Algeria: A great step towards ending human trafficking for labor exploitation purposes

23th March 2021 - Algiers, Algeria

One of the common forms of trafficking in persons (TiP) is trafficking for the purpose of forced labor. Hiding in plain sight, this form of trafficking is characterized by its infiltration in the legal economy and its possible interaction with daily life. Victims can be trafficked in sectors that are part of the supply chain of ordinary goods, such as food production, construction, and textile manufacturing.

Traffickers involved in this form of exploitation may not necessarily work underground in illicit markets, but instead may be associated with officially registered companies or operate in a broader informal economic system where working conditions resort to exploitative practices to increase profits. UNODC held a specialized training workshop on countering TiP for labor exploitation purposes in partnership with the National anti-TIP Committee of Algeria.


The event took place in Algiers Opened by the President of the National TIP Committee of Algeria, the General Labor Inspector of Algeria, the UN Resident Coordinator, and the Ambassadors of the United Kingdom and Italy, the workshop took place in Algiers and gathered 25 senior labor inspectors (10 women and 15 men) from the Gendarmerie Nationale, Police (DGSN), Ministry of Justice, Labor Inspection Directorate and Ministry of Solidarity.

According to UNODC’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, trafficking in persons is a multifaceted crime with different realities that call for a multi-sectorial response. These different realities require diversified crime prevention strategies involving different institutions, from law enforcement and anti-human trafficking committees, to labour inspectors, national human rights institutions, child protection services, social and mental health organizations, and other services, including civil society organizations.

This training is an example of such prevention, as it stresses on the important role of labour inspectors in ending TiP crimes. The labour inspectors at the training examined in-depth the international and national frameworks on TIP and labour, current regional and global trends, investigation and prosecution experiences, public-private cooperation and prevention, protection, and assistance to victims. 

Putting such knowledge into practice, experts and participants had discussions on:

- The indicators to identify cases and referral to national authorities through concrete examples, 

- the challenges related to the identification, referral and coordination between labor inspectors and law enforcement using tailor-made and contextualized scenarios, and

-  the good practices and potential areas for capacity-building.

Experts from the United Kingdom’s Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and from the Italian Police substantively contributed to the fruitful exchange by sharing real-life cases and national experiences.

A number of critical interventions were also made by UNODC’s Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section and by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the international legal framework and indicators to better identify related cases.

A special thanks to the Governments of Italy and the United-Kingdom for funding this activity.

For more information:

UNODC’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020

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