View source for Forced labour

{{more citations needed|date=February 2023}}
{{Short description|Work that employs people against their will}}
{{use dmy dates |date=December 2022}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2016}}

[[File:Ivan Vladimirov russian-clergy-on-forced-labor-1919.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Clergy on forced labour, by [[Ivan Vladimirov]] ([[History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)|Soviet Russia]], 1919)]]
{{slavery}}

'''Forced labour''', or '''unfree labour''', is any work relation, especially in [[modern history|modern]] or [[Early Modern period|early modern]] history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of [[poverty|destitution]], [[detention (imprisonment)|detention]], or [[violence]], including death or other forms of extreme hardship to either themselves or members of their families.{{NoteTag|[[forced labour under German rule during World War II]] through [[Service du travail obligatoire]] of [[Vichy France]]}}

Unfree labour includes all forms of [[slavery]], [[penal labour]], and the corresponding institutions, such as [[debt bondage|debt slavery]], [[serfdom]], [[corvée]] and [[labor camp|labour camps]].

==Definition==
Many forms of unfree labour are also covered by the term '''forced labour''', which is defined by the [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO) as all involuntary work or service exacted under the menace of a penalty.<ref name='ilo2009'>Andrees and Belser, "Forced labor: Coercion and exploitation in the private economy", 2009. Rienner and ILO.</ref>

However, under the [[International Labour Organization|ILO]] [[Forced Labour Convention]] of 1930, the term forced or compulsory labour does not include:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C029|title=Convention C029 – Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.&nbsp;29)|website=International Labour Organization |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331000740/https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C029 |archive-date= Mar 31, 2024 }}</ref>
*"any work or service exacted in virtue of [[conscription|compulsory military service]] laws for work of a purely military character;"
*"any work or service which forms part of the normal [[civic obligations]] of the citizens of a fully [[self-governing]] country;"
*"any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction in a [[court of law]], provided that the said work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a [[public authority]] and that the said person is not hired to or [[private prison|placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations]] (requiring that [[prison farm]]s no longer do [[convict lease|convict leasing]])";
*"any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of [[war]], of a [[Disaster|calamity]] or threatened calamity, such as [[fire]], [[flood]], [[famine]], [[earthquake]], [[violent epidemic]] or [[epizootic diseases]], invasion by: [[animal]], [[insect]] or [[noxious weed|vegetable pests]], and in general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population";

==Payment for unfree labour==
{{see also|Labour economics#Wage slavery|Labor theory of value|Productive and unproductive labour}}
[[File:Convict labourers in Australia in the early 20th century.jpg|thumb|Convict labourers in Australia in the early 19th century]]
If payment occurs, it may be in one or more of the following forms:
* The payment does not exceed [[subsistence]] or barely exceeds it;
* The payment is in goods which are not desirable and/or cannot be exchanged or are difficult to exchange; or
* The payment wholly or mostly consists of cancellation of a debt or liability that was itself coerced, or belongs to someone else.

Unfree labour is often more easily instituted and enforced on migrant workers, who have travelled far from their homelands and who are easily identified because of their physical, ethnic, linguistic, or cultural differences from the general population, since they are unable or unlikely to report their conditions to the authorities.<ref name="sea slavery in Thailand and how people become roped into the system">{{cite web|title=Thailand: Sea Slavery {{!}} #TheOutlawOceanProject |first1=Ian |last1=Urbina |first2=Fábio |last2=Nascimento |date=6 March 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImT83iJPtk|website=Youtube |access-date=26 October 2020}}</ref>

==Modern day unfree labour==
Unfree labour re-emerged as an issue in the debate about rural development during the years following the end of the Second World War, when a political concern of [[Keynesian]] theory was not just [[economic reconstruction]] (mainly in Europe and Asia) but also planning (in [[Developing country|developing "Third World" nations]]). A crucial aspect of the ensuing discussion concerned the extent to which different relational forms constituted obstacles to capitalist development, and why.

During the 1960s and 1970s, unfree labour was regarded as incompatible with capitalist accumulation, and thus an obstacle to economic growth, an interpretation advanced by exponents of the then-dominant semi-feudal thesis. From the 1980s onwards, however, another and very different Marxist view emerged, arguing that evidence from Latin America and India suggested [[agribusiness]] enterprises, commercial farmers and rich peasants reproduced, introduced or reintroduced unfree relations.

