Council Decision (EU) 2015/2071 of 10 November 2015 authorising Member States to ratify, in the interests of the European Union, the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation as regards Articles 1 to 4 of the Protocol with regard to matters relating to judicial cooperation in criminal matters

What it is

to authorise Member States to ratify, in the interest of the European Union, the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with regard to matters related to judicial cooperation in criminal matters. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No 29) of the ILO is one of the ILO’s eight fundamental Conventions that make up the core international labour standards, and it is considered a human rights instrument.. Yet, more than 80 years later, despite almost universal ratification of the Convention, the practice still exists, albeit in different forms to those that provoked such concern in the early twentieth century. The ILO estimates that at least 20.9 million people globally are victims of forced labour. In 2014, the International Labour Conference adopted the Protocol on the forced labour convention seeks to address gaps in implementation and to make progress on preventing trafficking for labour exploitation and protecting and compensating victims of forced labour. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. The Forced Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation, which the Protocol of 2014 supplements, is a fundamental ILO Convention and has a bearing on rules which make reference to core labour standards. The Union promotes the ratification of international labour conventions, classified by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as up to date, to contribute to the Union’s efforts to promote human rights and decent work for all and to eradicate trafficking in human beings both inside and outside the Union. Member States should take the necessary steps to deposit their instruments of ratification of the Protocol with the Director-General of the International Labour Office as soon as possible, preferably by 31 December 2016. For details of the main provisions of this Protocol, please refer to the summary of the Commission’s initial legislative proposal dated 11.09.2014 . The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Helga STEVENS (ECR, BE) on the draft Council decision authorising Member States to ratify, in the interests of the European Union, the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, of the International Labour Organisation as regards Articles 1 to 4 of the Protocol with regard to matters relating to judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The committee recommended that the Parliament gave its approval to the draft Council Decision. To recall, the aim of the 2014 Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention was to remedy the gaps in implementation of the 1930 Protocol and to make progress on preventing trafficking for labour exploitation and protecting and compensating victims of forced labour. The draft Council Decision authorises Member States to ratify, in the interest of the EU, those parts of the Protocol that fall into areas of EU competence, and recommends…

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