Trabalho forçado e degradante no setor da marinha mercante internacional no século XXI: atualizações e comprações com os trabalhos de terra

The article discusses the forms of forced and degrading labour in the international merchant marine in the 21st century, by estimating number and nationality of the seafarers subjected to these forms of coercion. The distinctive features of seafaring are contrary to the characteristics of the largest part of forced labour on land: in fact, the maritime labour is strategic, productive, highly regulated by States and International organizations, has very high capital intensity, high salaries and a skilled and internationalized workforce - so much so that the ILO has never mentioned the seafarers in its estimates on forced labour and until now there is only one monograph, published in 2007 by the author of this article, discussing systematically the argument and developing related estimates. This article describes the main forms of forced labour at sea in the 21st century, updating and specifying the estimates presented in 2007. Among other sources, are analyzed the annual reports of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the ILO, which monitor the compliance of the navigation’s codes of the signatory States with the ILO Convention No. 105 of 1957 on forced labour. Since ILO has never considered in its estimates of forced labor even the cases reported by CEACR, the article, starting from a possible generalization and application of the methods developed for the work at sea to the work on land, advances criticisms and revisions of the estimates of forced labour in the world produced by ILO.