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Understanding and Evaluating UK Efforts to Tackle Forced Labour

  • Chapter
Vulnerability, Exploitation and Migrants

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

Abstract

Forced labour1 is recognised as a worldwide problem, directly affecting millions of people, generating some US$150 billion annual profits (ILO, 2014a). Since 2000, the issue has been entangled in the developing international regime to tackle human trafficking2 and is often subsumed within broader definitions of ‘modern slavery’.3 This chapter evaluates the UK’s response to forced labour, locating this within the international context. It argues that the main problems can be traced to policy framing and implementation, in turn relating to national preferences over economic governance and the regulation of workplace rights. It draws on a study of the problems of regulation and enforcement to tackle forced labour in the UK (Balch, 2012), forming part of a four-year research programme into forced labour funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

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Authors
  1. Alex Balch
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, UK

    Louise Waite (Associate Professor of Human Geography) (Associate Professor of Human Geography)

  2. University of Durham, UK

    Gary Craig (Professor of Social Justice) (Professor of Social Justice)

  3. University of Sheffield, UK

    Hannah Lewis (Vice Chancellor’s Fellow) (Vice Chancellor’s Fellow)

  4. Anti-Slavery International, UK

    Klara Skrivankova (Europe Programme and Advocacy Coordinator) (Europe Programme and Advocacy Coordinator)

Copyright information

© 2015 Alex Balch

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Cite this chapter

Balch, A. (2015). Understanding and Evaluating UK Efforts to Tackle Forced Labour. In: Waite, L., Craig, G., Lewis, H., Skrivankova, K. (eds) Vulnerability, Exploitation and Migrants. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137460417_7

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