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Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The definition of debt bondage in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery is sufficiently broad to cover the situation of workers trapped in debt bondage in systemic, archaic, feudal systems of slave-labour exploitation, as well as that of migrant workers from developing countries who leave their countries accruing debt to cover the costs associated with recruitment. Debt bondage is closely related to a number of forms of exploitation, including forced labour, the abuse of migrant workers, trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour. It has been observed that debt bondage is an area in which the relationship between trafficking and forced labour practices is particularly strong. Debt is considered to be a key source of vulnerability to trafficking and is one of the mechanisms used to force victims to work in exploitative or abusive conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been identified as being home to adults and children who are subjected to debt bondage or trafficking while working in the mining sector. Forced labour in the mining sector has been reported to involve multinational corporations that work on the extraction of precious metals or minerals. In the Kivu provinces in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, debt bondage has been reported as one of the most common forms of contemporary slavery in mines. Workers contract debts to purchase food, supplies and working tools when they start working and continue to accrue debt in order to meet their basic needs. Most of the workers in debt bondage in North Kivu province come from other eastern provinces.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- It has also been reported that indigenous peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are subjected to practices similar to slavery, including debt bondage, by the Bantu majority. Indigenous peoples are often trapped in debt bondage by Bantu "masters" who often sell them goods such as clothes, food and medicine at inflated prices and add exorbitant rates of interest if the goods are not paid for on time and who demand their work in return. It is also a common practice for the Bantu to create new debts in order to sustain the exploitation of bonded labourers. For example, it has been reported that they provide food to indigenous children and then add inflated costs to the debts of parents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- In situations of debt bondage, the power imbalance between the employer (or creditor) and the worker often increases the worker's vulnerability to further human rights abuses. Employers and creditors are reported to adjust interest rates, to make further deductions arbitrarily as penalties for perceived poor performance, and/or to charge high prices for basic goods or working tools resulting in an increase of the debt and the perpetuation of deeply exploitative situations. Furthermore, bonded labourers are often subjected to physical and psychological abuse, to abusive conditions of work, such as long working hours, to dangerous and unhealthy work, and to severe restrictions on their freedom of movement, including in relation to changing employment. Children in debt bondage can be particularly vulnerable to additional violations of their human rights, as they lack access to education as well as to opportunities to participate in cultural and recreational activities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In South Asia, several countries have provisions in their national constitutions from which further enacted legislation on debt bondage flows directly. For example, article 23 of the Constitution of India prohibits trafficking in human beings, begar (debt bondage) and other similar forms of forced labour, as an enforceable right. Article 11 of the Constitution of Pakistan prohibits slavery and forced labour. Article 29 of the Constitution of Nepal prohibits debt bondage and other forms of forced labour and specifies that an employer contravening the prohibition must pay compensation. In Brazil, article 243 of the Constitution provides for the expropriation of rural or urban property in which the use of slave labour has been identified and its consignment to agrarian reform and social housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Provide training and sensitize law enforcement and labour officials at the national and local levels on the identification of persons in debt bondage and on the implementation of legislation on debt bondage if it exists and other relevant labour laws to tackle debt bondage. States should ensure the enforcement of legislation on debt bondage and other relevant laws to tackle debt bondage, and should ensure that these apply to all workers and all sectors of the economy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Undertake national and/or regional surveys to identify victims of debt bondage; these should include disaggregated information on those affected, by age, gender, nationality, caste and ethnic group, as well as information about the industries in which debt bondage is prevalent. Such surveys should cover remote areas and informal workplaces. Data collected from such surveys should be used as the basis for the development of effective legislation, policy and programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44a
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The lack of adequate enforcement of legislation on debt bondage and on workers' rights, and of other relevant legislation for the eradication of debt bondage, and in some countries the non-existence of specific legislation on debt bondage;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44b
