How migrants can avoid forced labour

– Migrant workers can now rate their recruiters and warn others of potential abuses on a global portal aimed at stamping out modern slavery that mirrors reviews on the travel website TripAdvisor.

From domestic workers to construction labourers, about 25 million people were trapped in forced labour in 2016, according to the International Labour Organisation and the charity Walk Free Foundation.

Desperate to escape poverty at home, many migrant workers pay fees to recruitment agencies to secure a job abroad, but campaigners say they can end up trapped in bonded labour.

Inspired by the travel website, the Recruitment Advisor launched this month in four languages allows migrant workers to review their experiences in a bid to help others to avoid unscrupulous recruiters.

“One can choose a recruitment agency with good ratings,” said Ira Rachmawati

Kuala Lumpur

from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Brussels, which runs the portal.

“We want to promote fair recruitment. If the agency is doing fair recruitments, they could contribute to helping migrant workers making an informed decision,” the project officer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday.

Available in English, Indonesian, Tagalog and Nepali in the first phase, the ITUC – which represents 207 million workers globally – said the website empowers workers to learn about their rights through the peer-to-peer reviews.

It has more than 10 000 recruitment agencies listed on its website and workers will be asked to review areas ranging from recruitment fees to employment contracts.

The website seeks to tap technology to combat slavery and human trafficking, which generate profits of $150 billion per year globally, according to UN figures. – Reuters