SUDAN became the 50th nation to show its commitment to eradicating contemporary forms of slavery by ratifying the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Forced Labour Protocol on Wednesday.

The '50 for Freedom' campaign of the global body achieved its initial goal of reaching 50 ratifications of the Forced Labour Protocol that commits governments to take effective measures to prevent forced labour, protect its victims and ensure their access to justice and remedies, including compensation.

"We reached a major milestone," said Mr Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General.

"A future of work that is free of forced labour, human trafficking, child labour and modern slavery is a future that we must shape together. Because forced labour has no place in the better normal we want to start building as of today," he added.

The ILO, together with the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), launched the '50 for Freedom' campaign to encourage governments to ratify the protocol and to raise awareness about the existence of modern day slavery.

Nearly 60,000 people from all over the world have joined the campaign so far, supporting the call for its ratification and implementation of the protocol.

According to the latest global estimates , there are still 25 million men, women and children trapped in forced labour – trafficked, held in debt bondage, or working under slavery-like conditions. That number has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the most vulnerable workers, most of whom do not have access to social protection.

With less than 10 years remaining to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ILO urged countries to make more efforts to implement the the protocol.