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The lack of implementation or absence of legal measures that could prevent reprisals against victims of debt bondage when the criminal law is being used to punish perpetrators (e.g. a summary procedure in cases of debt bondage), particularly when victims and perpetrators are part of the same community;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- A comprehensive, human rights-based approach to tackling debt bondage must have at its centre the compliance of States with their obligations under international law and the empowerment of freed bonded labourers and people vulnerable to debt bondage. Recommendations on the implementation of such an approach are detailed below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In Peru, debt bondage is reported to occur in the illegal logging and timber extraction industries, with mestizos (individuals of mixed colonial and indigenous descent) and indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon commonly victimized. Two forms of forced labour in logging activities have been identified in the Amazon. The first involves indigenous workers being contracted to perform activities in their own communities, whereas the second sees indigenous and mestizo workers being hired to work in logging camps owned by timber bosses. Enforcement of the arrangements between workers and employers is in some cases ensured through threats and abuse, including physical violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, bonded labour has been reported among the indigenous Guaranis in the Chaco region and among indigenous workers and mestizos on sugar plantations, and in relation to the production of Brazil nuts in the northern Amazon. The indigenous Guaranis in the Chaco region are mainly involved in farming and ranching, in activities such as the production of corn, beans, cassava, plantain and fruits, and fishing and hunting. It is estimated that a large number of indigenous Guarani families in the Bolivian Chaco are subjected to debt bondage and forced labour and are thus referred to as "captive communities". Furthermore, every year during the sugar harvest, tens of thousands of indigenous workers and their families, recruited by intermediaries or contractors through the enganche recruitment system, migrate to Santa Cruz and Tarija.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In traditional forms of debt bondage in South Asia, patronage assumes an important role in the employer-employee relationship, in that the labour and the life of the debtor become collateral for the debt accrued. In some cases, such patronage perpetuates the cycle of debt from one generation to the next. However, this generational debt bondage has decreased over the years and has been replaced by a more individualized temporary and/or seasonal form of bondage that is exclusively economic and lacks the dimension of patronage. This form of debt bondage, also known as "neo-bondage", is considered to involve the seasonal movement of migrant workers within and between countries. Such workers are recruited by intermediaries who usually demand the payment of an advance and the settlement of wages at the end of the contract in exchange for their intermediation. Neo-bondage is similar to traditional forms of bondage, in the sense that the men, women and children vulnerable to such practices mainly belong to marginalized communities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002) abolished bonded labour in the country. The 2002 Act makes null and void all the debts contracted by persons in debt bondage and requires the establishment of freed bonded labourer rehabilitation and monitoring committees in a number of districts. The 2002 Act provides for penalties and fines for perpetrators. In 2010, the Ministry of Land Reform and Management presented a haliya system (prohibition) bill, setting out the rights of freed haliya, and establishing a rehabilitation fund, a case litigation and appeal process, and provision for punishment. However, the bill has not yet passed into law. In May 2011, the Government issued the "Freed haliya rehabilitation and monitoring guidelines", which mandated district-level task forces to update the information on freed haliya and to distribute identification cards to them within six months of their being identified.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In Germany, subjecting a person under the age of 21 to debt bondage is penalized under the Criminal Code (section 233 (1)) with a term of imprisonment of between 6 months and 10 years. In Australia, the offence of debt bondage is penalized by 4 years' imprisonment, under section 271.8 of the Criminal Code. Furthermore, the Government of Australia has adopted the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery 2015-2019, which includes actions to combat debt bondage. Other measures include the setting up in 2015 of Task Force Cadena to tackle serious incidents of illegal work, visa fraud and worker exploitation, with a focus on industries such as food production and agriculture, and the establishment of the Ministerial Working Group Protecting Vulnerable Visa Holders to consider policy options to protect vulnerable foreign workers in Australia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44e
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The ineffectiveness or non-existence of adequate mechanisms to identify bonded labourers, including the lack of ongoing identification programmes conducted in the formal and informal sectors and the lack of particular methods for identifying bonded labourers. Other challenges in this regard include the insufficient resources allocated for the purposes of identification; the non-proactive attitude by officials to seeking out and finding cases of debt bondage; the lack of data, which could be obtained through surveys to identify the number of persons in debt bondage and the sectors where it is the most prevalent; and the failure by the authorities to recognize new forms of debt bondage, such as seasonal debt bondage;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44g
