World Bank & IMF: Support States to Realize the Human Right to Social Security by Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors   Apr. 2024   Ahead of the 2023 Annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, 71 civil society organizations supported the release of a joint statement calling on the Bank and IMF to change their social protection policies and practices.   The group of signatory organizations urged the IMF and the World Bank to commit to realizing the right to social security, end poverty-targeted programs in countries without universal coverage, support equitable and sustainable public systems, and to halt austerity measures that threaten rights.   We restated our concerns with the start of the 2024 Spring Meetings, in an open letter to World Bank and IMF executive directors, proposing four measures to realize the right to social security.   Human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations wrote to the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors to express concerns that the WBG and the IMF are failing to support States to realize the human right to social security for all.   The letters were sent in the framework of the Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the WBG that are taking place from April 15 to 20, 2024, in Washington DC.   Dear Executive Directors,   We, the undersigned human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations, are writing to express concerns that the World Bank and IMF are failing to promote the human right to social security for all.   We are proposing four policy changes that would advance the right to social security in line with human rights standards, and we would like to meet with you to explore how your office may support them.   As underlined by the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (USP2030), which the World Bank is co-chairing, “universal social protection is a human right and key to recovery, for a green transition and sustainable and inclusive economic and social development for individuals, communities, and nations”. At present, however, over half of the world’s population has no access to even one social security program.   Among international development actors, the World Bank is the largest funder of social protection systems. Despite the World Bank’s commendable commitment in 2015 to promote universal social protection, we are concerned that the World Bank continues to promote narrowly targeted “safety nets,” where eligibility hinges on estimates of the extent of poverty that have acknowledged large exclusion errors, rather than embracing a more inclusive and rights-aligned universal approach.   Research by Oxfam International and others found that 85 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where governments’ austerity measures impede their ability to deliver on their human rights obligations. While as part of its country assistance programs, the IMF has increasingly included some level of protection for social spending, the Fund continues to promote heavily means-tested programs that cover only a tiny fraction of the population. This undermines global efforts to work towards universal social protection systems consistent with human rights.   The negative impacts of this approach are well-documented, especially in countries without universal social security systems and where the majority of people work and live in informal settings. Evidence shows that such programs are often designed too narrowly and exclude many of the poorest.   “The poor” is not a static group, and in reality, households dynamically move between societal welfare rankings over short periods. Further, most governments lack up-to-date data to accurately identify “the poor.” “Targeting” is also vulnerable to mismanagement or corruption.   By focusing only on people in poverty or even extreme poverty, these programs exclude large segments of the population who may not be considered “poor” at one moment but are far from enjoying their rights. They also fail to build a shared sense of solidarity and can undermine trust within societies.   Further, through macroeconomic policy advice, the World Bank and IMF have a history of undermining public social insurance systems by promoting individualized savings schemes such as privately managed pensions, over investment in public systems. Recent reforms in some countries have further eroded the right to social security, leading to reduced coverage and lower benefits.   In some countries, these changes involved cuts to employer contributions or reduced benefits for the majority in the public system. Research by the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that privatization of social insurance in some countries worsened poverty and inequality, disproportionately affecting women and older people.   The current approach taken by the World Bank and IMF falls short of their obligations under international law. International financial institutions have an obligation to avoid causing harm by not demanding cuts or a re-design of social security programs that would undermine rights, and to provide as many resources as they can to help build universal social security systems that are rights-aligned.   The Bank and IMF have an opportunity to course-correct and adopt a rights-aligned approach to social security that sets the tone and leads the way toward more just societies and economies.   We strongly urge the World Bank and IMF, as pivotal actors in financing and shaping social security policies in low- and middle-income countries, to take four measures to progressively realize the right to social security:   Support states to realize the right to social security. Immediately commit to support states to progressively realize the right to social security. This involves setting up or strengthening rights-aligned social security systems, including the establishment of social protection floors in line with ILO Recommendation 202.   