Topic:
Country: Australia
Delegate Name: Ja’Nyla Robinson
Australia recognizes the gravity of forced labor, which has been increasing in years due to a lack of education about rights and resources. The lack of education on these topics enables the exploitation of people to thrive, particularly among vulnerable groups such as those who already suffer from poverty. We argue that the main cause of forced labor is a lack of human rights education and limited known resources available. Many people, particularly in underdeveloped countries, are uninformed of their fundamental rights and lack the resources to protect themselves from exploitation. As a result, Australia believes that combating forced labor requires a diverse strategy that involves education, advocacy, and international cooperation.
While the ILO has existed for over 100 years, the development of the workforce has evolved drastically in comparison to 1919. Misinformation is readily accessible and workers have become distrusting of accurate information versus a “trap” that will lead to punishments ranging from loss of wages to prison? Informing workers throughout the world about their rights comes with challenges that the ILO needs to address. How does a worker know that they can trust a foreigner there to educate them if there is a language barrier? Cultural barriers? Gender barriers? A one size fits all approach to solving this issue won’t help every country, regardless of the amount of time and money invested into the current models of education and support.
It is the responsibility of the ILO to educate workers from each region, set an accountability schedule, and allow for these regional representatives to educate their respective workforce.
We propose that, in order to efficiently stop current and prevent future forced labor, a global education campaign focused on increasing worker’s understanding of their rights and having nations self report should be implemented. Although the ILO has previously been involved in many international organizations such as Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO) to attempt to make changes with the forced labor crisis, these organizations do not have the necessary depth on advocacy and NGOs roles to prevent forced labor. Therefore Australia believes it is time to create an additional arm to these current solutions that covers all of the core issues of forced labor. This plan would be incorporated into our existing philosophies which would foster national collaboration and information exchange. This new addition would provide an extensive educational program on human rights. ILO trainers would meet with representatives from each region, provide in-depth and practical real-world applications focusing on preventing forced labor. These representatives would return to their home regions to further educate the workforce on the ground. This curriculum would be implemented through community initiatives and vocational training centers around the world to ensure that knowledge on people’s fundamental rights is widely distributed. Australia believes that combating forced labor will involve a worldwide effort, with education serving as a critical vehicle for change. We look forward to cooperating with our neighbors and other countries to make this vision a reality.
