| dc.description.abstract | The aim of these model guidelines is to provide a practical tool to assist OSCE participating States and Partners for Co‑operation to implement concrete measures to prevent trafficking in human beings in supply chains. It highlights how States can implement legislation and policies that promote transparency to ensure that public supply chains are free from trafficked labour; and promote the fair and ethical recruitment of workers.
Trafficking in human beings (THB) can tragically be found in the production of goods that we purchase and in the delivery of the services we consume. Governments and businesses have a responsibility to do their p art to prevent trafficking in human beings. Increasingly public procurement, labour and other authorities are recognizing the need for the inclusion of social conditions to prevent exploitative and forced labour in contracts for goods or services, and to prevent fraudulent recruitment.
Over the past decade, the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe (OSCE), and my Office of the Special Representative and Co‑ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB) have undertaken efforts to improve the understanding of trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation, and the measures required to address and prevent it. The OSCE has adopted several Ministerial Decisions on trafficking in human beings that call on participating States to develop targeted prevention policies. These include leveraging public procurement and ensuring transparency in supply chains; promoting co‑operation among governments, businesses, civil society and international organizations; and, ensuring that we at the OSCE are doing what is necessary to prevent trafficking in human beings from entering our organizational supply chains.
Governments turn to my Office to provide assistance to them in implementing the OSCE’s anti‑trafficking commitments, including through programmatic work. During 2016‑2017, my Office implemented the project Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings in Supply Chains through Government Practices and Measures.
In September 2016, with the generous financial support of Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States the OSR/CTHB launched the project in Berlin, along with the first workshop. A series of events were organized under the project in Astana, Geneva, London, Stockholm and Vienna, also in co‑operation with the CBSS, the ILO, the Swedish MFA and the UK Home Office, to raise awareness, build capacity, and exchange practices on preventing trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation in supply chains. Over 350 trafficking in human beings and public procurement experts from 50 OSCE participating States and two Partners for Co‑operation, as well as international experts, shared their experiences, identified challenges and promising practices, and discussed trends and opportunities. These model guidelines are an outcome of these events. With the inputs gleaned from these various meetings with stakeholders throughout the OSCE region and beyond, and research on promising practices, this document summarizes and makes recommendations on how THB can be prevented. It also contains a related model law and clauses for participating States as well as suggested strategies and considerations on implementation.
I am grateful to all the participants of the workshops who generously gave their time and expertise, and for those who contributed to the writing and peer reviews of this document, especially our core experts and partners, including CBSS and the ILO. It is hoped that this document will serve as a guide to participating States, Partners for Co‑operation and other practitioners on enacting and implementing concrete measures to better prevent trafficking in human beings in the first place. Finally, I will continue to raise the political profile of the issues, including through country visits. I and my Office stand ready to work further with participating States and Partners for Co‑operation, as well as with other partners to enhance the capacity needed to implement these model guidelines, including through technical assistance, capacity building, knowledge building, as well as events and projects. | en_US |
