Other relevant bodies in the United Nations system 77 ILO carries out intense supervisory activities related to this Convention, as it does with all other conventions for which it is responsible, and the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations draws attention to problems in the implementation of conventions in its annual report. Many of these comments concern discrimination on the basis of race, religion and national extraction, and raise issues such as underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in private and public sector employment, the lack of positive measures to promote the employment of members of minorities, or the lack of appropriate means to assess existing policies, strategies and programmes to promote equal opportunities for members of minority groups. They consistently highlight the need to take proactive measures to address persistent inequalities faced by minorities and to establish appropriate data on their situation in employment and occupation. Forced labour Another convention that can have direct impact on the situation of minorities is the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), which prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labour. The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) is even more precise, providing that forced labour may not be used for the purposes of racial discrimination. In addition, minority children are specially protected under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). For instance, in a 2006 comment regarding Thailand, the Committee of Experts addressed the problem of children of ethnic minorities being victims of trafficking for labour or sexual exploitation. Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Adopted in 1998, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work declares that “all Members [of ILO], even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization, to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions … [including] the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation”. In addition to discrimination, the Declaration covers freedom of association, elimination of forced labour and abolition of child labour. Member States which have not ratified the relevant conventions nevertheless have to report to ILO annually on how they are attempting to realize the principles in the Declaration. Each year, ILO issues a global report on one of the four rights covered in the Declaration.82 The global reports on discrimination published in 2003 and 2007 paid close attention to discrimination faced by minorities. The 2007 report, for example, noted an increase in complaints about religious discrimination against Muslims in Europe and the United States of America; Pasmanda and Dalits in India; Hindus in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan; and nonMuslims (particularly Christians) in Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Senegal, Egypt and the Sudan. Similarly, the global reports on forced labour and child labour have examined how these practices affect minorities. The 2005 report on forced labour noted that “[i]n some cases, the persistence of forced labour today can be the result of very longstanding patterns of discrimination against certain ethnic and caste minorities”, particularly in some countries in Asia. Following each global report, a programme of action is drawn up to focus ILO and other technical assistance on these problems (see below). Domestic labour The Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) is the latest ILO convention which can have a direct impact on persons belonging to minorities. Domestic workers, often subject to exploitation and denial of human rights, also often belong to minorities. The Convention does Available from www.ilo.org/declaration/follow-up/globalreports/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 December 2012). 82