However, recent contributions to this debate have attempted to exclude Marxism from the discussion. These contributions maintain that, because Marxist theory failed to understand the centrality of unfreedom to modern capitalism, a new explanation of this link is needed. This claim has been questioned by [[Tom Brass]].<ref>[[Tom Brass]] (2014), 'Debating Capitalist Dynamics and Unfree Labour: A Missing Link?', The Journal of Development Studies, 50:4, 570–82.</ref> He argues that many of these new characteristics are in fact no different from those identified earlier by Marxist theory and that the exclusion of the latter approach from the debate is thus unwarranted.

The [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO) estimates that at least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide; of these, 9.8 million are exploited by private agents and more than 2.4 million are [[human trafficking|trafficked]]. Another 2.5 million are forced to work by the state or by rebel military groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/subjects-covered-by-international-labour-standards/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm |title= Forced labour |publisher= ILO |access-date= 2013-03-20 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130507094222/http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/subjects-covered-by-international-labour-standards/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm |archive-date= May 7, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.childcentre.info/projects/traffickin/dbaFile14058.pdf |title=Trafficking for Forced Labour in Europe—Report on a study in the UK, Ireland the Czech Republic and Portugal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113080105/http://www.childcentre.info/projects/traffickin/dbaFile14058.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-13 |date=November 2006 |publisher=Anti-Slavery International |url-status=usurped |via=Child Centre }}</ref> From an [[international law]] perspective, countries that allow forced labour are violating [[international labour standards]] as set forth in the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (C105), one of the fundamental conventions of the ILO.<ref>{{cite web|title=Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)|url=http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO:12100:P12100_ILO_CODE:C105|publisher=International Labour Organization|access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref>

{{see also|Global Slavery Index}}

According to the ''ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour'' (SAP-FL), global profits from forced trafficked labour exploited by private agents are estimated at US$44.3 billion per year. About 70% of this value (US$31.6 billion) comes from trafficked victims. At least the half of this sum (more than US$15 billion) comes from industrialised countries.<ref>[http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081971/index.htm Forced Labour and Human trafficking: Estimating the Profits].</ref>
[[File:Freedom from forced labour.png|thumb|Freedom from forced labour by country (V-Dem Institute, 2021)]]

==Trafficking==
{{main|Human trafficking}}

Trafficking is a term to define the recruiting, harbouring, obtaining and transportation of a person by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to involuntary acts, such as acts related to commercial sexual exploitation (including [[forced prostitution]]) or involuntary labour.<ref>{{cite web|title=What Is Human Trafficking?|url=https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking|website=Department of Homeland Security|date=24 May 2013|access-date=6 March 2017}}</ref>

== Forms of unfree labour ==
[[File:Gold Rush Indian Woman Panning.jpg|thumb|Illustration of Native woman panning for gold]]

=== Slavery ===
{{main|Slavery}}
The archetypal and best-known form of unfree labour is [[slavery|chattel slavery]], in which individual workers are legally owned throughout their lives, and may be bought, sold or otherwise exchanged by owners, while never or rarely receiving any personal benefit from their labour. Slavery was common in many [[Ancient history|ancient societies]], including [[Slavery in ancient Egypt|ancient Egypt]], [[Babylon]], [[History of Iran|Persia]], [[Slavery in ancient Greece|ancient Greece]], [[Slavery in ancient Rome|Rome]], [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]], [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|the pre-modern Muslim world]], as well as many societies in [[Africa]] and [[Americas|the Americas]]. Being sold into slavery was a common fate of populations that were conquered in wars. Perhaps the most prominent example of chattel slavery was the enslavement of many millions of [[black people]] in Africa, as well as their forced transportation to the Americas, Asia, or Europe, where their status as slaves was almost always inherited by their descendants.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The term "slavery" is often applied to situations which do not meet the above definitions, but which are other, closely related forms of unfree labour, such as [[debt slavery]] or debt-bondage (although not all repayment of debts through labour constitutes unfree labour). Examples are the [[Repartimiento]] system in the [[Spanish Empire]], or the work of [[Indigenous Australians]] in [[northern Australia]] on sheep or cattle stations ([[ranch]]es), from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. In the latter case, workers were rarely or never paid, and were restricted by regulations and/or police intervention to regions around their places of work.
[[File:Mines 1.jpg|thumb|Mine workers in [[Ancient Greece]] were often [[Slavery in Ancient Greece|slaves]]]]
In late 16th century Japan, "unfree labour" or [[Slavery in Japan|slavery]] was officially banned; but forms of contract and indentured labour persisted alongside the period's penal codes' forced labour. Somewhat later, the [[Edo period]]'s penal laws prescribed "non-free labour" for the immediate families of executed criminals in Article 17 of the {{lang|ja-Latn|Gotōke reijō}} (Tokugawa House Laws), but the practice never became common. The 1711 {{lang|ja-Latn|Gotōke reijō}} was compiled from over 600 statutes that were promulgated between 1597 and 1696.<ref>Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0YIbNlliRswC&dq=hideyoshi+slavery&pg=PA31 ''Frontier Contact Between Choson Korea and Tokugawa Japan,'' pp. 31–32.]</ref>