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The absence of measures to specifically target the factors that cause or facilitate debt bondage, such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to decent work, social exclusion and discrimination. Also, the absence of measures to address cultural and economic pressures in some countries (e.g. in relation to marriage) and to ensure access to education, health and social security;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- In Mauritania, Act No. 2015-031 of 10 September 2015 criminalizes slavery and punishes slavery-like practices including debt bondage. The Act provides for the possibility of third parties (those who have benefited from legal personality for at least five years) taking legal action and being a party in the proceedings (section 23).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ratify all relevant international instruments prohibiting slavery and slavery-like practices and other relevant international instruments pertaining to the eradication of debt bondage, including the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). States should align their national legislation with these international standards, in order to adequately criminalize debt bondage and provide adequate penalties for violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- People in debt bondage tend to have experienced a low level of access to education, which frequently results in illiteracy and innumeracy. This leads to a lack of alternative employment options and makes them vulnerable to exploitation from their employers. Illiteracy and innumeracy allow employers or recruiters to manipulate loans, interest rates and wages. Poor remuneration in previous employment is considered to be a major cause of debt bondage, as workers are forced to take loans or advances to cover basic subsistence needs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Under the due diligence standard, States have an obligation to exercise a measure of care in preventing and responding to the acts of private individuals. More specifically, they have a duty to protect people in debt bondage by means of adequate procedures to identify them, to provide short-term and long-term rehabilitation that prevents revictimizations, to enact legislation on debt bondage and to ensure that victims have access to justice and remedies. Furthermore, States have an obligation to prevent debt bondage through prevention of discrimination, regulation of wages, enforcement of labour law and regulation of recruitment practices, and by protecting persons in debt bondage against violations in the context of business activities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In Paraguay, debt bondage has reportedly been observed among members of various indigenous ethnic groups on traditional low-technology cattle farms located in remote areas of the Chaco region. Casual workers are hired for changa work - short-term work clearing fields or bringing in the harvest, and receive very low pay or no pay for their work after employers have deducted amounts from their wages corresponding to the items purchased on credit at the estate shop. Permanent workers are employed as playeros (ranch hands) to perform a variety of tasks, such as cutting wood or milking the cows, and in some cases due to the debts they have contracted are directly or indirectly held against their will. ILO estimated in 2005 that a total of 8,000 indigenous workers could be victims of debt bondage in Paraguay.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In Brazil, the highest incidence of what is commonly referred to as "slave labour", which includes the practice of debt bondage, is found in industries associated with the production of commodities such as live cattle, soybean, cotton, sugar and coffee. Other products identified with slave labour include vegetable charcoal and ethanol. Some of the regions reported to have a high incidence of slave labour include the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Tocantins and Bahia, which also have been identified as states with a high incidence of violence and deforestation for cattle ranching. Labour intermediaries known as gatos usually recruit workers by offering them advance payments and free transport to the work site. Once they have arrived, the labourers, most of whom are males aged between 18 and 34, become indebted, as a result of items they buy on credit at the canteens run by the employer, and the charges for working tools, accommodation and transport.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Debt bondage in the context of labour migration and trafficking is a trend that can be seen across a number of countries and sectors. Migrant workers often become trapped in situations of bondage by borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates to pay recruitment fees or by taking an advance payment from intermediaries to secure work in the country of destination. Once migrants arrive in the country of destination they are often forced to work in harsh conditions to pay back debt they have accrued. Furthermore, workers are commonly subjected to threats and physical abuse, and in some cases face severe restrictions to their freedom of movement. The vast majority of people trafficked to countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East and to other developed countries are migrant workers who are trafficked into a variety of jobs including domestic work, agricultural work, prostitution and factory work and are often controlled through debt bondage and other mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- In the Middle East, migrant workers represent a significant portion of the labour force in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, particularly in the private sector. The individual sponsorship system, known as the kafalah system, which ties the employment and residency of a worker to a specific employer, is considered to be an arrangement that creates dependency of the worker on the employer and encourages abuses, including debt bondage. The fees charged by recruitment agencies for travel arrangements, labour contracts and other services trap migrant workers into bondage in their home countries. Consequently, migrant workers are often indebted upon arrival in the country of destination. Furthermore, practices such as the confiscation of passports, the non-payment, underpayment or delayed payment of wages, and contract substitution are considered to contribute to debt bondage. Those who are most susceptible to debt bondage in these countries are Asians who work as migrant labourers and domestic servants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Bonded labourers commonly belong to minority groups vulnerable to discrimination, such as