The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) conducts international research and reporting, technical assistance, and strategic engagement to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.
ILAB has the authority under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 to monitor and combat forced labor and child labor in foreign countries. For example, the TVPRA mandates ILAB to monitor the use of forced labor and child labor in violation of international standards and provide information regarding trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced labor to the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking of the Department of State.
ILAB's engagement and technical cooperation initiatives have made a critical difference in the lives of close to 2 million children and 185,000 families through education and livelihood support and increased capacity of governments and other stakeholders to combat child labor and forced labor. More broadly, ILAB's work to strengthen global labor standards, promote racial and gender equity, enforce the labor commitments among trading partners, including prohibitions on child labor and forced labor, to safeguard dignity at work globally and ensure that workers in the United States and around the world can compete on a level playing field. ILAB's efforts to eliminate hazardous and exploitative labor practices also respond to concerns of U.S. consumers that the imported products they buy should be made in a way that is consistent with their values.
Research and Reporting
- Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The report covers 134 U.S. trade beneficiary countries and territories and addresses trafficking in persons as one of the worst forms of child labor and as a factor in forced labor exploitation, in accordance with international standards. The report provides individual country assessments that identify the level of effort made by governments in addressing these problems and includes country-specific suggestions for governmental action. - List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
The report includes a list of goods and their source countries which ILAB has reason to believe are produced by child labor or forced labor in violation of international standards, comprising 158 goods from 77 countries. - List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor
This List, published and maintained in consultation with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, includes products and their source countries which ILAB has a reasonable basis to believe are produced by forced or indentured child labor, pursuant to Executive Order 13126. This List is intended to ensure that U.S. federal agencies do not procure goods made by forced or indentured child labor.
E- Tools
ILAB is funding cutting-edge projects to develop innovative supply chain traceability tools and methods that will be made publicly available so others can join us in exposing and combatting forced labor and advancing transparency and compliance.
- Sweat & Toil: Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking Around the World
The app is a free, comprehensive resource, compiling over 1,000 pages of DOL's research documenting child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking around the world. The updated app now includes information on current and past projects to combat child and forced labor that the department has implemented in each country. - Comply Chain
The app and web-based tool provides companies and industry groups with a step-by-step guide to develop robust social compliance systems and root out child labor and forced labor from global supply chains. It is available in English, French, Spanish, and Malay. - Better Trade Tool
The tool integrates existing Department of Labor data on international child labor and forced labor with U.S. import trade data. It shows which imports into the U.S. have a higher risk of being made with child and forced labor.
Technical Assistance
ILAB is also a global leader in designing and funding innovative technical assistance projects to combat forced labor and human trafficking. ILAB's projects address the root causes of exploitation, strengthen labor laws and enforcement, lift up worker voice, expand social protection and remediation services, and provide direct livelihood support.
- From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labor
The project helped advance the fight against forced labor by producing global, universal tools and guidance on forced labor and leading intensive capacity-building in seven countries, along with direct services for forced laborers in two countries. - The Fostering Accountability in Recruitment for Fishery Workers (FAIR Fish)
The FAIR Fish project worked with small and medium size seafood-processing companies in Thailand, as well as their recruitment agencies, to develop and implement a responsible recruitment model built on principles of social compliance. - From Research to Action
The project mapped existing research and gaps on child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking and is funding new research to support effective programming and decision making. - Measurement, Awareness-raising and Policy Engagement to Accelerate Action to Address Child Labor and Forced Labor (MAP16)
The MAP 16 project is addressing knowledge gaps on child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking through research and the development of new survey methodologies; improving awareness of these issues through the use of data-driven techniques; strengthening policies and the capacity of governments and other stakeholders to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking; and supporting partnerships to accelerate progress in combatting child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. Project activities include supporting the development of new internationally recognized measurement standards for forced labor and supporting research on forced labor in Argentina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Mongolia. Such research will inform the development of policies and programs to address forced labor. MAP16 also promoted the establishment of the Global Business Network on Forced Labor as a forum for businesses to exchange best practices on combating forced labor in their supply chains.
Consular Cooperative Agreements
- One of the leading drivers of human trafficking is unregulated and unscrupulous foreign labor recruiters, who lure people with promises of legitimate and lucrative jobs in distant locations and foreign countries. Prospective workers are induced to migrate for these jobs, only to become victims of human trafficking. In an effort to better protect temporary nonimmigrant workers to the United States who are particularly susceptible to human trafficking, the department signed cooperative agreements with Central American countries that extend U.S. visa laws to those countries. The agreements, for example, require those countries to create a registered foreign recruiter monitoring program to keep track of their workers' visa status and ensure that recruitment and other fees are not being charged.