How forced labour indicator checklists can mask the structural drivers of exploitation

The Remedy Project has launched the first case study in its white paper series “Are We Fighting Forced Labour or Just Managing It?”, providing an in-depth examination of exploitation in India’s sugarcane sector based on first-hand interviews with workers, contractors and farmers in the state of Maharashtra. The new publication offers evidence that traditional approaches which measure and monitor labour standards using forced labour indicators fall short of preventing exploitation, and that structural drivers such as pricing policies, procurement practices, socio-economic vulnerabilities, and systemic debt should be addressed instead.

Indicators shouldn’t just be used to diagnose problems and react to them – they should inform structural change in how supply chains are governed, how procurement is priced, how employment is structured, and how accountability is shared, the authors say. They advocate for a shared responsibility model that recognizes that sustainable reform requires coordinated action across all levels of the value chain, rather than placing the burden solely on those with the least power to effect change.

India is the world’s second-largest sugar producer and Maharashtra contributes more than a third of its total sugar output. The state relies heavily on an informal migrant workforce – estimated at 1.5 million workers annually – who cut cane under arduous, under-regulated conditions. Numerous inquiries and media reports have exposed patterns of debt bondage, wage withholding, coerced hysterectomies, child labour, and denial of basic entitlements such as rest days, sick leave, housing, insurance, and maternity benefits.

The factors driving this exploitation are embedded in the ways in which sugarcane production is financed and labour is recruited. The Indian sugar industry operates under government intervention at both national and state levels, with pricing mechanisms that are regulated rather than market determined, so that mills, farmers and contractors must absorb increasing costs without raising their sale prices. This creates cascading cost pressures that are ultimately borne by workers who, on the lowest tier of the supply chain, are the most dispensable and least protected.

Socio-economic vulnerabilities also act as systemic drivers. Workers migrate seasonally from drought-prone districts and worker testimonies reveal that most of them are indigenous Dalits and Adivasis. They often take on the lowest-paid, most precarious jobs in the informal sector because discrimination and inherited inequalities limit their access to better opportunities.

The exploitative conditions experienced by these workers cannot be understood as voluntary when structural inequality systematically removes all alternatives – consent can be effectively undermined without overt coercion, the authors point out. Forced labour is not always simply a result of duress; in this context, it is structurally embedded in the socio-economic realities of debt, caste, lack of access to education, the cycle of poverty, gender discrimination, and other factors.

However, current due diligence frameworks systematically fail to consider the economic mechanisms that generate these forced labour risks. Furthermore, certification bodies rarely detect or prevent forced labour – not because the indicators are absent, but because their assessment models are designed to capture surface level conditions rather than going deeper to examine root causes. Auditors arrive at worksites to assess working conditions but, by then, workers are already trapped in debt cycles that began months earlier when they were recruited by contractors.

To meaningfully address forced labour, a comprehensive set of indicators, rooted in decent work indicators and business model dynamics, could offer relevant insights into the situation and lead to more impactful interventions, the authors say.

Private sector actors must shift from reacting to individual labour standards violations to a broader lens that identifies risk and prevalence across the supply chain, and work with industry associations to approach this issue on a sector level and invest in interventions. Policymakers must recognize that regulatory frameworks alone cannot address exploitation without addressing the underlying economic and social vulnerabilities that make workers susceptible to exploitation, and government intervention should focus on creating enabling environments for decent work rather than being solely reliant on reactive enforcement. Meanwhile, value chain actors beyond direct employers – including traders, processors, retailers, and financiers – must acknowledge that their purchasing decisions and business practices create ripple effects throughout their supply networks.

Here’s a roundup of other noteworthy news and initiatives:

A new report by Amnesty International documents the trafficking and enslavement of thousands of people in scam compounds across Cambodia, run by organized criminal gangs with apparent complicity from the Cambodian Government. Despite repeated warnings, authorities have failed to act, allowing torture, forced labour, and human trafficking to thrive within a billion-dollar shadow economy.

On USAID’s final day as an independent agency, former Presidents Obama and Bush issued rare bipartisan criticism, calling its dismantling a grave strategic error. The abrupt termination of thousands of staff and its absorption into the State Department marks the end of a 60-year legacy of U.S. development leadership and signals a profound shift in the role of aid in foreign policy.

Belgium has signed a new multi-year agreement with IOM, providing €1 million annually in unearmarked funding from 2025 to 2028. The flexible support strengthens collaboration on migration governance, diaspora engagement, and climate resilience, an uncommon model in migration financing.

In a landmark legal victory, more than 700 Cambodian families displaced by a Thai sugar plantation have reached a financial settlement with Mitr Phol, Asia’s largest sugar producer. The case, Southeast Asia’s first transboundary human rights class action, marks a major breakthrough in holding corporations accountable in their home countries for human rights abuses committed abroad.

Child migration in Ethiopia is rising due to a complex mix of conflict, climate change, poverty, and social factors such as child marriage and family violence. Children, many unaccompanied, face serious protection risks, including trafficking, abuse and exploitation along dangerous migration routes, while weak data and limited government capacity hinder efforts to protect them.

Congratulations to all our colleagues and friends for their powerful panel contributions at the first-ever UN Global Forum for Human Trafficking Survivors, convened by UNODC and the European Union in Vienna last week!