SEPTEMBER 2022

Protecting Workers, Farmers, and Foresters
From Forced Labor and Modern Slavery
The Rainforest Alliance Approach

INTRODUCTION

The Rainforest Alliance is part of this global movement. We
are committed to creating a more sustainable world where
people and nature thrive in harmony. We partner with diverse
allies around the world—rural producers, companies, NGOs,
and governments—to drive positive change in global supply
chains and in many of the world’s most critically importantlandscapes. There is no place in either sustainable agriculture or responsible business for human rights abuses suchas forced labor.

According to International Labour Organization (ILO) data, anestimated 2.1 million people are in forced labor in agriculture.1
Forced labor victims include, for example, farmworkers paid
sub-minimum wages, farmworkers deceived or coerced into
exploitative working conditions, and sharecroppers (tenant
farmers) indebted to landowners. Of the 2.1 million people inforced labor in agriculture, 31 percent are trapped in this situation through debt-bondage.2

This position paper first presents how the Rainforest Alliancedefines forced labor and what we see as the root causes offorced labor in the agriculture sector. We then lay out the Rainforest Alliance’s approach to tackling this issue through ourcertification program, landscape- and community-level programs, tailored supply chain services, and advocacy work. We
also call on our partners around the world to join us in investingin structural and sustainable solutions to this global challenge.

The global movement in support of the United Nation’s (UN)
Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 to end forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking—as well as recent EU andUS human rights due diligence (HRDD) regulations on importing, selling or exporting products made by forced labor—havefocused attention on high-risk sectors like agriculture. Governments, multinational companies, agricultural producers,
and civil society increasingly recognize the saliency of thisissue and the imperative to tackle it.

WHAT IS FORCED LABOR?
The ILO explains the relationship between modern slavery,
forced labor, and human trafficking, as shown in Figure 1. Thisis a useful framework for all actors working to combat theseabuses around the world.

1 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced

Marriage. International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva, 2022.
2

Ibid

1

FIGURE 1

Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard definition of forced labor

Typology of forced labor. Source: Global Estimates of Modern
Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva, 2022.

All work or service required of any person under the
menace of any penalty and for which the said person
has not offered herself or himself voluntarily.

Modern slavery

A person is classified as being in forced labor if they are
engaged in work that is involuntary (without the free andinformed consent of the worker) and is exacted throughthreats, penalties, or some for of coercion.

Forced labor

Forced marriage

Privately-imposed
forced labor

State-imposed
forced labor

Forced labor exploitation

Forced commercial sexual
exploitation of adults andcommercial sexual exploitation of children

Involuntariness can include, but is not limited to:•
Recruitment through a transaction such as slavery
or bonded labor•
State-imposed labor, such as by the military, that
does not meet the exceptions provided in ILO Convention 29•
Involuntary prison labor•
Unpaid or extremely low-paid work•
Changes to working conditions (employer, wages,
hours, nature of work, conditions/hazards/exposures, time period) without the worker’s consent•
Degrading working or living conditions imposed by
employer or recruiter•
Involuntary and excessive overtime•
Limited freedom to terminate the work contract oragreement
Forms of coercion can include, but are not limited to:•
Physical or sexual violence•
Physical confinement•
Restrictions on movement or communication•
Fines or other financial penalties•
Deprivation of food, water, toilets, sleep, or other basic needs•
Isolation•
Forced use of drugs or alcohol•
Debt bondage or manipulation of debt, including
manipulation of advances and loans•
Requiring monetary deposits, financial or collateralguarantees, or personal possessions as a conditionof employment•
Withholding or delay of wages or other benefits•
Retention of identity or other important documents
without the worker’s consent and/or without providing workers easy access to them•Threats of dismissal, deportation, legal action, or reporting to authorities

The Rainforest Alliance uses the ILO definitions of these terms,
as shown below.
International Labour Organization definitions
Forced labor is “all work or service which is exacted fromany person under the menace of any penalty and forwhich the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”— International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour
Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
Modern slavery is an umbrella term that encompasses
the legal concepts of forced labor, debt bondage, forced
marriage, other slavery and slavery-like practices, andhuman trafficking. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave becauseof threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuseof power.
— Summarized from Global Estimates of Modern Slavery:
Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. International Labour
Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva, 2022, p. 13.

