Tvångsarbete i Sverige: En studie av bärplockare

Abstract

Det här projektet är en del av en jämförande internationell studie som utförs på uppdrag av Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Storbritannien, och leds av Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University. Det innefattar forskare från ett antal europeiska länder, inklusive Storbritannien, Frankrike, Italien, Tyskland, Nederländerna, Lettland, Polen, Spanien och Sverige. Projektet undersöker i vilken form och utsträckning tvångsarbete sker i de olika länderna, de juridiska och politiska kontexterna samt möjligheterna för de som utsätts för tvångsarbete att få upprättelse genom civil- eller straffrätt, lokala eller statliga myndigheter, ideella organisationer, fackliga organisationer eller andra aktörer i det civila samhället. Fallstudier illustreras med exempel på god eller uppfinningsrik praxis för att säkra upprättelse.

Keywords:

Description

Sweden is a country which prides itself on its adherence to human rights and labour rights. It is signatory to major international conventions of the ILO and other international bodies which seek to promote the furtherance of decent work. Sweden has an impressive record not only in defending human rights internationally, but also with respect to strict anti-trafficking laws, and with respect to laws on prostitution within Sweden. The issue of forced labour per se as against and separate from the broader question of human trafficking has received little attention either in legislative or policy discourses, at least until recently. Yet evidence is emerging of a new momentum whereby the most vulnerable migrant workers are being pushed not only from the formal into the informal sector, but also farther along the continuum towards the extremes of forced labour. The case study being researched here is of what is essentially forced labour in low-paid seasonal work, performed by migrant labour recruited from outside Sweden, mainly from outside the European Union, to gather the annual wild berry harvest. These workers are part of a transnational and circular migration barely noticed, at least until recently, when their plight received widespread attention due to problems arising from their terms and conditions of employment and the non-payment of wages. As a result of previous problems, the political and policy context is a rapidly evolving one in which the regulatory process for seasonal migrant employment is also undergoing change, although the outcomes of this have still to be assessed

Publications

C. Woolfson, P. Herzfeld Olsson and C. Thörnqvist, (2012) Forced Labour and Migrant Berry Pickers in Sweden. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 28, 2: 147-176.

Other Academic Output

Forced labour in Sweden: The case of migrant berry pickers, 2nd International Conference on Vulnerable Workers and Precarious Work in a Changing World, Middlesex University Business School, 10-11 September 2012.

Migrant workers rights: the case of berry pickers in Sweden, Labour Rights as Human Rights? Migration, labour market restructuring and the role of civil society in global governance, UNESCO-MOST Conference 2012, Norrköping, May 30-June 1, 2012. (with Petra Herzfeld Olsson).

Forced Labour in Sweden? The Case of Migrant Berry Pickers, Report to the Council of Baltic Sea States Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings: Forced Labour Exploitation and Counter Trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region, (with Christer Thörnqvist and Petra Herzfeld Olsson) July 2011. http://www.cbss.org/Civil-Security-and-the-Human-Dimension/de

Report on Forced Labour in Sweden, to Joseph Rowntree Trust; project on Responses to Forced Labour in the EU, London Metropolitan University, Working Lives Research Institute (with Christer Thornqvist) May 2011.