Running Head: VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 1

Causes and Prevention of Violation of the Article 4 of Human Rights on Industries

Josue Murillo

Yachay Tech University

Abstract

In this XXI century, the slavery is still happening in industries, and the victims are workers

whose labor rights are violated each day. This paper finds the reasons of why this problem is
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 2

happening on industries and how to prevent them. Thanks to different data and analysis of

experts of labor field were determined three causes about the violation of the human right of

no-slavery on factories and what their precautions are. The absence of industrial awareness,

human trafficking and lack of knowledge correspond to the reasons of this issue; moreover,

the way prevention these three points are focusing on some effort by industries to protect the

well-being of employees. However, the global awareness is the main factor that could affect

the future of employment conditions.

Keywords: industries, modern slavery, human right, human trafficking, forced

labor, labor abuse.

Causes and Prevention of Violation of the Article 4 of Human Rights on Industries

Although there has been an impressive advance in technology in such a short space of

time, humanity is still doing retrograde acts that threaten the rights that every human being

should have. It is widely known that our humanity has faced nonsenses that have affected

innocent people because of political, cultural or religious interests of few individuals. Indeed,

thousands of innocent people have died because of two world wars occurred in the same
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 3

century. As an answer for stopping these atrocities, the Organization of United Nations (UN)

was created by an agreement of many countries who were decided to fight in favor of the

wellbeing of people. As a result, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established,

and it consists of important rights which promote basic rights that any person should have

since their birth until death. One of those rights states that the slavery and slave trade must be

prohibited in all their forms (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). However,

although the slavery was abolished in one and a half-century ago, different forms of slavery

still exist and nowadays they are known as forms of modern slavery. With this in mind, some

industries are important places where the modern slavery is found, and there are millions of

people who are affected in these places because they suffer some abuses such as long hours

of work and confiscation of passports. Nonetheless, this problem can be avoided because the

violation of the article 4 of human rights produced by industries has 3 preventable causes

human trafficking, lack of knowledge and industrial negligence.

First, the carelessness of industries to protects workers laws has caused forced labor.

A point often overlooked is that some companies use clandestine factories for their

production, but those factories have people who work against their will because they are

victims of forced labor. In addition, the companies do not care about the abuse that workers

are enduring. For illustrating this, it should be known that factories which provided supplies

to companies like Walt Disney and Dell had employees who worked long hours per day

having a low wage and physical injuries (Barboza, 2008). This fact is the proof that there are

labor abuses which are caused by the unconcern of factories. Unfortunately, the multinational

industries do not regard these abuses, for they prefer to have low-paid workers with long

hours of production. This issue has detrimental effects not only because the workers' rights of

no-slavery are violated, but also their quality of health will be undermined. Moreover, as the

employers do not have more options to earn money, they must be victims of forced labor to
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 4

support their families. Therefore, the industries should pay attention to the policies which

permit workers to have proper labor rights.

For preventing industrial negligence, the industries should enforce their protective

policies for the well-being of workers. As there are no restrictions by companies, some

suppliers tend to commit abuses over workers such as confiscation of passports. If the

companies regard policies which allow workers to report any case of exploitation, the forced

labor can be impeded. For instance, Panasonic has policies which promote the use of

confidential whistleblowers' hotline so that workers can report a supposed abuse; likewise,

Panasonic regarded in their policies the prohibition of confiscation of passports (Pattison,

2017). In this way, any abuse of forced labor would be impeded because workers can express

their complaints without any fear. However, it should be emphasized that these policies will

protect workers' rights, provided that the complains be listened and have different treatment

in agreement with each worker. Nonetheless, it is not enough with establishing policies that

sentence any abuse of the right of workers, but there should be policies which compensate

workers whose labor rights have been violated. Thus, the implementation of policies which

protect workers from forced labor will prevent industrial negligence.