certain racial groups, women, indigenous people, people of "low" caste and migrant workers. The discrimination suffered by these groups frequently prevents them from accessing education, health care, clean water and credit. Furthermore, demands from bonded labourers for fair treatment, or their resistance to exploitation, often cause them to face social sanctions and boycotts that further restrict their possibility of overcoming discrimination or of leaving the situation of bondage. The discrimination faced by bonded labourers comes in some cases not only from society at large but also from other members of the same minority groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Gender inequalities and discrimination make women vulnerable to bondage, as they are often excluded from the labour market and consequently are involved in unskilled and poorly paid jobs. Furthermore, discrimination against children belonging to minority groups is a factor that limits their full access to education and thus increases their vulnerability to exploitation. Many bonded labourers, including women and children, face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, which significantly increases their vulnerability to debt bondage and at the same time limits their opportunities for escaping such abuse.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Precarious labour migration has been identified as a driver of debt bondage. Migrant workers are also often vulnerable to exploitation because of barriers they face in accessing the protections provided to nationals of the country to which they have migrated and because of generalized social hostility towards foreigners. The choices made by migrants about securing employment abroad are often based on misinformation and false promises concerning conditions of employment in destination countries. A lack of financial literacy can lead to a poor understanding of the loans taken out to pay fees, and a lack of alternatives in their home countries can incentivize migrants to take out loans on which extortionate rates of interest are charged. Furthermore, a lack of effective regulation of the recruitment sector, unethical practices by unscrupulous recruiters, late payment or the withholding of payment by employers, and exorbitant charges for services can worsen situations of debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The practice of debt bondage in South Asia is reported to be widespread, particularly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The existence of debt bondage has also been reported in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. However the majority of those in debt bondage are reported to be in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, despite the specific prohibition on such practices within the legal frameworks of these countries. Those who are trapped in debt bondage in South Asia are reportedly predominantly Dalits, persons of "low" caste, indigenous peoples or members of other minority groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44d
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The limited access to justice and to effective remedies, which is often linked to the discrimination that bonded labourers suffer. Members of minority groups frequently continue to encounter discrimination, harassment and violence when seeking to access the justice system;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In Latin America, debt bondage mainly affects marginalized communities, including those impacted by poverty, indigenous peoples, those living in rural areas and persons of African descent. Victims of debt bondage are often recruited to work within their own locality or transported to areas where there are new commercial developments. They work in a range of industries, including production of charcoal and pig iron, timber processing and agriculture. Debt bondage has been reported in countries such as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru, where there are high proportions of indigenous peoples.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Most of the bonded labour documented in these countries is of short duration and thus resembles the "neo-bondage" described above. Workers are usually bonded for a season; only in a few cases do they remain bonded for a longer period. The recruitment of workers is generally carried out through labour contractors or intermediaries who give workers advances and promise them decent remuneration and favourable labour conditions. Furthermore, the initial debts incurred by workers through the advances provided at the time of recruitment often continue to increase due to unexplained wage deductions or to credit used at stores run by employers to buy subsistence goods that are frequently sold at inflated prices. In some cases, the geographical isolation of labour sites and the fact that employers prevent any exchanges between workers and outside traders leaves workers with no alternatives. Children and women reportedly help their male family members in the performance of tasks or provide free domestic services to the landlord.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44f
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] Deficiencies in providing protection and assistance to promote the recovery and reintegration of bonded labourers, particularly as regards ensuring that bonded labourers get an alternative means of earning a living under decent working conditions that will prevent them from relapsing into bondage. Furthermore, challenges remain regarding their access to recovery and reintegration programmes, particularly due to the fact that persons in debt bondage often do not have legal documents and due to the lack of adequate measures to ensure that such documents are obtained promptly;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44h
