Written statement to Parliament

Forced labour convention

This written ministerial statement was laid in the House of Commons by Karen Bradley and in the House of Lords by Lord Taylor of Holbeach.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
皇冠体育app Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP

皇冠体育app Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Modern Slavery and Organised Crime (Karen Bradley):

皇冠体育app Forced Labour Convention (the Convention) is 1 of 8 fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 皇冠体育app ILO proposed supplementing the Convention by agreeing a recommendation and a protocol on how ILO members should apply aspects of the Convention.

皇冠体育app European Commission proposed that a council decision should be adopted to determine the position to be taken on behalf of the EU during negotiations on the recommendation. 皇冠体育app government, while supporting the implementation of the Forced Labour Convention, did not agree that the EU had the competence to negotiate this recommendation on behalf of the member states, and did not agree that there was an appropriate legal base in the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union to allow the council to agree a decision setting out a common position in relation to an international organisation of which the EU was not a member. 皇冠体育app government therefore decided not to opt in to the JHA provisions with the council decision. A number of other member states supported the UK position and the council decision was not adopted ahead of the ILO conference.

皇冠体育app UK, along with other EU member states, supported both the protocol and the recommendation following negotiations at the International Labour Conference, and the ILO has subsequently adopted both instruments.

Updates to this page

Published 17 July 2014