Forced labour is any work or service performed against a person’s will under the threat of punishment. Found increasingly in the private economy in labour intensive and under-regulated sectors such as construction, agriculture, fisheries, domestic work, and mining as well as in prostitution, more than 12.3 million people are in forced labour today, and almost all countries are affected.

Child labour refers to work for children under the age of 18 that is mentally, physically, socially and/or morally dangerous or harmful and that interferes with their schooling. Forced labour and child labour are closely linked. They occur in the same geographical areas, the same industries and are mainly caused by poverty and discrimination, and up to half of all people in forced labour are children.