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] Corruption, which has reduced the effectiveness of the identification, release and recovery of bonded labourers in some countries where debt bondage is prevalent. In some cases, the authorities are influenced by pressure from employers who occupy powerful positions in the community or belong to social elites. In that context, when employers are prosecuted they may be charged with infringing more lenient laws rather than the laws on debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Debt bondage is a complex and multidimensional form of contemporary slavery that impacts on individuals across the world. In order to be effective in eradicating and preventing debt bondage, Governments must develop comprehensive and integrated programmes of action based upon international human rights standards, as well as on the views of those affected. Such approaches must be multifaceted and include legislative and policy measures that are effective in eradicating debt bondage and preventing such abuse, by decreasing individual vulnerability and further developing the legal and institutional framework. The vision of the Special Rapporteur for such an integrated, human rights-based approach is outlined below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The enactment of laws that prohibit debt bondage and adequately punish perpetrators is essential as a first step towards the eradication and prevention of this phenomenon. Such laws need to be actively enforced, along with those that are relevant to the prevention and eradication of debt bondage, including those related to regulation of recruitment agencies, the right to organize and the payment of wages. The necessary resources must be allocated to assure full implementation of the laws at all levels of government. Effective administrative institutional structures and processes must be in place to implement legislation on debt bondage. As part of such implementation efforts, enforcement officials and other State officials should be sensitized and trained in regard to relevant laws on debt bondage and the rights of victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Alongside such legislation, Governments should take all possible steps to prevent and address discrimination, as a key preventative strategy against debt bondage. Anti-discrimination legislation should be in place, and programmes that reduce vulnerability to exploitation should be targeted to populations commonly affected by debt bondage. Within such efforts, specific attention should be paid to removing barriers to access to education among children from vulnerable groups. In addition, addressing gender inequalities in society at large will help to reduce the number of women in debt bondage. Ensuring that women are given the same opportunities as men and that they enjoy equal rights at work is a key step in preventing them from becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Debt bondage occurs worldwide and is not confined to any one country or region and it occurs across various sectors of the economy. A global trend can be seen whereby vulnerable people, including those belonging to minority groups, indigenous people, women, children, people determined as being of low caste, and migrant workers, are disproportionately impacted by debt bondage. As will be discussed below, many victims of debt bondage face multiple and intersecting sources of discrimination which make them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Exploitation of migrant workers via debt bondage has also reportedly been seen in South-East Asia. In Thailand, migrant workers, primarily from neighbouring countries including Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar, are reported to have been subjected to deceptive recruitment practices that can lead to cases of debt bondage. Workers are often lured to work on fishing boats free of charge and once they start working are charged for the costs of recruitment and the travel expenses, with high interest rates.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure basic social security guarantees in order to reduce vulnerability to debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Women and children often become trapped in situations of bonded labour because of debt contracted by an authoritative member of the family or as a result of the family's status. Children can also enter into bonded labour by inheriting a debt from a parent or other family member or they can be pledged individually to work in various sectors. The individual pledging of children has been identified as a phenomenon characterized by the recruitment of children through intermediaries who give their parents an advance. Such women and children are often vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse from employers. Cases of abduction of family members have been reported as a result of labourers seeking help to achieve release from bondage. Indirect bondage is prevalent in sectors such as agriculture and the brick kiln industry, in which women and children are reportedly bonded through the male household head. Women and children can also often be bonded in their own right, for example in domestic work, fish processing, silk farming, bangle production, or carpet making and weaving.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In India, debt bondage is geographically widespread and has been reported to be prevalent in sectors such as the brick kiln industry, stone quarries, mining, manufacturing of beedi (Indian cigarettes), carpet weaving, construction, agriculture, power looms and cotton handlooms, as well as fish processing. Such practices are reported to be present in both the formal and the informal sectors. A survey conducted in 10 States in 1978 and 1979 by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute, which remains the most detailed survey on debt bondage, estimated the total number of bonded labourers in the agricultural sector at 2.62 million. The majority of people who are in debt bondage are Dalits, of "low" caste, or indigenous peoples - also referred to as members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In the western and central parts of Tamil Nadu, a high number of adolescent girls reportedly work as bonded labourers under the sumangali scheme in textile mills and garment factories, which is a major hub in the global knitwear sector that supplies international brands. The majority of these workers are reported to belong to Dalit communities and are aged between 14 and 18 years. Debt bondage is also reported in power loom workshops located in