9 December 2024. It has been two years since we released our first publication, the bilingual guidebook on International Labour Organisation’s Indicators of Forced Labour in December 2022. Since then, our publications have been seen online more than 45,000 times and downloaded more than 700 times.
Our first publication, titled “Understanding International Labour Organisation Forced Labour Indicators,” explains the 11 forced labour indicators in an easy-to-understand manner in both Chinese and English. The Guidebook was beautifully illustrated by the famed Taiwanese cartoonist Stellina Chen and tailored to the small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan, which account for more than 98 percent of all enterprises in Taiwan.
In 2022, the Guidebook was distributed in a series of training sessions for more than 100 Taiwanese suppliers of international brands in Hsinchu, Taichung and Kaohsiung. We received very positive post-training feedback, with 97 percent of all participants stating that they learned more about forced labour after the training (read more from our Impact Report).
This Guidebook paved the way to additional publications: four WBI policy briefs that analysed Taiwan, business and human rights on the themes of labour recruitment, corporate responsibility to respect human rights, sustainable development and just transition. The policy briefs also served as reference materials for the first-ever Taiwan Business Forum for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence.
We organised the Taiwan Business Forum for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence with the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB). Held in April 2024 in Taipei, the event was supported by the CommonWealth Magazine, Target and the European Chamber for Commerce Taiwan. The one-day Forum featured international and domestic business leaders, speaking on human rights and environmental due diligence. In September 2024, the achievements of this forum was mentioned in the former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson’s laureate speech for the prestigious Tang Prize in the Rule of Law.
All of these events first started with our Guidebook.
We are very proud of this Guidebook and are always very moved when we see how readers, first attracted by the beautiful cover drawn by cartoonist Stellina Chen, go through each indicator and learn with attention.
Most recently, in November 2024, the guidebook was used in two modern slavery training sessions for Taiwanese lawyers in Taipei and Kaohsiung. These events were collaboratively organized by the Taiwan Labor Front, Taipei Bar Association, TTNC Watch, and the Legal Aid Foundation Kaohsiung Branch.
Thank you to our funder, Target, who supported the research and printing of the Guidebook and to all individuals and organisations using our publications to press for changes in Taiwan and worldwide!
