From June 27-29, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), co-hosted a conference showcasing new research findings on child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. 

Worldwide, more than 25 million people were in forced labor for the commercial gain of others, while 160 million children—63 million girls and 97 million boys—were estimated to be engaged in child labor globally at the beginning of 2020. Nearly half of those were involved in hazardous work.

Through the ILO and IOM’s Research to Action (RTA) project, 16 junior researchers have been awarded fellowships and seed grants to address knowledge gaps and produce high-impact studies, while four projects have received awards from IPA’s Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI) Competitive Research Fund to carry out exploratory research and evaluate the effectiveness of counter-trafficking interventions. These grants enable new talent, including underrepresented researchers from the global south, women, and first-generation college graduates, to join the growing network of specialists and interdisciplinary collaborators conducting research on child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking that support policy responses.

This three-day global conference took place under the theme "Generating Evidence to Support the Elimination of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking." It brought together researchers, policy actors, social partners, and practitioners from around the world and provided a platform for grant recipients to share their research findings, engender discussion among partners, strengthen partnerships, and ultimately advance the understanding of child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking, to inform policy and practice. The research topics included risk factors for vulnerability, assessment of the effectiveness of child labor, forced labor, and counter-trafficking policies and interventions, and many more.

To read more, see the conference website here.

For more information, please contact:
Lorenzo Guarcello, Project Director, Research to Action (RTA) project, FUNDAMENTALS, ILO
Harry Cook, Programme Coordinator, Protection Division (PXD), IOM
Jeni Sorensen, Director, Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI), IPA

This conference is supported by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) and the United States Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office). The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of DOL or the TIP Office.

City

Online

Country

United States