A/HRC/42/44 displacement will likely lead to a rise in the rates of servile forms of marriage, in particular of girls, as a coping mechanism, and may over time increase female participation in vulnerable domestic work and forced labour.46 III. Anti-slavery efforts today Stocktaking 22. There is no overall survey of global anti-slavery efforts. Until the advent of Sustainable Development Goal target 8.7 and Alliance 8.7, the global partnership for eradicating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour around the world, for which ILO serves as the Secretariat, there was no unifying structure providing a framework for collaboration between those actors working to address the different forms of exploitation. Even now, that cooperation remains nascent and clear metrics, or even a strategic “framework for collective action” towards the achievement of target 8.7 remains absent. The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, though, provides important elements for strategic action.47 23. The actions of Member States thus remain central to the struggle to eradicate slavery, not only because of their duty to protect through regulation, accountability and victim support, but also because of their essential role in mobilizing and shaping strategic policy response. States are the main duty bearers in ensuring the realization of the human right to be free from slavery and servitude.48 24. There are positive signs regarding State action. Thirty-one States have ratified the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention. Governments have become more active in raising awareness on these issues in recent years, with ILO counting 154 countries undertaking such efforts. 49 Available data indicate that government legislative action to prevent and address slavery and trafficking in persons has increased in recent years: 50 Countries such as Estonia, Morocco, New Zealand and Spain are adopting criminal justice responses to forced marriage, 51 and some 40 countries have taken steps to investigate forced labour in private or public supply chains, including most member States of the European Union, which have transposed European Union directives on non-financial reporting and public procurement into domestic legislation. Yet, meaningful engagement by Governments with business to specifically address slavery in supply chains remains rare. Qatar has signed numerous bilateral agreements with labour-sending countries to provide legal protection to migrant workers before their recruitment. 52 25. Research suggests both that there have been advances in criminalizing slavery at the domestic level and that important gaps remain. While about half of all countries criminalize slavery, only a minority criminalize forced labour or servitude, and substantial gaps remain 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 8 Claire Healy, Targeting Vulnerabilities: The Impact of the Syrian War and Refugee Situation on Trafficking in Persons – A Study of Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (Vienna, International Centre for Migration Policy Development, 2015). Rights Lab submission; and ILO, Ending Forced Labour by 2030: A Review of Policies and Programmes (Geneva, 2018). On the governmental response to contemporary forms of slavery, see Walk Free Foundation, Measurement, Action, Freedom: An Independent Assessment of Government Progress Towards Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 (Minderoo Foundation, 2019); and Stef Monaco, The Commonwealth Roadmap to SDG 8.7: foreword by Urmila Bhoola, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2018). ILO, Ending Forced Labour by 2030. Walk Free Foundation, The Global Slavery Index 2018 (Minderoo Foundation, 2018); and Government of Qatar submission. Walk Free Foundation, Measurement, Action, Freedom, 2019. Government of Qatar submission.