According to [[Kevin Bales]] in ''[[Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy]]'' (1999), there are now an estimated 27 million slaves in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2005/issue3/0305p28.html |title=Slavery in the Twenty-First Century |publisher=United Nations |first1=Howard |last1=Dodson |access-date=2013-03-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412155246/https://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2005/issue3/0305p28.html |archive-date= Apr 12, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2010401.stm |title=Millions 'forced into slavery' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=2002-05-27 |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref>

{{see also|Global Slavery Index}}

===Blackbirding===
[[File:Остарбайтери 1942.jpg|right|thumb|Ukrainian ''[[Ostarbeiter]]s'' from [[Kyiv Oblast]] depart to Nazi Germany to serve as labor force, 1942]]
[[Blackbirding]] involves kidnapping or trickery to transport people to another country or far away from home, to work as a slave or indentured labourer. In some cases, workers were returned home after a period of time.

===Serfdom===
[[Serfdom]] bonds labourers to the land they farm, typically in a [[feudal]] society. Serfs typically have no legal right to leave, change employers, or seek paid work, though depending on economic conditions many did so anyway. Unlike chattel slaves, they typically cannot be sold separately from the land, and have rights such as the military protection of the lord.

===Truck system===
{{main|Truck system}}
A truck system, in the specific sense in which the term is used by [[Labor history (discipline)|labour historians]], refers to an unpopular or even exploitative form of payment associated with small, isolated and/or rural communities, in which workers or [[self-employed]] small producers are paid in either: goods, a form of payment known as [[truck system|truck wages]], or tokens, [[scrip|private currency]] ("scrip") or direct credit, to be used at a '''company store''', owned by their employers. A specific kind of truck system, in which credit advances are made against future work, is known in the U.S. as [[debt bondage]].

Many scholars have suggested that employers use such systems to exploit workers and/or indebt them. This could occur, for example, if employers were able to pay workers with goods which had a market value below the level of [[subsistence]], or by selling items to workers at inflated prices. Others argue that truck wages were a convenient way for isolated communities, such as during the early colonial settlement of North America, to operate when official currency was scarce.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ommer |first=Rosemary E. |title=truck system |date=2004 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195415599.001.0001/acref-9780195415599-e-1568 |work=The Oxford Companion to Canadian History |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195415599.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-541559-9 |access-date=2022-06-10|url-access=subscription }}.</ref>

By the early 20th century, truck systems were widely seen, in [[industrialised]] countries, as exploitative; perhaps the most well-known example of this view was a 1947 U.S. hit song "[[Sixteen Tons]]". Many countries have [[Truck Act]] legislation that outlaws truck systems and requires payment in cash.