WHAT ARE THE ROOT CAUSES OF FORCED LABOR IN
AGRICULTURE?
Agriculture is a high-risk sector for forced labor for manyreasons, including the prevalence of informal working relationships, the use of short-term or seasonal workers, and thelow wages that characterize the sector. Migrant workers, farfrom home, who may not speak the language of their employers and may come from marginalized ethnic or social

We have used ILO guidance to develop a detailed definitionof forced labor that is used in our certification program.

2

FIGURE 2

groups, are often the most exposed to forced labor risks. The
vulnerability of these workers means they have little leveragewhen faced with employers who keep workers in degradingor abusive conditions, illegally deduct from wages or pay late,or discipline through violence or fines.3 The need to find work,often in isolated rural areas, increases workers’ reliance onlabor providers/recruiters who charge high fees to arrange
jobs and accommodation, or on traffickers who facilitate migration but exploit workers in the process. Workers who are
hired informally, without contracts, fall outside the protections afforded under most countries’ labor laws and law enforcement mechanisms.

Common sources of debt for migrant workers.
Pre-departure

Skills-testing
Passport
Insurance
Medical test

The most common root causes of forced labor in agriculture—factors that restrict workers’ free and informed consent
to employment, and that make workers more vulnerable tocoercion—include the following:•Multi-dimensional poverty: illiteracy, basic education,
food insecurity, and inadequate earnings•
Migration•
Reliance on labor providers, brokers, or other agents,
subagents, or individuals who use exploitative recruitment practices or charge workers recruitment fees•
Precarious employment4•
Discrimination related to age, disability, ethnicity, or gender•
Lack of voice, representation, or meaningful grievancemechanisms•
Personal dependencies, such as debt

Visa fees
In transit

Border crossing fees
On arrival

Medical test
Loan interest
Return transportation

The Employer Pays Principle: A worker should never berequired to pay the costs of recruitment or placement inwork. The employer should pay these costs.

forced labor risks for farmers and workers.
The impacts of climate change exacerbate all the above root
causes. Rural households whose livelihoods are destroyed bydrought, flooding, or changes in temperature are more likely
to be pushed below the poverty line. As a result, it is more
likely they will engage in precarious work, migrate, and experience discrimination. It is also more likely that they will engage in illicit activities that further intensify climate change
impacts, such as farming cocoa on illegally deforested lands.
Meanwhile, producers who cannot or do not adapt to climatechange impacts are less likely to have profitable, sustainable
farms and more likely to have a business model reliant oncheap or exploited labor.

In the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard,benefits is 30 percent, in line with International Labour Organization
recommendations.

The International Labour Organization defines precarious work as“A precarious job is employment that offers compensation, hours, or

security inferior to a ‘regular’ job…including temporary work and sea-

Gender inequality is another cross-cutting issue that can
exacerbate forced labor risks for female workers. Globally,
women and girls account for nearly 12 million of the total 28

sonal work.” See here: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@

ed_dialogue/@actrav/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_161381.
pdf.
5

Residency permit
Orientation

the maximum percentage of deductions from wages for in-kind

4

Transit travel
AirfareWorkers are not the only population at risk of forced laborin agriculture. Farmers, especially small-scale farmers, also
face multi-dimensional poverty. Many smallholder farmers
do not own sufficient land for subsistence; in the West African cocoa sector, for example, many, if not most, smallholder farming families live below the World Bank poverty line of
US$1.90 per person per day.5 These farmers often seek offfarm income on neighboring farms, putting them at risk of
exploitative work. Farmers in poverty are vulnerable to debt
bondage related to loans from unscrupulous lenders andsome are sharecroppers who can become indebted to landowners. Farmers’ poverty, in turn, becomes a root cause ofworker forced labor. For example, a smallholder cocoa farmer
who only receives payment for his or her work at the end of
the cocoa harvest, and who has very little cash flow and noaccess to credit, may only be able to pay workers at the endof the harvest—yet delayed payment to workers constitutes
a forced labor risk. Ultimately, structural economic issues
in global agricultural supply chains are at the heart of many
3

Interview

Cocoa Barometer 2020. Fountain, Antonie C. and Friedel Huetz-Ad-

ams, https://cocoabarometer.org/.

