Organization of American States Summits of the Americas
 
Follow-up and Implementation: Mandates
 

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LABOR: Forced Labor
MANDATES

  1. Work with civil society, workers groups, and employer sector representatives to eliminate forced labor, child labor, and violence, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace; to decrease informality in the labor market; and to protect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, including the protection of workers from reprisals for exercising these rights. (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. Strengthen the public procurement and acquisition policies at the national, regional, and international levels, to include:

    • d. Developing and implementing effective measures that address informality and job insecurity, and prevent and combat corruption and abuses, including forced labor and child labor in global supply chains, by developing transparent public procurement standards and compliance requirements or codes of conduct, related to the sustainable procurement of goods and services, as applicable and in keeping with domestic legislation and international obligations of States.

    • e. Developing and implementing, as appropriate and in accordance with domestic legislation, mechanisms to prevent, investigate, or, where necessary, punish corruption, including bribery, trading in influence, child labor and forced labor in the procurement of goods and services of the public and private sectors in collaboration with the authorities responsible for law enforcement and other actors. (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

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  1. We reiterate our commitment to protect all people, particularly women, children and adolescents, from all forms of trafficking in persons and sexual and economic exploitation, and to provide protection and attention to the victims. We call on Ministers responsible for education, labour, social development, security and justice to adopt coordinated national strategies to prevent and eradicate the worst forms of child labour by 2020 at the latest, in accordance with the Plan of Action of the Fourth Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and in accordance with national legislation, and to develop innovative strategies to bring children and adolescents who are victims back into healthy learning environments. We also reiterate our commitment to eliminate forced labour before 2010. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).

  1. We will spare no effort to achieve the immediate and complete abolition of forced or compulsory labor in the Americas. We are convinced that it will be a fundamental contribution to achieving the objectives of sustainable growth with social equity in our nations and the forging of a better future for all Americans (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To eliminate forced labor before 2010 by strengthening measures and policies, to enable those countries that have not already done so to achieve this goal. To this end, promote the creation of national plans of action with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. Exchange informational materials regarding their labor legislation, with the objective of contributing to better mutual knowledge of such legislation as well as to promote core labor standards recognized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) -freedom of association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of forced labor; the elimination of all exploitative forms of child labor; and non-discrimination in employment (Plan of Action Santiago). Such information will also include references to the mechanisms and/or legal authorities of Ministries of Labor to implement core labor standards as a fundamental component of productive workplaces and positive labor-management relations (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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