===Mandatory services due to social status===
====Corvée====
{{main|Corvée|Socage}}
[[File:Reeve and Serfs.jpg|thumb|Depiction of socage on the royal [[demesne]] (miniature from the [[Queen Mary Psalter]], {{Circa|1310}}).<br>[[British Library]], London]]
Though most closely associated with [[Medieval]] Europe, governments throughout human history have imposed regular short stints of unpaid labour upon lower social classes. These might be annual obligations of a few weeks or something similarly regular that lasted for the labourer's entire working life. As the system developed in the Philippines and elsewhere, the labourer could pay an appropriate fee and be exempted from the obligation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agoncillo |first=Teodoro A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29915943 |title=History of the Filipino people |date=1990 |publisher=Garotech Pub |isbn=971-10-2415-2 |edition=8th |location=Quezon City [Philippines] |pages=83 |oclc=29915943}}</ref>

====Vetti-chakiri====
{{main|Veth (India)}}
A form of forced labour in which peasants and members of lower castes were required to work for free existed in India before independence. This form of labour was known by several names, including ''veth'', ''vethi'', {{lang|sa-Latn|vetti-chakiri}} and {{lang|fa-Latn|begar}} .<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shah |first=Ghanshyam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1101041666 |title=Social Movements in India : a Review of Literature. |date=2004 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-81-321-1977-7 |edition=2nd |location=New Delhi |oclc=1101041666}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Menon |first=Amarnath K. |date=December 29, 2007 |title=The red revolt |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20071231-the-red-revolt-734843-2007-12-20 |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>

===Penal labour===
{{main|Penal labour}}
{{see also|Convicts in Australia|Katorga|Devil's Island}}

====Labour camps====
{{Main|Labour camp}}
{{see also|The Holocaust|Japanese war crimes|Slavery in Japan|Gulag|Laogai|Kwalliso|Arbeitslager|Nazi concentration camps|Forced labor of Germans after World War II|History of Germany (1945–90)#Forced labour reparations}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-138-1083-20, Russland, Mogilew, Zwangsarbeit von Juden.jpg|thumb|Jewish forced labourers during the Holocaust in [[Mogilev]], Belarus, July 1941.]]
[[File:Political prisoners at Intalag, USSR.jpg|thumb|[[Political prisoner]]s eating lunch in a [[Gulag]] camp, 1955.]]
Another historically significant example of forced labour was that of [[political prisoner]]s, people from conquered or occupied countries, members of persecuted minorities, and [[prisoners of war]], especially during the 20th century. The best-known example of this are the [[concentration camp]] system run by [[Nazi Germany]] in Europe during World War II, the ''[[Gulag]]'' camps<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/249117/Gulag Gulag], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> run by the [[Soviet Union]],<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/getman_paintings.php?painting_id=22 The Gulag Collection: Paintings of Nikolai Getman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031012238/http://www.jamestown.org/getman_paintings.php?painting_id=22 |date=2007-10-31 }}.</ref> and the forced labour used by the military of the [[Empire of Japan]], especially during the [[Pacific War]] (such as the [[Burma Railway]]). Roughly 4,000,000 German POWs were used as "reparations labour" by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] for several years after the German surrender; this was permitted under the Third Geneva Convention provided they were accorded proper treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box31/t297a01.html |title=The original memorandum from 1944, signed by Morgenthau |publisher=Fdrlibrary.marist.edu |date=2004-05-27 |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref> China's {{lang|zh-Latn|[[laogai]]}} ("labour reform") system and [[North Korea]]'s {{lang|ko-Latn|[[kwalliso]]}} camps are current examples.

About 12 million forced labourers, most of whom were Poles and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] citizens ({{lang|de|[[Ost-Arbeiter]]}}) were employed in the German war economy inside Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1757323,00.html |title=Final Compensation Pending for Former Nazi Forced Laborers |publisher=Dw-world.de |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://summeroftruth.org/enemy/barracks.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014235036/http://summeroftruth.org/enemy/barracks.html|url-status=dead|title=Forced Labor at Ford Werke AG during the Second World War|archive-date=October 14, 2007}}</ref> More than 2000 German companies profited from slave labour during the Nazi era, including [[Daimler-Benz|Daimler]], [[Deutsche Bank]], [[Siemens]], [[Volkswagen]], [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]], [[Dresdner Bank]], [[Krupp]], [[Allianz]], [[BASF]], [[Bayer]], [[BMW]], and [[Degussa]].<ref>American Jewish Committee (2000). [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/germancos.html "German Firms That Used Slave Or Forced Labor During the Nazi Era"], webpage of Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved October 21, 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Roger Cohen |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807EFD6113AF934A25751C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 |title=German Companies Adopt Fund For Slave Laborers Under Nazis |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1999-02-17 |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref>  In particular, Germany's Jewish population was subject to slave labour prior to their extermination.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/forced-labor|title = Forced Labor – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref>

