A/HRC/48/52
I. Introduction
1.
This year, 2021, marks the seventieth anniversary of the Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees, the sixtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness and the twenty-third anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its
causes and consequences, considers it timely to assess the situation of displaced persons,
including refugees, stateless persons and internally displaced persons, with regard to
contemporary forms of slavery. Also, in its resolution 73/327, the General Assembly declared
2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. The present report thus
contains a section on the worst forms of child labour as experienced by displaced children.1
2.
At the end of 2020, there were 82.4 million forcibly displaced people worldwide –
approximately 1 per cent of the world’s population.2 Of these, 26.4 million were refugees, 48
million were internally displaced persons, and 4.1 million were asylum seekers. 3 An
estimated 35 million (42 per cent) of the displaced are children below 18 years of age.
Furthermore, there are 4.2 million stateless persons; 4 unofficial statistics indicate that as
many as one in three stateless persons have been displaced.5 The Rohingya from Myanmar
constitute the largest stateless community in the world, being displaced mostly in Bangladesh
and Malaysia, as well as in India and other countries. 6 Today, most displacement situations
are protracted, with the refugees being displaced for, on average, between 10 and 26 years.7
3.
Displaced persons may be subjected to contemporary forms of slavery prior to
displacement, in transit and in places of destination. They may be exposed to slavery or
slavery-like practices in humanitarian and non-humanitarian situations, including in camps
and non-camp settings. Vulnerabilities manifest in different ways depending on the context.
Contemporary forms of slavery may constitute both a cause and a consequence of
displacement.
4.
To inform his research, the Special Rapporteur issued a call for input from a wide
range of stakeholders, including Member States, national human rights institutions, civil
society organizations, United Nations entities and regional human rights bodies. He wishes
to thank all the stakeholders who responded to his call for submissions and welcomes the
engagement demonstrated in this process.8 The Special Rapporteur also drew on information
gathered from desk research. Examples mentioned in the report are demonstrative and are
not intended as a comprehensive representation.
II. Activities relating to the mandate
5.
During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur participated in a wide range of
discussions and initiatives relating to the prevention and eradication of contemporary forms
of slavery. He held regular exchanges with key anti-slavery actors and met with multiple
government representatives and with members of civil society. The Special Rapporteur also
jointly organized a webinar with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in September
2020 and held two consultations with various civil society organizations from India and
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The Special Rapporteur refers in particular to the forced labour described in article 3 (a) of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) of the International Labour Organization.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugee Data Finder.
Available at www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/ (updated on 18 June 2021).
Ibid. The number of internally displaced persons could be as high as 55 million (see Internal
Displacement Monitoring Centre, Global Report on Internal Displacement 2021 (Geneva)).
UNHCR, Refugee Data Finder.
Norwegian Refugee Council and Tilburg University, “Statelessness and displacement: a humanitarian
challenge”, April 2016.
UNHCR, “The displaced and stateless of Myanmar in the Asia-Pacific Region” (January 2021).
Elizabeth Ferris, “When refugee displacement drags on, is self-reliance the answer?”, Brookings, 19
June 2018.
All submissions are available at
www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Slavery/SRSlavery/Pages/ReportHRC48.aspx.