the Tiruppur region of Tamil Nadu, which produce woven cloth both for domestic manufacturers and for global suppliers. Those affected by debt bondage in this region are reported to include members of Dalit communities and other poor communities and to include both men and women. Furthermore, some non-agricultural industries in which debt bondage among children is reported to exist include carpet weaving, beedi making, silk production, silk sari production, the brick kilns and stone quarries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, bonded labour can be found in sectors such as agriculture, cattle rearing, domestic labour, the brick kiln industry, embroidered textiles and the stone-breaking industry. A United Nations assessment carried out in 2011 suggested that 547,000 individuals in Nepal were in forced and bonded labour. A large proportion of bonded labourers were reported to be involved in traditional forms of agricultural bonded labour, such as haruwa-charuwa, haliya or kamaiya. The majority of kamaiya labourers were released following the declaration in 2000 that abolished the system and the enactment of the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002). However, traces of the kamaiya system still remain, particularly where government action aimed at identification, release and rehabilitation has not reached those affected. In 2008 the Government abolished the haliya system and cancelled the debts of haliya bonded labourers, but in the absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation programme some reportedly remain trapped in debt bondage. A study conducted by ILO between 2008 and 2010 addressing forced labour of adults and children in agriculture, with a particular focus on the haruwa-charuwa system in central and eastern Tarai and the haliya system in the far western hills, found that haruwa-charuwa and haliya households accounted for 72 per cent of adults in forced labour. The ILO study also estimated that 33.5 per cent of the 89,545 working children aged from 5 to 17 were in forced labour, 62 per cent of whom were male and 38 per cent of whom were female. The vast majority of bonded labourers in Nepal are reported to be Dalits, persons of "low" caste, indigenous peoples or members of religious minorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Establish and/or update comprehensive national action plans for the eradication of contemporary forms of slavery including debt bondage. The national action plans should outline measures to prevent and eradicate debt bondage, and ensure the protection of persons released from debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Invest in the capacity and knowledge of the labour inspectorate in order to detect and tackle cases of debt bondage. Ensure that the inspectorate covers all sectors impacted by debt bondage, including those within the informal sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that legislation is in place that regulates the payment of wages, and that such provisions are in alignment with obligations under the ILO Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] When children are identified as bonded labourers, ensure that they are able to reaccess education and that specific provisions are in place to support their reintegration.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] As outlined above, invest in the development of economic alternatives to reduce the push factors that drive individuals into migration that can lead to exploitative labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Origin and destination countries should work together to ensure the effective monitoring of the situation of migrant workers and that adequate protection systems are in place.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Put in place comprehensive programmes that allow identified bonded labourers to be able to access the support that they need to fulfil their right to rehabilitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In Africa, debt bondage has been reported in sectors such as mining and agriculture, particularly in countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- A number of different countries have taken measures, including the development of legislation, policies and programmes, to eradicate and prevent debt bondage and related forms of servitude. Examples of these are discussed below, and additional material is included in the annex.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Develop a comprehensive system of regulation of recruitment practices in relation to migrant workers that includes the banning of recruitment fees and the issuing of licences to recruiters and other related intermediaries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Within the design of such surveys, provisions should be included to provide immediate assistance to identified bonded labourers. The steps taken must ensure the safety of labourers and protect them from any threats or reprisals from employers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- In regard to migrant workers who are in debt bondage as a result of abusive recruitment practices, a comprehensive programme of initiatives needs to be implemented by States. This should include awareness-raising, training on safe migration, and capacity-building, for prospective migrants, officials from local and central government, and civil society organizations; the effective regulation of recruitment agencies and intermediaries; and regional and international cooperation on the issue.