Workers in labour bondage overlooked in US human trafficking tally: UN expert

Human trafficking victims working in construction, farming or as domestic help are severely undercounted in the United States, where authorities often are failing to find them or protect them, a top United Nations expert on trafficking said. Labour exploitation accounts for 13 percent of reported human trafficking victims in the United States, while sex trafficking victims comprise 70 percent, said Maria Giammarinaro, U.N Special Rapporteur on human trafficking.
"This for sure does not reflect the reality," she said, citing statistics by Polaris, an advocacy group that tracks trafficking. "From anecdotal evidence, we know that trafficking for labour exploitation is much more present in the country," she said in an interview on Friday as she concluded a nine-day US tour, meeting with officials and advocates in New York, California, Texas and Washington. It was her first official visit to assess trafficking in the United States, her office said.
Globally, nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). An estimated 4.5 million of them, or roughly 22 percent, are forced into sex work, the ILO says. Anecdotal evidence also shows that globally, labour exploitation is on the rise, Giammarinaro said. "The demand for cheap labour is the driving factor," she said, adding criminal recruiters have found it "so easy" to enslave a person.
Human trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise, making an estimated $150 billion annually in illegal profits, according to the ILO. Labor trafficking may involve people forced to work for free after falling into debt or those who are forced to work due to deception, coercion or threat of violence. Some victims may be trapped in a foreign country, with their passports confiscated by employers, and unable to leave.
The low number of reported labour exploitation trafficking cases in the United States shows that "authorities are much more active in the field of sex trafficking than in the field of labour trafficking," Giammarinaro said. The United States has been successful though in tackling cases of domestic servitude, she said. "But very little has been done in other sectors such as hospitality, agriculture and construction that we know are sectors prone to exploitation everywhere in the world," she added.
Handling cases of labour exploitation should include efforts to get restitution or claim wages for victims, and undocumented workers should be protected from deportation if they are discovered being held as slaves, she said. Cases of labour bondage could be uncovered during workplace or labour inspections, when trained staff could inspect conditions, ask to see contracts or interview workers, she said. She said in Britain the Gangmasters Licensing Authority had been effective in preventing labour trafficking in agriculture.