The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

Saturday, 23 June 2007

Bonded labour is the least known method of slavery and thrives unabated in the world today.  This was the underlying message to a Women's Forum meeting held in Wiesbaden, Germany, on Saturday 23 June 2007 on the margins of the 8th session of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly and 13th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.  The meeting, co-chaired by Karin Scheele of Germany and Alice Nzomukunda of Burundi, attracted members of Parliament from the ACP and EU countries as well as representatives from women and human rights groups. 

A limited definition of bonded labour refers to a situation where a person renders labour as a way of repaying a debt or loan.  An extended definition of bonded labour otherwise encompasses a variety of situations such as where individuals, often women, are unsuspectingly lured into arrangements involving promises of good life and prosperity, but end up being used as slaves for household chores and even prostitution. 

While many countries have adopted laws to discouraged bonded labour and other methods of slavery, participants heard speakers described how and why bonded labour was pervasive in modern societies.  Invited speakers, Benedicte Bourgeois from the “Comite contre l'esclavage morderne”, and Virginia Wangare Greiner from the “Maisha women' organisation” of Germany, informed the meeting of concrete cases that their respective organisations had to deal with as they assisted victims of bonded labour.  Participants from African countries such as Mauritania, Mozambique and Sudan also gave accounts of problems relating to bonded labour and illegal immigration in their countries and how their governments were addressing the problems.

The vicious cycle of poverty, the meeting heard, was the fundamental reason behind bonded labour.  As individuals aspired to improve their livelihoods and that of their families, they took great risks in incurring debts that they were obliged to repay.  Such risks were manifested through occurrences such as illegal immigration and human trafficking.  Very often individuals did not have the means to pay for passage and therefore a debt was incurred with the “facilitator” which was to be repaid in future. 

While poverty was the driving force behind bonded labour for African and Mediterranean countries, Europe had the market for it.  Participants agreed that solutions lied with concerted efforts involving governments and organizations from Africa and the Mediterranean, and the European Union to work together to minimize its occurrences.