Replace the focus on poverty-targeting with universal systems. Stop funding new poverty-targeted programs and phase out existing ones, along with related technologies and privacy-invasive infrastructure such as social registries. Additionally, strengthen a fair distribution of resources by coupling universal social security with fiscal reforms that reduce inequality.   Support equitable and sustainable public systems. Support equitable and sustainable social security systems in accordance with international standards, including by promoting adequate employers' contributions and adequate social security benefits to ensure income security. Avoid pension privatization and instead strengthen public social security systems.   Cease harmful austerity budgeting reforms. Halt austerity policies that threaten rights and privatize social security and refrain from promoting social spending trade-offs. Cease conditioning loans on austerity measures and promoting austerity as a policy priority for governments.   Ensure that any increase in social spending in one sector, for instance on social security, does not come at the expense of other rights.   http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/04/world-bank-and-imf-executive-directors-promote-the-human-right-to-social-securityworld-bank-and-imf-executive-directors/ http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/social-security-for-all/ http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/income-inequality-high-or-rising-60-percent-countries-loans-imf-and-world-bank http://www.iied.org/debt-swaps-could-release-100-billion-for-climate-action http://drgr.org/research/report-defaulting-on-development-and-climate-debt-sustainability-and-the-race-for-the-2030-agenda-and-paris-agreement/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/leaders-need-break-chokehold-debt-austerity-health-depends/ http://www.eurodad.org/the_debt_games http://www.eurodad.org/debt_justice http://actionaid.org/publications/2024/briefings-climate-justice-and-finance http://actionaid.org/publications/2024/taxing-windfall-profits-fossil-fuels-and-financial-companies-can-boost-climate   http://debtjustice.org.uk/blog/cop28-outcomes-for-debt-justice-the-good-the-distracting-and-the-damaging http://development-finance.org/en/news/831-11-october-the-worst-debt-crisis-ever-shocking-new-debt-service-numbers http://www.development-finance.org/en/news/832-debt-service-watch http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-warns-debt-crisis-world-emerges-covid-19-pandemic http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2023/06/82268/financial-system-must-evolve-giant-leap-towards-global-justice http://unctad.org/news/un-warns-soaring-global-public-debt-record-92-trillion-2022 http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/lower-income-country-debt-payments-set-to-hit-highest-level-in-25-years Visit the related web page
	Annual profits from forced labour amount to US$ 236 billion, ILO report finds by International Labour Organization (ILO), agencies   Mar. 2024   Forced labour in the private economy generates US$236 billion in illegal profits per year, a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) has found.   The total amount of illegal profits from forced labour has risen by US$64 billion (37 per cent) since 2014, 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.   The ILO report, Profits and Poverty: The economics of forced labour, estimates that traffickers and criminals are generating close to US$10,000 per victim, up from US$8,269 (adjusted for inflation) a decade ago.   Total annual illegal profits from forced labour are highest in Europe and Central Asia (US$84 billion), followed by Asia and the Pacific (US$62 billion), the Americas (US$52 billion), Africa (US$20 billion), and the Arab States (US$18 billion).   When illegal profits are expressed per victim, annual illegal profits are highest in Europe and Central Asia, followed by the Arab States, the Americas, Africa and Asia and the Pacific.   Forced commercial sexual exploitation accounts for more than two-thirds (73 per cent) of the total illegal profits, despite accounting for only 27 per cent of the total number of victims in privately imposed labour.   These numbers are explained by the huge difference in per victim profits between forced commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of non-state forced labour exploitation – US$27,252 profits per victim for the former against US$3,687 profits per victim for the latter.   After forced commercial sexual exploitation, the sector with the highest annual illegal profits from forced labour is industry, at US$35 billion, followed by services (US$20.8 billion), agriculture (US$5.0 billion), and domestic work (US$2.6 billion). These illegal profits are the wages that rightfully belong in the pockets of workers but instead remain in the hands of their exploiters, as a result of their coercive practices.   There were 27.6 million people engaged in forced labour on any given day in 2021. This figure translates to 3.5 people for every thousand people in the world. Between 2016 and 2021 the number of people in forced labour increased by 2.7 million.   “People in forced labour are subject to multiple forms of coercion, the deliberate and systematic withholding of wages being amongst the most common. Forced labour perpetuates cycles of poverty and exploitation and strikes at the heart of human dignity. We now know that the situation has only got worse. The international community must urgently come together to take action to end this injustice, safeguard workers' rights, and uphold the principles of fairness and equality for all,” stated ILO Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo.   