In Asia, according to a joint study of historians featuring Zhifen Ju, [[Mark Peattie]], Toru Kubo, and Mitsuyoshi Himeta, more than 10 million Chinese were mobilised by the Japanese army and [[History of slavery#Japan|enslaved]] by the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere#The Kōa-in|Kōa-in]] for [[Slavery|slave labour]] in [[Manchukuo]] and north China.<ref>Zhifen Ju, "Japan's atrocities of conscripting and abusing north China draftees after the outbreak of the Pacific war", 2002.</ref> The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in [[Java]], between 4 and 10 million {{lang|ja-Latn|[[romusha]]}} ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: "manual labourer") were forced to work by the Japanese military. About 270,000 of these Javanese labourers were sent to other Japanese-held areas in South East Asia. Only 52,000 were repatriated to Java, meaning that there was a death rate of 80%.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+id0029) Library of Congress, 1992, "Indonesia: World War II and the Struggle For Independence, 1942–50; The Japanese Occupation, 1942–45"] Access date: February 9, 2007.</ref> Also, 6.87 million Koreans were forcefully put into slave labour from 1939 to 1945 in both Japan and Japanese-occupied Korea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=우리역사넷 |url=http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/print.do?levelId=nh_050_0020_0030_0030_0020_0030&whereStr= |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=contents.history.go.kr}}</ref> 

[[:id:Kerja rodi|Kerja rodi (''Heerendiensten'')]], was the term for forced labour in [[Indonesia]] under [[Dutch East Indies|Dutch colonial rule]].

The [[Khmer Rouge]] attempted to turn Cambodia into a [[classless society]] by depopulating cities and forcing the urban population ("New People") into agricultural [[collective farming|communes]]. The entire population was forced to become farmers in [[labor camp|labour camps]].

====Prison labour====

[[File:Modern chain gang.jpg|right|thumb|American prisoner "[[chain gang]]" labourers, 2006. Notice the shackles on the feet of the prisoners.]]
[[Convict]] or prison labour is another classic form of unfree labour. The forced labour of convicts has often been regarded with lack of sympathy, because of the [[social stigma]] attached to people regarded as common criminals.

Three [[British Empire|British colonies]] in Australia –  [[New South Wales]], [[Van Diemen's Land]] and [[Western Australia]] – are examples of the state use of convict labour. Australia received thousands of convict labourers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who were given sentences for crimes ranging from those now considered to be minor misdemeanours to such serious offences as murder, rape and incest. A considerable number of Irish convicts were sentenced to transportation for [[treason]] while fighting against [[British rule in Ireland]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

More than 165,000 convicts were transported to Australian colonies from 1788 to 1868.<ref>[http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/intl/au/convict/ Convict Records] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527025021/http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/intl/au/convict/ |date=2009-05-27 }}, Ancestry.co.uk</ref> Most British or Irish convicts who were sentenced to transportation, however, completed their sentences in British jails and were not transported at all.

It is estimated that in the last 50 years more than 50 million people have been sent to Chinese {{lang|zh-Latn|[[laogai]]}} camps.<ref>Lewis, Aaron (October 5, 2005). "[http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/inside_the_lao_gai_130581 Inside the Lao Gai]{{dead link|date=September 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}". [http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline Special Broadcasting Service] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913041920/http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline |date=2008-09-13 }}. Retrieved on 2008-10-16.</ref>

===Indentured and bonded labour===
{{main|Indenture|bonded labour}}

A more common form in modern society is indenture, or ''bonded labour'', under which workers sign contracts to work for a specific period of time, for which they are paid only with accommodation and sustenance, or these essentials in addition to limited benefits such as cancellation of a debt, or transportation to a desired country.

