities, because the number of cases identified in Finland of labour trafficking that have led to convictions for trafficking for forced labour is exceptionally high by European standards. The investigation tool briefly describes the progress of police investigations from the initial impulse to practical arrangements at the trial and action taken thereafter. The tool further illustrates features of identification and investigation through practical examples. There is also a separate checklist for labour and other relevant inspectors on how to identify potential cases of labour trafficking and exploitation during inspections and how to proceed with suspicions by contacting the police and or other authorities and national service provider(s) for victims of trafficking.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI) 2020. 72p.