Policy Innovations The central address for a fairer globalization

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Roger Plant

Director, Special Action Program to Combat Forced Labor

Roger Plant has been a leading investigator and activist on forced labor and modern slavery for more than 30 years. His influential book, Sugar and Modern Slavery, was one of the first to bring the world's attention to the nature and dimensions of slavery-like practices in the modern world. He has also exposed slavery-like conditions affecting migrant workers and indigenous people throughout Asia and Latin America.

Since early 2002, Roger has led the new International Labour Organization (ILO) Special Action Program to Combat Forced Labor. The Special Action Program was established in 2001 to spearhead ILO activities against forced labor, including trafficking. In this capacity, he has developed specific programs to combat forced labor and trafficking in industrialized and developing countries alike, forged relationships with governments, trade unions, and nongovernmental organizations, and raised awareness about forced labor through media interviews, publications, television, and film.

He was the principal author of the ILO Global Report on forced labor, "An Alliance Against Forced Labor," which generated enormous publicity for the ILO's Special Action program and helped place the issue of modern forced labor (and how to overcome it) more squarely on global policy agendas.

Roger received his B.A., M.A., and B. Phil. from Oxford University. His previous academic positions have included: Visiting Rockefeller Fellow, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, NY; Visiting Fellow, Helen Kellogg Institute of International Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana; and Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London.

Prior to working with the ILO, Roger worked with the Asian Development Bank, United Kingdom Department for International Development; Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Officer of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Shell International, Danish International Development Agency, and several international human rights NGOs, among other positions. His books include Guatemala: Unnatural Disaster (1978) and Labor Standards and Structural Adjustment (1994).

Focus: Ethics, Globalization, Human Rights, Jobs, Migration, Poverty, United Kingdom, Americas, Asia, Europe, Global