GENEVA (dpa-AFX) - Forced labour in the private economy generates $236
billion in illegal profits per year, the International Labour
Organization (ILO) reported from Geneva on Tuesday.

The total amount of illegal profits from forced labour had risen by
$64 billion, or 37%, since 2014, the ILO said. It described this as a
'dramatic increase that has been fuelled by both a growth in the
number of people forced into labour, as well as higher profits
generated from the exploitation of victims.'

Prostitution, or what the ILO describes as 'forced commercial sexual
exploitation,' accounted for 73% of the illegal profits despite
making up only 27% of the victims.

The illegal profits refer to the difference between what victims are
paid and what they would be entitled to under proper working
conditions. The rise can be attributed both to the increased number
of people affected and an increase in the illegal profit per person.

The numbers are particularly high in the Europe and Central Asia
regions, which includes more than 50 countries from Iceland via
Turkey to Russia.

The ILO defines compulsory labour as 'all work or service that is
exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which
said person has not offered themselves voluntarily.'

In 2021, there were 27.6 million people in compulsory labour on any
one day, working in mines, agriculture or households. This is
equivalent to 3.5 persons per 1,000 people on the planet. Of these
6.3 million have been forced into prostitution.


Copyright dpa