COMMISSION SETS OUT STRATEGY TO PROMOTE DECENT WORK WORLDWIDE AND PREPARES INSTRUMENT FOR BAN ON FORCED LABOUR PRODUCTS
Today, the Commission presents its Communication on Decent Work Worldwide that reaffirms the EU's commitment to champion decent work both at home and around the world. The elimination of child labour and forced labour is at the heart of this endeavour.
The latest figures show that decent work is still not a reality for many people around the world and more remains to be done: 160 million children – one in ten worldwide – are in child labour, and 25 million people are in a situation of forced labour.
The EU promotes decent work across all sectors and policy areas in line with a comprehensive approach that addresses workers in domestic markets, in third countries and in global supply chains. The Communication adopted today sets out the internal and external policies the EU uses to implement decent work worldwide, putting this objective at the heart of an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic.
As part of this comprehensive approach, the Commission is preparing a new legislative instrument to effectively ban products made by forced labour from entering the EU market, as announced by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union address 2021. This instrument will cover goods produced inside and outside the EU, combining a ban with a robust enforcement framework. It will build on international standards and complement existing horizontal and sectoral EU initiatives, in particular the due diligence and transparency obligations.
