Britain has announced a major new project to help prevent 100,000 girls and women across South Asia from falling victim to the worst forms of labour trafficking, likened to modern day slavery.
The UK government will invest 9.75 million pounds over five years into the 'Work in Freedom' initiative to help tackle known labour trafficking routes between South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh and Nepal to the Gulf States, including Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
"Work in Freedom will help more than 100,000 women and girls in South Asia, a trafficking hot-spot, with practical support and advice so that they can earn a living and avoid the dangers of trafficking," Britain's international development minister, Lynne Featherstone, said here today.
"Income earned from migrant workers abroad and sent back home provides a vital source of support to families in developing countries worth billions of pounds...
"But it is appalling that hundreds of years since the abolition of the slave trade, girls and women living in poverty are still trafficked into abusive jobs or forced to work in unacceptably poor conditions," she added.
According to the Department for International Development (DFID), around 21 million people are trafficked and in forced labour worldwide and the majority are from Asia, with women and girls most affected.
The Work in Freedom programme is a joint initiative by DFID, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
It aims to help prevent the trafficking of women and girls from South Asia - specifically countries on vulnerable routes in India, Nepal and Bangladesh - to countries popular with migrants such as UAE, Jordan and Lebanon.
The programme focuses on domestic work and garment sectors - the most prevalent forms of trafficking.
The programme will work with governments, employers and worker organisations, civil society organisations and international agencies to ensure ethical recruitment of migrant women and help eliminate unacceptable forms of work.
"We estimate over USD 12 billion worth of income a year is withheld from those in forced labour in Asia and the Middle East. This is money that should be helping lift families out of poverty.
"This ground-breaking partnership with the UK government is a vital step in making migration for work a safe and legitimate means of improving livelihoods," said ILO director-general Guy Ryder.
