Directing the Legal Radar at Forced Labour—Under Special Consideration of Male Victims in Norway

Carola Lingaas
Additional contact information
Carola Lingaas: Faculty of Social Studies, VID Specialized University, Vinderen, NO-0319 Oslo, Norway

Laws, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: Human trafficking in the form of labour exploitation appears to have gone under the legal radar domestically, regionally, and internationally, with ensuing grave consequences for the victims concerned. This paper critically discusses the current legal developments and interpretations of global and regional legal sources on forced labour and the challenges they face. A legal analysis is supplemented by information obtained through interviews with 14 presumed male victims of forced labour, who recently escaped a coercive work situation and were living in a safe house in Oslo (Norway). The paper will demonstrate the shortcomings of the law and its application, using the case of Norway and the affected men as an example. It examines the case law of the European Court of Human Rights using a vulnerability approach and argues that the inaction in preventing and prosecuting crimes committed towards people who are exploited for forced labour is a violation of their human rights and may be interpreted as granting impunity to their perpetrators. The situation for male victims of forced labour is particularly severe.

Keywords: forced labour; human trafficking; human rights; modern slavery; ECHR; Norway (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/3/39/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/3/39/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:11:y:2022:i:3:p:39-:d:800055

Access Statistics for this article

Laws is currently edited by Ms. Heather Liang

More articles in Laws from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().