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Work in Freedom

DFID announces £13 million for ILO Work in Freedom programme

DFID pledges a new package of support totalling £13 million for the ILO-run Work in Freedom programme to prevent trafficking and forced labour among women migrant workers from South Asia.

News | 30 November 2017
© Sajjad Hussain / AFP
GENEVA (ILO News) – The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has announced a new package of support – totalling £13 million - for the Work in Freedom programme to prevent trafficking and forced labour among women migrant workers from South Asia.

The programme contributes to the prevention of human trafficking in South Asia and the Middle East by promoting empowerment and education, fair recruitment, safe migration and decent work for women and girls. Launched in January 2013, it is scheduled to run until December 31, 2018.

At any given time in 2016, some 24.9 million people were in forced labour, with the highest prevalence in Asia and the Pacific, where four out of every 1,000 people were victims, according to ILO statistics.

The funding is part of a £40 million package of UK aid to help more than 500,000 vulnerable men, women and children who have either survived modern slavery or are at risk of becoming victims. The DFID announcement was made just ahead of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2.