The Global Slavery Index 2023

Spotlights 4 

​Guardians and Offenders: Examining State-Imposed Forced Labour (Part 1)
In 2021, an estimated 3.9 million people were forced to work by state authorities. It is among the most egregious forms of modern slavery as it involves states not only failing in their duty to safeguard human rights, but actively using their power to perpetrate abuse. 

While international conventions recognise that states have the power to compel citizens to work, this is limited to specific circumstances; for example, compulsory military service or obligatory work or service for citizens in emergency situations such as famine and natural disaster. A state exceeds these limits when it compels citizens to work as a punishment for expressing or acting on political views, or for the purpose of economic development, or as a means of racial, ethnic, social, or religious discrimination. 

State-imposed forced labour can be categorised into three major types: abuse of compulsory prison labour, abuse of conscription, and forced labour for economic development. Abuse of compulsory prison labour accounts for over half (56 percent) of all state-imposed forced labour. 

Our assessment of government responses to modern slavery found evidence of all forms of state-imposed forced labour across 17 countries. While most governments have taken some action to end modern slavery, these responses vary widely (Figure 9). All these actions are fundamentally undermined by the practice of state-imposed forced labour. 

Abuse of compulsory prison labour 
Abuse of compulsory prison labour includes compulsory labour for those convicted of a non- violent political offence, participating in non-violent strikes, breaches of labour discipline, or as a means of discrimination. It also includes compulsory labour in administrative detention and abuse of prison labour for private interests. Reports indicate that state- imposed forced labour occurs in public and private prisons around the world, including Brazil, China, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan, the United States, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe. It also occurs in migrant detention centres in Libya, re-education camps in China, administrative detention camps in North Korea, and in medical labour centres in Belarus and Viet Nam, in which citizens struggling with drug addiction are forced to work as part of their recovery. 

The US has both the resources and longstanding political will to lead the fight against modern slavery, receiving the fifth highest government response score globally. However, these positive actions are belied by laws that allow state-imposed forced labour to occur. Under the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865), a sentence of involuntary servitude can still be handed down for an offence. Prisoners are summarily excluded from the scope of labour law protections — including those that prohibit forced labour — given that compulsory prison labour is considered a legal punishment rather than an economic activity. While international law permits compulsory prison labour under certain conditions, it cannot be used for the benefit of private parties, unless additional requirements are met. Detainees in US private prisons, including pre-trial detainees, allege that they have been forced to work without pay under the threat of punishment. 

While noting a lack of recent and available data in some countries such as China and North Korea, the US has the world’s largest rate of imprisonment, therefore the risk of state-imposed forced labour is particularly concerning. The burden of risk is disproportionately borne by people of colour, who are overrepresented among US prison populations, in part due to over-policing and historical mass criminalisation of their communities. This is particularly true for black men living in the US, who in 2020 were 5.7 times more likely to be imprisoned than white men. The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) has urged the government to take steps to ensure prison sentences involving compulsory labour are not disproportionately issued due to racial discrimination in the criminal justice process. In December 2020, a joint resolution was introduced in the US Congress to amend the Constitution and prohibit involuntary servitude from being used to punish offenders. 

Walk Free 2023. Global Slavery Index 2023. Minderoo Foundation Ltd. Australia.