Michaëlle de Cock

Michaëlle De Cock (Ph.D, University of Paris VI) has been a leading researcher for the ILO on methodologies to survey and estimate forced labour and trafficking of adults and children for the last 15 years, and is currently Head of the Research of Evaluation Unit in ILO-Fundamental Principles and Rights at work Branch.

She has been actively involved in key global estimates published by the ILO: the first estimate of the worst forms of child labour in 2002 (which included trafficking and forced labour) and the two global estimates of forced labour in 2005 and 2012, resulting from a capture recapture of reported cases of forced labour. In 2017, she has co-led the production of the global estimates of child labour and modern slavery, including the forced labour component.

For the last fifteen years, Michaëlle has been developing a series of national surveys on forced labour and trafficking of adults and children, leading to estimates published in national reports. The methodology developed to produce these estimates was used as a basis for the guidelines on measurement of forced labour, which were prepared by an international expert group and endorsed by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians in October 2018.

Through the partnership with GCRF, the ILO is expected to share its expertise on design and implementation of surveys on forced labour and trafficking, through the support provided to all GCRF teams implementing surveys in the 12 countries from the six corridors.