===Contemporary illegal forced labour===
{{main|Slavery in the 21st century}}

While historically unfree labour was frequently sanctioned by law, in the present day most unfree labour now revolves around illegal control rather than legal ownership, as all countries have made slavery illegal.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3humDwAAQBAJ|title=Addressing Modern Slavery (Sydney: UNSW Press) |isbn=978-1742244631|access-date=2020-02-01 |last1=Nolan |first1=Justine |last2=Boersma |first2=Martijn |date=2019 |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |archive-date=2020-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028025858/https://books.google.com/books?id=3humDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Permitted exceptions of unfree labour ==
As mentioned above, there are several exceptions of unfree or forced labour recognised by the ''International Labour Organization'':

=== Civil conscription ===
{{main|Civil conscription}}
Some countries practise forms of civil conscription for different major occupational groups or inhabitants under different denominations like ''civil conscription'', ''[[civil mobilization]]'', ''political mobilisation'' etc. This obligatory service on the one hand has been implemented due to long-lasting [[Strike action|labour strikes]], during wartime or economic crisis, to provide basic services like medical care, food supply or supply of the defence industry. On the other hand, this service can be obligatory to provide recurring and inevitable services to the population, like fire services, due to lack of volunteers.

==== Temporary civil conscription ====
Between December 1943 and March 1948 young men in the [[United Kingdom]], the so-called [[Bevin Boys]], had been conscripted for the work in [[coal mine]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/coal/bevin/page41441.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703100910/http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/coal/bevin/page41441.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 July 2009|title=Bevin Boys – BIS|date=3 July 2009}}</ref> In [[Belgium]] in 1964,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1964-04-13 |title=Belgian Doctors Answer Call-Up |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/13/archives/belgian-doctors-answer-callup.html |access-date=2022-06-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in [[Portugal]]<ref>{{cite web
|title=Civil Conscription –
|url=https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/efemiredictionary/civil-conscription-0
|website=www.eurofound.europa.eu
|access-date=21 March 2017
|archive-date=1 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001213132/https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/efemiredictionary/civil-conscription-0
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> and in [[Greece]] from 2010 to 2014 due to the severe [[Greek government-debt crisis|economic crisis]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-05-11 |title=Greek gov't to issue 86,000 'civil mobilization' orders for teachers …before the strike |url=https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/05/11/greek-govt-to-issue-86000-civil-mobilization-orders-for-teachers-before-the-strike/ |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=Keep Talking Greece |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-04 |title=Greek government proceeds with conscription of maritime workers |url=http://www.protothema.gr/news-in-english/article/255408/greek-government-proceeds-with-conscription-of-maritime-workers/ |access-date=2022-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084223/http://www.protothema.gr/news-in-english/article/255408/greek-government-proceeds-with-conscription-of-maritime-workers/ |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> a system of civil mobilisation was implemented to provide public services as a national interest.

==== Recurring civil conscription ====
In [[Switzerland]] in most communities for all inhabitants, no matter if they are Swiss or not, it is mandatory to join the so-called ''Militia Fire Brigades'', as well as the obligatory service in Swiss civil defence and protection force.
Conscripts in [[Singapore]] are providing the personnel of the country's fire service as part of the [[National service in Singapore|national service]] in the [[Singapore Civil Defence Force|Civil Defence Force]]. 
In [[Austria]] and [[Germany]] citizens have to join a [[Compulsory Fire Service|compulsory fire brigade]] if a [[Volunteer fire department|volunteer fire service]] can not be provided, due to lack of volunteers. In 2018 this regulation is executed only in a handful of communities in Germany and currently none in Austria.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shz.de/lokales/husumer-nachrichten/pflicht-feuerwehr-fuer-friedrichstadt-id13322331.html|title=Personalmangel: Pflicht-Feuerwehr für Friedrichstadt – shz.de|last=ume|website=shz|date=13 May 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/index.html|title=Nachrichten aus Norddeutschland|last=NDR|website=www.ndr.de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.swissfire.ch/|title=Home :: Swissfire Feuerwehrverband|website=www.swissfire.ch}}</ref>

