A study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), released in Geneva on Tuesday, has found that forced labour generates illegal profits worth $36 billion per year.
This is an increase of 37% of such illegal profits since 2014 and the study said this is fuelled by both a growth in the number of people forced into labour, as well as higher profits generated from the exploitation of victims. For the study, surveys have been conducted among workers, including Indian workers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The report, titled ‘Profits and poverty: The economics of forced labour’, also estimates that traffickers and criminals are generating close to $10,000 per victim, up from $8,269 (adjusted for inflation) a decade ago. “Total annual illegal profits from forced labour are highest in Europe and Central Asia ($84 billion), followed by Asia and the Pacific ($62 billion), the Americas ($52 billion), Africa ($20 billion), and the Arab States (US$18 billion),” the report said.