The report stresses the urgent need for investment in enforcement measures to stem illegal profit flows and hold perpetrators accountable. It recommends strengthening legal frameworks, providing training for enforcement officials extending labour inspection into high-risk sectors, and better coordination between labour and criminal law enforcement.   Yet forced labour cannot be ended through law enforcement measures alone, enforcement actions must be part of a comprehensive approach that prioritizes addressing root causes and safeguarding victims, underlines the report.   The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 , and the Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation, 2014 (No. 203) provide a strategic framework for comprehensive action.   * Note the ILO figures are very conservative estimations and an underestination of the true scale of the realities.   http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_920143/lang--en/index.htm http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/12/un-experts-urge-shift-towards-human-rights-economy-prevent-contemporary-forms http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-slavery http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-trafficking-in-persons http://apnews.com/hub/forced-labor http://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/ http://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/forced-labour/ http://www.ituc-csi.org/modern-slavery-figures-2022 http://www.iom.int/news/50-million-people-worldwide-modern-slavery http://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/09/special-rapporteur-right-development-covid-19-pandemic-triggered-largest-global   Mar. 2024   U.S. court shields tech giants, ignoring child labor abuse in cobalt supply chains - Freedom United, International Rights Advocates   A recent U.S. court ruling found America’s biggest tech companies, Apple, Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google), Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla cannot be held responsible for child labor found in their cobalt supply chains.   The court stated that the companies had an “ordinary buyer-seller transaction” with their suppliers in the DRC. This 3-0 decision is a setback for advocacy groups looking to hold big businesses accountable for modern slavery found in their supply chains.   Cobalt is a critical mineral in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and electronic devices and the DRC has over 70% of the world’s cobalt reserves. Recently, the demand for cobalt has grown exponentially as countries try to make a green transition and become carbon neutral.   Reuters reports that according to the complaint:   “Companies ‘deliberately obscured’ their dependence on child labor, including many children pressured into work by hunger and extreme poverty, to ensure their growing need for the metal would be met.”   The plaintiffs include four former miners and legal representatives of child miners who lost their lives or suffered major injuries while mining cobalt in the DRC.   ABC News reports that the plaintiffs accused the 5 tech giants of “knowingly benefitting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in the DRC to mine cobalt.”   Moreover, they claim that the defendants “know and have known for a significant period of time” about the multiple types and well-documented human rights violations in the cobalt mining supply chain of the DRC.   The ruling stated that many actors in the cobalt supply chain perpetuated labor trafficking and abuse, from labor brokers to the DRC government. However, the court found that issuing an injunction to these 5 companies would not stop child labor from entering the supply chain as the injunction would not hold the direct perpetrators of child labor and abuse accountable.   Contrary to the court’s opinion, advocacy groups and the plaintiffs feel absolving the companies sends the wrong message.   Terry Collingsworth, a lawyer for the plaintiffs and Executive Director of IRAdvocates stated:   “This decision provides a strong incentive to avoid any transparency with their suppliers, even as they promise the public they have ‘zero tolerance’ policies against child labor.”   Despite the ruling, Collingsworth said they were “far from finished seeking accountability.”.. "This decision, though disappointing, will not deter us from our mission to protect vulnerable children and ensure that multinational corporations do not benefit from forced labor and human trafficking".   When asked for comment, Dell released a statement saying it was committed to upholding the human rights of workers throughout its supply chain and did not knowingly source products made with child labor. Google had no comment and Apple, Microsoft, Tesla remained silent.   Freedom United stands with the plaintiffs in accusing the five companies of joining exploitative and abusive cobalt suppliers in a “forced labor” venture and in seeing them as complicit in the crimes through the purchase of child labor tainted cobalt.   Freedom United stands beside the plaintiffs in this case asking for tech giants to ensure slavery-free supply chains. Too often private and public sectors are not held accountable for the human rights abuses in their supply chains.   http://www.freedomunited.org/news/us-court-clears-tech-giants-of-child-labor/ http://www.internationalrightsadvocates.org/cases/cobalt http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/iradvocates-files-forced-child-labor-case-against-tech-giants-apple-alphabet-dell-microsoft-and-tesla-for-aiding-and-abetting-extreme-abuse-of-children-mining-cobalt-in-drc http://icar.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ICAR_CorporateAccountabilityReport_v4.pdf
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