NSWCCL made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Inquiry into the International Labour Organization Protocol of 2014 to Forced Labour Convention 1930 (No. 29).

We strongly support the ratification of this treaty; we also called for the adoption of this protocol so that its provisions become a part of domestic law. Rights with no remedy under Australian law are paper rights only - adoption is essential to ensure full protection for this vulnerable population.

We support these actions because:

• The adoption of the convention will, hopefully, work as a legal and moral impetus to the implementation of aspects of the National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery 2020–25.
• According to the National Action Plan, for every victim detected and supported there are another
  four, in the community.
• Modern Slavery denies the victims access to some of the most basic of civil liberties.
• NSWCCL agrees, as advanced in the preamble, that further action is needed to continue to
  work toward the elimination of forced labour worldwide.
• The ratification of this protocol would be a step towards closing the gaps within current programs that address modern slavery within Australia

Read the full submission