Another cause of modern slavery in industries is the recruitment of people who are

victims of human trafficking. The factories tend to recruit victims of human trafficking

because these people are more defenseless to any labor abuse; hence, there is a human

trafficking network which operates clandestinely and affects plenty of people. According to

the International Labor Organization (International Labour Organization, 2018), there are

around 24,8 millions victims of human trafficking for forced labor purposes in the past year,

and the amount of prosecutors of human traffic groups is low. Consequently, there is an

alarmingly amount of people who become in slaves to work on industries, and there are not

enough efforts to stop the violation of the human right of non-slavery. If industries still hiring
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 5

victims of human trafficking, the number of people affected will increase next years.

Furthermore, the main damage that crime organized is not only the enslavement of people for

working but also the lives of relatives who depend on that person economically. The

investment of industries to stop human trafficking activities can bring positive results.

For preventing the human trafficking into industries, the further investigation is

crucial to stop the violation to the right of no-slavery. If the industries do an investigation into

the abuses of human trafficking in their production zones, the amount of victims will

decrease. For example, Adidas usually carries out an investigation of recruiters' actions and

whether there is any case of traffic people in their practices; furthermore, nowadays this

multinational industry is one of the safest places to work (Mutisya, 2018). The proper

investigation will stop the human trafficking and find the responsible people of this crime.

These investigations should be on most basic standards for carrying out any kind of industrial

activity. Nonetheless, the entity in charge to solve this problem is not only the industries but

also the current governments who should defend the human rights. In contrast, some poor

countries do not have enough funds to do a further investigation to find criminal groups

which traffic human beings. Consequently, the investigations developed by industries will

help to reduce the human trafficking cases for forced labor purposes.

Ultimately, people who are victims of forced labor may not know it because they do

not know their rights. The lack of knowledge of workers' rights may lead to a forced labor

because the employees regard that employment conditions are correct. A clear example of

this issue is the case of Ronny, he is a cook who works in England, and due to his lack of

knowledge about labor rights, he has a low salary and his visa was removed by the employer

of the restaurant (Skrivankova, 2010). Workers who do not know about their rights in the

workplace are amenable to believe in lies of employers. This situation makes workers believe

that the forced labor is a normal practice. Furthermore, this issue may have a greater impact
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 6

on migrants who do speak the foreign language because they sign contracts that promote the

modern slavery. The unknowing labor rights is a factor that harms the freedom of employees

and it can be prevented with the help of people who are in the same situation.

Consequently, the creation of trade unions promises to be a way for preventing the

lack of knowledge of workers about their rights. Additionally, the trade unions protect and

defend the labor rights, and they are capable to inform employers about their rights.

According to Ethical Trading Initiative (2010), one of the duties of the union trades is

ensuring proper working practices and monitoring the procedures and policies of an industry.

Accordingly, union trades will protect employees from any attempt of modern slavery; hence,

would be capable to inform workers about their labor rights. The positive results of union

trades are evident because these groups are formed by people who are in the same situation.

However, the level of attention by management board is determinant to solve the complaints

of the proletariat. As can be seen, the union trades inform and protect the rights of workers.

Finally, there are causes which lead to industries violate the human right of non-

slavery. Those cases are industrial negligence, human trafficking and lack of knowledge and

all of them can be preventable. The lack of concern of industries can be prevented by

establishing protective policies which are based on report any unfair practice over the labor

rights of workers. Another cause is the human trafficking on industries which can be avoided

by applying further investigation to find responsible groups of this crime. Lastly, the lack of

knowledge of workers about their labor rights is a cause that can be solved with the creation

of union trades which would protect employees against any practice of modern slavery. It is

possible to prevent the modern slavery on industries, but the global population does not care

about many injustices that cause forced labor. If people are interested in the importance of

labor rights, there will be a demand to change the employment conditions positively. Then, as

people feel good working, the industries will be more successful. Thus, the main question is
VIOLATION OF THE ARTICLE 4 OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON INDUSTRIES 7

to what extent we are free to do not react about the modern slavery, and allowing many

people be affected physically and psychologically.

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