ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN COMBATING BONDED LABOUR – INSIGHTS FROM INDIA

Forced labour is addressed in five out of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pertaining to gender equality, poverty, decent employment and economic growth, reduced inequalities, and to peace, justice, and strong institutions. Also known as debt bondage, bonded labour is a specific form of forced labour in which compulsion into servitude is derived from debt. Categorized and examined in scholarly literature as a type of forced labour, bonded labour entails constraints on an individual's conditions and duration of work. Forced labour is a development issue that is exacerbated by several factors, including poverty, lack of education, child labour, violence, exploitation, gender inequality, migration, and climate change. The study aims to examine the status of sustainable goals to combat bonded labour. The role of each of the Sustainable Development Goals and their connection with eradicating bonded labour, which is a form of forced labour, is illustrated. Accordingly, this research study employed the analysis of secondary data, resources, and previous studies. The study's findings indicate that the following sustainable goals— Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and its specific aim 5.3, Goal 8 (Decent employment), Target 10.7 (Reduced Inequalities), and Goal 16 (Guarantee a Legal Identity)—involve combating bonded labour.