3

FIGURE 3

zations. It means building the capacity of farm managers
to implement labor management systems that are alignedwith responsible recruitment practices and principles of decent work. It also means addressing root causes: supporting
workers’ access to education, physical and mental healthservices, and financial services so they are less vulnerable
to exploitation, while at the same time, helping those farmers and foresters who subsist close to the poverty line earnhigher incomes so they can afford to pay timely and decent
wages to workers. Legislative changes in agricultural producing and consuming countries can also be a crucial factor in
addressing the root causes of forced labor.

The “vicious circle” of climate change and modern slavery.
Source: Anti-Slavery International, From a Vicious to a Virtuous
Circle: Addressing climate change, environmental destruction
and contemporary slavery, 2021.

ClimatechangeActivities
that cause
environmental
devastation

Debt bondage,labor, sexual
exploitation, andslavery

The Rainforest Alliance takes these actions through four strategic interventions: certification, landscape and community
programs, supply chain programs, and advocacy. We drive
improvement through global supply chains and in landscapes where workers, farmers, and the environment are at
greatest risk.

Economic andenvironmental
vulnerabilities

Rainforest Alliance Strategic Interventions
1.
Certification
2. Landscape and community programs
3. Supply chain services
4. Advocacy

Deepenexclusion andmarginalization

Our 2020 Certification Program
Certification is a key tool that the Rainforest Alliance deploys
at the farm and supply chain levels, working in collaboration
with the farms and food service companies we certify (our“certificate holders” or CHs). In our 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, which includes farm-level requirements,group-level requirements, and requirements for supply chain
actors such as food processing facilities, we have shifted towards an “assess-and-address” system to tackle forced laborand other human rights abuses.9 Building upon past learnings,
assess-and-address moves away from simple prohibition, as
this often drives the problems underground rather than supporting local actors to resolve them. Instead, assess-and-address goes further by requiring that specific measures are inplace to identify and mitigate labor risks, monitor them on an
ongoing basis, and provide meaningful remediation, in linewith international human rights due diligence best practices.

million forced labor victims.6 When inequality results in women having less access to knowledge, training, and job opportunities than their male counterparts, they are more likely tohave precarious work with lower pay as well as less representation in decision making roles. Inequality also increases
tolerance for physical or sexual violence against women.7 For
example, research on women’s vulnerability to forced labor in
the cocoa sector has documented instances of verbal abuse,
threats, and coercion by their employers, including threats offiring, insults, and other degrading treatment.8
THE RAINFOREST ALLIANCE APPROACH TO TACKLINGFORCED LABOR
Tackling forced labor means raising workers’ awarenessabout their rights and supporting or enforcing the realizationof those rights, including the right to freedom of association,collective bargaining, and membership in workers’ organi-ports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf.

Under the assess-and-address approach, CHs are required
to set up an internal committee that is responsible for acting
on forced labor issues—along with child labor and workplace
violence, harassment, and discrimination. These committees
work proactively, and together with local stakeholders, to address forced labor by:•
Raising awareness about what forced labor is and how
to prevent it•
Identifying and mitigating risks of forced labor, including
by using the Rainforest Alliance child labor and forcedlabor sectoral risk maps (see Figure 4)

Labour: Understanding the Links in Global Cocoa Supply

9

10.1080/00220388.2019.1657570

gram-assess-address.pdf

6

Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced

Marriage. International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva, 2022.
7

International Labour Organization. Global Estimates Of Modern

Slavery. 2017, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgre8

Genevieve LeBaron & Ellie Gore (2020) Gender and Forced

Chains, The Journal of Development Studies, 56:6, 1095-1117, DOI:

The Rainforest Alliance. Assess-and-Address one-sheet. https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-pro-

4

•
•

Monitoring work sites for signs of forced labor and to ensure that mitigation measures and remediation activities are on track
Providing or supporting remediation for workers freed
from forced labor, in collaboration with local partners
where feasible

taining workers’ passports or other belongings. Next to that,
we have strengthened our risk-based assurance approach,allowing audit teams to focus their efforts on high risk areas
during the planning and execution of the audits. If there is ahigh risk for forced labor, among other risk factors, there are
additional auditing requirements that apply, which are described in our Certification and Auditing Rules.