=== Conscription for military service and security forces ===
{{main|Conscription|Impressment}}
Beside the conscription for [[Conscription#By country|military]] services, some countries draft citizens for [[paramilitary]] or [[Internal security|security forces]], like [[Internal Troops|internal troops]], [[Border Guard|border guards]] or [[Police|police forces]]. While sometimes paid, conscripts are not free to decline enlistment. [[Draft dodging]] or [[desertion]] are often met with severe punishment. Even in countries which prohibit other forms of unfree labour, conscription is generally justified as being necessary in the [[nationalism|national interest]] and therefore is one of the five exceptions to the [[Forced Labour Convention]], signed by the most countries in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Research Council |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/10937/chapter/7 |title=Monitoring International Labor Standards: Techniques and Sources of Information |publisher=National Academies Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-309-52974-3 |location=Washington, DC |page=137 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Mandatory community service ===
==== Community services ====
[[Community service]] is a non-paying job performed by one person or a group of people for the benefit of their community or its institutions. Community service is distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed on a voluntary basis. Although personal benefits may be realised, it may be performed for a variety of reasons including citizenship requirements, a substitution of criminal justice sanctions, requirements of a school or class, and requisites for the receipt of certain benefits.

==== ''De facto'' obligatory community work ====
During the [[Cold War]] in some [[communist]] countries like [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] or the [[Soviet Union]] the originally voluntary work on Saturday for the community called ''[[Subbotnik]]'', ''Voskresnik'' or  ''[[Action Z|Akce Z]]'' became ''de facto'' obligatory for the members of a community.

==== Hand and hitch-up services ====
In some [[States of Austria|Austrian]] and [[States of Germany|German]] states it is feasible for communities to draft citizens for public services, called [[hand and hitch-up services]]. This mandatory service is still executed to maintain the infrastructure of small communities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dejure.org/gesetze/GemO/10.html|title=§ 10 GemO – Rechtsstellung des Einwohners – dejure.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_12.html|title=Art 12 GG – Einzelnorm|website=www.gesetze-im-internet.de}}</ref>

==International conventions==
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C029 ILO "Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)"]
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C105 ILO "Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)"]
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138 ILO "Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)"]
* [http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ChildLabour.aspx OHCHR "Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)"]

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Coolie Trade]]
* [[Construction soldier]]
* [[Critique of work]]
* [[Debt bondage]]
* [[Exploitation of labour]]
* [[Forced labour in Germany during World War II]]
* [[Forced labor of Germans after World War II]]
* [[Gulag]]
* [[Involuntary servitude]]
* [[Indentured servitude]]
* [[Labor army]]
* [[Labour battalion]]
* [[Labor trafficking in the United States]]
* [[List of concentration and internment camps]]
* [[NKVD labor columns]]
* [[Orwellian]]
* [[Refusal of work]]
* [[SAP-FL]], the ILO [[Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour]]
* [[Sexual slavery]]
* [[Shanghaiing]]
* [[Sweatshop]]
* [[Trafficking in human beings]]
* [[Trafficking of children]]
* [[Wage slavery]]
* [[Workfare]]
* [[Workhouse]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Allen, Theodore W. (1994). ''The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control.'' New York, NY: [[Verso Books]]. {{ISBN|978-0-86091-480-8}} (cloth) -- {{ISBN|978-0-86091-660-4}} (paper).
* Allen, Theodore W. (1997). ''The Invention of the White Race: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America'', 1997. New York, NY: Verso Books. {{ISBN|978-1-85984-981-1}} (cloth) -- {{ISBN|978-1-85984-076-4}} (paper)
* Bales, Kevin. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qMoiTQIEwSQC&q=disposable+people+new+slavery+in+the+global+economy+isbn ''Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.''] Berkeley, CA: [[University of California Press]]. {{ISBN|0-520-22463-9}}
* [[Robin Blackburn|Blackburn]]. (1997). ''The Making of New World Slavery From the Baroque to the Modern, 1492–1800'', London: Verso Books. {{ISBN|978-1-85984-195-2}} (paper).
* Blackburn, Robin. (1988). ''The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776–1848''. London, England: Verso Books. {{ISBN|978-0-86091-188-3}} (cloth) -- {{ISBN|978-0-86091-901-8}} (paper).
* Brass, Tom, Marcel Van Der Linden, and Jan Lucassen. (1993). ''Free and Unfree Labour''. Amsterdam: International Institute for Social History. {{ISBN|978-3-906756-87-5}}.
* Brass, Tom. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=57uS1QMMlcAC&q=Free+and+Unfree+Labour++by+Brass+ISBN ''Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Unfree Labour: Case Studies and Debates.''] London, England: Frank Cass Publishers. {{ISBN|978-0-7146-4938-2}} (cloth) -- {{ISBN|978-0-7146-4498-1}} (paper)
* Brass, Tom and Marcel Van Der Linden. (1997). ''Free and Unfree Labour: The Debate Continues.'' New York, NY: [[Peter Lang (publishing company)|Peter Lang]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8204-3424-7}} (cloth)
* Brass, Tom. (2011). ''Labour Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century: Unfreedom, Capitalism and Primitive Accumulation.'' Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|978-90-04-20247-4}}.
* Brass, Tom. (2017) ''Labour Markets, Identities, Controversies: Reviews and Essays, 1982-2016.'' Leiden, South Holland: Brill. {{ISBN|978-90-04-32237-0}}.
* Hilton, George W. (1960). ''The Truck System, including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960.'' Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. [reprinted by [[Greenwood Press]], London, 1975. {{ISBN|978-0-837-18130-1}}]
* Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0YIbNlliRswC&q=hideyoshi+slavery ''Frontier Contact Between Choson Korea and Tokugawa Japan.''] London, England: [[Routledge]]. {{ISBN|0-7007-1301-8}}
* Guijarro Morales, A. ''El Síndrome de la Abuela Esclava. Pandemia del Siglo XXI'' (The Enslaved Grandmother Syndrome: a 21st-century Pandemic). Grupo Editorial Universitario. Granada, oct 2001. {{ISBN|978-84-8491-124-1}}.
* Ruhs, Florian: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110904185203/http://www.aventinus-online.de/no_cache/persistent/artikel/8599/ Foreign Workers in the Second World War. The Ordeal of Slovenians in Germany.]'', in: aventinus nova Nr. 32 [29.05.2011]
{{refend}}

