Reporting on Forced Labour and Fair Recruitment: An ILO Toolkit for Journalists

"Writing a story on a human rights issue such as forced labour and fair recruitment is not like writing a routine news story....There are significant challenges - but there are also potential rewards."

This toolkit provides information and advice to help journalists report more accurately and effectively on forced labour and fair recruitment practices. Besides building the capacity of journalists to report on this human rights issue, the toolkit is designed to support the creation or strengthening of networks of specialised journalists, as well as to build partnerships with institutions that have the capacity and mandate to take forward media training and outreach.

According to the toolkit, "The term forced labour covers a wide variety of coercive labour practices where work is extracted from individuals under the threat of penalty. People who are in forced labour did not give their free and informed consent to start working and/or are not free to leave their work. Human trafficking, debt bondage, bonded labour, slave labour and modern-day slavery are terms that are used by news and media to describe forced labour situations." On the other side, fair recruitment refers to "the efforts to protect the rights of workers during the recruitment process, improve laws and practices governing recruitment processes and hence ensure that no one is coerced or deceived into unfair working conditions either in their own country or when they are recruited to work abroad." These interlinked concepts become particularly important when they are linked to the movement of people within or across borders in search of decent work opportunities, as migrant workers often face increased risks of abuse and deception.

The toolkit forms part of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its partners' ongoing engagement with the media around the issue of forced labour and fair recruitment. These media engagement activities are aimed at combatting the toxicity of the debate on migration, forced labour, and recruitment in both origin and destination countries as well as at the global level and at fostering the prevention of deception through the promotion of transparent, documented, and ethical journalism on forced labour and fair recruitment issues.

The toolkit is divided into different chapters, or modules, which mirror the story production cycle. Each module provides a general overview of the topic and access to extra material for those wishing to go into more depth on specific issues. Modules also offer case studies, examples of good reporting, and tips from journalists experienced in covering these often challenging subjects. The modules include:

• Understanding the Story - offers a general understanding of forced labour and fair recruitment and includes key definitions, facts, and figures as well as relevant legal frameworks.
• Finding the Story - presents tips on research and offers concrete story ideas that are organised in different categories, as well as guidelines on how to get support from editors and potential funders.
• Getting the Story - addresses the challenges journalists face when reporting on these issues and provides concrete tools and advice to improve journalists' reporting techniques. It includes information about safety and physical and mental health, especially related to going undercover.
• Telling the Story - seeks to help journalists find out how to get their story through to the audience and make sure they make the most of the material they have collected, including which platforms (web, radio, social media, etc.) to use for a story.
• Follow-up on the Story - discusses what happens after publication, and how some stories can have an impact and lead to concrete change.

The toolkit has been adapted to the national context in Mongolia (English and Mongolian), Pakistan (English), Sri Lanka (English, Sinhala, and Tamil) and Vietnam (English, Vietnamese). Click here to access these adapted versions. A toolkit for Nepal is forthcoming.

For non-context-specific versions of this handbook, see links below.