The standard also requires that workers have written contracts
and mandates CHs to carry out rigorous oversight of labor
providers (labor brokers/recruiters), who are often a key factor in forced labor risk. This includes ensuring that all recruitment-related fees and costs are paid by farms, not workers.

Landscape and Community Programs
In our experience, certification as a supply chain tool works
best when accompanied by broader interventions in thesame landscape, targeting the root causes of environmental and human rights challenges. To meaningfully addressforced labor in rural communities, it is critical to work with local actors to understand why workers, and sometimes farmers, become trapped in forced labor as well as the most effective ways to address those root causes. For example:

To expand the reach of our certification program and safeguard the system’s integrity, quality, competitiveness, andcredibility, we work with independent certification bodies(CBs) around the world. Authorized CBs carry out audits andcertify farms, farmer groups, and supply chain organizations
against the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable AgricultureStandard.

•

In recent years, we have also made a number of improvements to our assurance approach. We increased our requirements on the competencies of audit teams, mandating ahigher level of experience and knowledge on auditing humanrights issues, as described in our Rules for Certification Bodies. In addition, we provide guidance and give tailored forcedlabor training to our authorized CBs on forced labor. These
trainings include such steps as checking for illegal deductions from wages and confirming that employers are not re-In Ghana, with funding from the Norwegian government,
we are collaborating with the International Cocoa Initiative and Solidaridad to tackle forced labor in cocoa
production and artisanal gold mining. In these sectors,
migrants from Burkina Faso, Mali, and the northern partof Ghana migrate to work in cocoa-growing areas, which
overlap significantly with gold-mining regions. These
workers, who sometimes migrate with their families, canbe vulnerable to forced labor due to their isolation, dependence on their employers for food and housing, andthe customary wage payment practices in the sector.

FIGURE 4
Screenshot of the Rainforest Alliance Child Labor and Forced Labor Risk Maps.

5

A Rainforest Alliance trainer consults with a family cocoa farmers in Ghana.
This project tackles the root causes of forced labor bystrengthening access to financial and other social services for farmers, workers, and their families. It builds thecapacity of farmer cooperatives to systematically identify and mitigate forced labor risks through human rights
due diligence systems and strengthens the public sector
to improve delivery of key social protection services tofarmers and workers. It also builds awareness amongcommunity-based organizations of the human rights
commitments that government and private sector actors have made in their communities and trains them toadvocate for the realization of those commitments.
••

recruitment practices of seasonal migrant workers producing avocados, berries, bananas, and pineapples. The
project will adapt Stronger Together’s Responsible Recruitment Toolkit to these countries and sectors, build
capacity of farmers and labor providers to use the toolkit, and build support for responsible recruitment practices among governments, industry associations, andother stakeholders.
Supply Chain Services: Encouraging Corporate Leadership
Our Tailored Supply Chain Services team works one-on-one
with companies to identify where and how they can improvetheir sourcing practices and interventions on a variety of sustainability topics, including forced labor. For example:

In Turkey, with support from the Dutch government, we
are working with companies in the hazelnut sector to
reduce the risks of child labor and forced labor among
migrant worker families on hazelnut farms. The project
involves setting up hazelnut committees to improve
collaboration between local authorities and communities and enable area-based approaches to addressing
root causes, such as improvements to migrant workers’
housing. The project also provides training to labor recruiters who facilitate workers’ migration to hazelnut
harvesting areas to ensure they uphold worker protections during the recruitment process.
In Mexico and Costa Rica, with support from the Walmart
Foundation, we are partnering with the labor rights NGO
Stronger Together to promote and enable responsible
6•

Our Corporate Advisory team supports companies to ensure that their sourcing policies and practices are in linewith global best practices, such as the principles, guidance, and definitions of the Accountability Framework.

