Sudan to enact UN protocol to prevent forced labour

Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a UN International Labour Organization (ILO) treaty against forced labour on Wednesday, a protocol to the 1930 Forced Labour Convention No. 29.

Sudan's accession to convention No. 29 on forced labour compels the country to enact measures to prevent forced labour, protect victims, and provide compensation.

“We reached a major milestone,” said Guy Ryder, ILO Director General, in a statement. “A future of work that is free of forced labour, human trafficking, child labour and modern slavery is a future that we must shape together. Because forced labour has no place in the better normal we want to start building as of today.”

The documents pertaining to this procedure will be signed by Ryder and the Permanent Representative of Sudan in Geneva, Ambassador Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Abdulrahman.

ILO member states adopted the protocol in 2014 at their annual conference in Geneva.

On March 26, there will be a ceremony in Geneva to formally deposit Sudan's accession documents to the 1948 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention No. 87 and the 1976 Tripartite Consultation Convention No. 144, in addition to the 1930 Forced Labour Convention No. 29.