European countries have taken a leadership role in setting up regional mechanisms to protect human rights. So it is a puzzle why some European countries are reticent to take a strong stand on improving global standards to prevent forced labour and protect and compensate victims. Governments, trade unions, and employers’ groups will meet in Geneva in June to negotiate supplementary standards to ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labor, one of the most important treaties in international labor law...The proposed standards outline the need for concrete national action plans and international cooperation. ILO members will vote on whether these new supplementary standards should be a legally binding protocol that countries could ratify or a non-binding recommendation. In their preliminary indications of their positions...nine EU countries have said they prefer a non-binding recommendation, in some cases citing concern about a lengthy ratification process...They are: Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It is puzzling why any EU government would not support the strongest possible outcome.