BONDED LABOUR

Early day motion 1175, tabled 23 November 2000 by Eddie McGrady (Social Democratic and Labour Party). Signed by 16 members.

That this House is appalled by the United Nations estimate that some 20 million people are living in slavery around the world under the bonded labour system; expresses its concern over the repeated failures of governments such as those of Pakistan, India and Nepal to take adequate measures to eradicate the use of bonded labour in their countries; and calls on the Government to work with its EU partners to sponsor a resolution at the next UN Commission on Human Rights condemning this practice, to urge the International Labour Organisation to ensure at its conference in June 2001 that independent and comprehensive surveys into the extent of bonded labour are carried out in countries where it persists and that monitoring systems are set up to record the number of bonded labourers freed and the numbers of people convicted for enslaving people in this way.

Signatures by party: Labour 5, UUP 5, DUP 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, UKUP 1, Unknown 1.