•

Our Tailored Supply Chain Services team helps companies perform risk mapping and supplier engagement
to identify needs and flag local and regional risks within
supply chains.

•

We co-develop and facilitate interventions throughfield-based partnerships, facilitating the identificationand implementation of interventions at the farm level,

SIDEBAR

often involving training and coaching of suppliers on key
topics like forced labor.
•

Our supply chain monitoring and evaluation teamtracks activities to understand what interventions areworking and where additional assistance is needed.

Companies are in a unique position because they can use
their purchasing power to influence suppliers and disincentivize worker exploitation. This includes paying prices for commodities that cover the cost of production—including decent
wages for workers—and provide an adequate margin for producers to secure a sustainable income. It also means investing in lasting commercial relationships, continuous improvement, and shared responsibility. These steps and constructive
long-term buying relationships reduce both the vulnerabilityof workers, and producers’ exposure to the risk of forced labor.
Companies can also help prevent forced labor by working
with governments, civil society, and producers to support human rights related legislation and enforcement that benefit
farmers, foresters, workers, and climate change adaptationin rural communities. Paying fair tax contributions to governments’ national budgets for education, healthcare, economic
development, and social care, is also critical because it contributes to an enabling environment in which farming families
can break free of the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

Workers wash and pack bananas on a farm in Costa
Rica.

Direct Worker Reporting

Advocacy: Influencing Government Policies

Rainforest Alliance collaborates with &Wider, athird-party provider of “worker voice” technology, toconnect our market partners to these services. Throughphone-based outreach and surveys to workers on issues such as housing conditions, working conditions,
freedom of movement, and payment terms, these services can give partners additional insight into the farms
from which they source. They also:•
Create a platform for workers to voice concerns
anonymously•
Provide data to farm owners so that they can mitigate and correct concerns prior to an audit•
Provide continuous input throughout the certification period, rather than just once a year

Tackling the root causes of forced labor requires governments to improve and enforce labor laws, license and inspectlabor brokers, support safe migration where appropriate, andprosecute businesses and criminal organizations that engage in modern slavery, forced labor, and human trafficking.
As noted above, structural economic issues are often at theroot of farmer and worker poverty, and governments have a
key role to play in addressing this key driver of forced labor,such as supporting the socio-economic empowerment ofvulnerable communities and workers.
The Rainforest Alliance advocates, often together with othercivil society organizations, to ensure that governments create
an enabling environment in which forced labor is monitored,
remediated, and ultimately prevented. This includes our work
to advocate for governments to enforce corporate responsibility, for example, through the development of effective
human rights due diligence legislation. We also advocate bysharing research, working in partnership with local and international NGOs, and being an active member of multi-stakeholder platforms tackling forced labor, such as Alliance 8.7,
the International Cocoa Initiative, the Sustainable Coffee
Challenge, and Verité’s Farm Labor Due Diligence Initiative.

stewardship is more sustainable. Households become more
resilient to climate change and less vulnerable to poverty
and economic shock. In short: everyone benefits.
Our strategic interventions combine both short-term andlong-term solutions to make progress and address root
causes in agricultural and forest landscapes. This leads toimproved incomes, reduced inequality, and access to services that farmers, foresters, and workers need. But no single
organization can tackle these root causes alone. Collaboration with all actors involved is essential—from local governments that can adapt laws and improve enforcement tolocal civil society organizations in rural communities to companies that invest in farmers’ and workers’ well-being andlivelihoods. Only by working together can sustainable andpositive change be achieved.

CONCLUSION
For the Rainforest Alliance, tackling forced labor is critical toour vision of improving the livelihoods and well-being of rural people while protecting natural landscapes. When workers and farmers can earn a decent livelihood under decent
working conditions, farms are more productive and land
7

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world
by using social and market forces to protect nature andimprove the lives of farmers and forest communities.
rainforest-alliance.org
email: info@ra.org