; [[International Labour Organization]]
{{refbegin}}
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081913/index.htm ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the World. (2005)]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_106268/index.htm The Cost of Coercion ILO 2009]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081882/index.htm A global alliance against forced labour]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/Factsheetsandbrochures/lang--en/docName--WCMS_105023/index.htm Operational Indicators of Trafficking in Human Beings 2009] ILO/SAP-FL
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/Factsheetsandbrochures/lang--en/docName--WCMS_105884/index.htm Lists of indicators of Trafficking in Human Beings 2009] ILO/SAP-FL
* [http://www.ilo.org/global/meetings-and-events/WCMS_089199/lang--en/index.htm Eradication of forced labour—General Survey concerning the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)] — ILO 2007
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081991/index.htm Forced Labour: Definition, Indicators and Measurement 2004] — ILO
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_088490/index.htm Stopping Forced Labour 2001] — ILO
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|forced labour}}
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.ungift.org UN.GIFT] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201024907/http://www.ungift.org/ |date=2012-12-01 }} — Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking
*[http://www.dol.gov/ilab/issues/forced-labor/ eliminating Forced Labor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304203310/http://www.dol.gov/ilab/issues/forced-labor/ |date=2016-03-04 }} — Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/slavery/default.stm Slavery in the 21st century—BBC]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4532617.stm Sex trade's reliance on forced labour—BBC]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080514022935/http://www.laogai.org/news/index.php China's Forced Labour Camps—Laogai Research Foundation]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/lang--en/index.htm The ILO Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL)]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/1/alleging_captive_labor_foreign_students_walk Alleging Captive Labor, Foreign Students Walk Out of Work-Study Program at Hershey Plant] ''[[Democracy Now!]]'', September 1, 2011.
* [http://spe.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/spe/article/download/6686/3686 Migrant Workers as Non-Citizens: The Case against Citizenship as a Social Policy Concept], by Donna Baines and Nandita Sharma. ''Studies in Political Economy'' 69. Autumn 2002, p.&nbsp;75.
* [https://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/ Seafood from Slaves] - [[Associated Press]] investigation of the international Pacific fishing fleet, 2015–2016, winner of the 2016 [[Pulitzer Prize]] for Public Service

{{Employment|state=collapsed}}
{{Particular human rights}}
{{unfree labour}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unfree Labour}}
[[Category:Forced labour| ]]
[[Category:Ethically disputed working conditions]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]