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that penal and administrative sanctions are applied to all those involved in perpetrating debt bondage and that all victims are able to access redress for harm suffered, including adequate compensation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In Malawi, situations of debt bondage are reported to be prevalent within the tobacco industry. This sector is a major source of employment in Malawi and generates a significant amount of income for the country. Tobacco is traditionally grown by farmers who use waged workers, temporary workers and also tenants (workers to whom farmers provide land, food and housing and to whom they loan agricultural tools, the costs of which are deducted from future profits). The relationship between tenants and estate or farm owners has been reported to be largely exploitative, leading to a situation of debt bondage. The costs charged to tenants by the estate or farm owners exceed the amount received from tobacco sales due to manipulation of the debts. This leads to tenants, who are reportedly predominantly male, and their families, becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage. In 2013, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food estimated that 300,000 tobacco tenant families were living in extremely precarious situations in Malawi (see A/HRC/25/57/Add.1, para. 47). Since 1995, the Government has made several attempts to enact a specific law on tenancy labour but has yet not successfully developed such legislation. A tenancy labour bill was first drafted in 1995, and the latest version, from 2012, is still under debate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In South Asia, specific legislation on debt bondage and other relevant legislation to combat debt bondage has been enacted in India, Nepal and Pakistan. In India, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 abolishes the bonded labour system and discharges every bonded labourer from any obligation to render labour related to debts. The Act also prohibits the giving of advances to bonded labourers, obliges local governments to rehabilitate freed bonded labourers and imposes a penalty on perpetrators of up to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs. 2,000. The Act mandates the establishment of vigilance committees at the district and subdivisional level, with a duty to provide for the "economic and social rehabilitation" of bonded labourers. In addition, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits the participation of children under 14 years of age in certain kinds of hazardous employment and regulates the conditions of work in other kinds of employment. Section 374 of the Indian Penal Code punishes compelling any person to labour against the will of that person, and section 370 prohibits trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation, which includes "physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the forced removal of organs". The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 prohibits forced or bonded labour of a member of a scheduled caste or tribe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure effective regulation of private sector organizations in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Invest in programmes that facilitate people's access to decent work opportunities, in order to ensure that they have economic alternatives to debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Take all possible steps to establish effective rule of law, in particular by building the capacity of the judiciary to ensure that relevant laws are properly and consistently enforced.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] In the context of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, continue and expand targeted poverty reduction programmes that reduce the vulnerability of the individual to debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In Pakistan, debt bondage has been reported in industries such as the brick kilns, agriculture, fisheries, mining, carpet weaving and glass bangle production, among others. Debt bondage is primarily concentrated in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in agriculture, and in the brickmaking industry where often entire families are held in bondage. Landless sharecroppers (haris) in Sindh and brickmakers (patheras) in Punjab are the most affected by debt bondage. It has been reported that bonded labourers are often held in captivity by armed guards or their family members are held as hostages, severely limiting the freedom of movement both of the bonded labourers and of their families. The estimates reported by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan pertaining to the period from 2011 to 2014 on the number of releases of bonded labourers ordered by courts in Sindh indicate that the largest number of releases occurred in the districts of Mirpur Khas, Sanghar and Umerkot. Furthermore, natural disasters such as the monsoon floods in 2010 have had a negative impact on the levels of debt bondage in agriculture and have increased migration-based bonded labour in numerous sectors such as construction and brickmaking. Debt bondage in Pakistan is mainly found among minorities, such as non-Muslims (Hindus or Christians) or Muslims who have converted from Hinduism.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Integrate provisions designed to prevent stigma and prejudice against populations vulnerable to debt bondage, within all educational curricula.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Remove any forms of discrimination that negatively impact on the rights of certain groups, including girls, indigenous peoples and migrant children, to an education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] In addition, ensure that the relevant legislative provisions declare null and void all debt contracted during any period during which a person was held in debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Sensitize the competent authorities on the effective identification of victims of debt bondage, including by developing specific guidelines and procedures and implementing human rights-based training.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that robust anti-discrimination legislation is in place to protect groups that can become vulnerable to debt bondage because of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Comprehensive national and/or regional surveys should be undertaken to identify those in bonded labour, and should include disaggregated information on those affected, by age, gender, nationality, caste or ethnic group, and to identify the industries in which debt bondage is prevalent. The existence of detailed data is a necessary step for the development of effective policies, systems and practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- ILO estimated in 2012 that 20.9 million people worldwide were victims of forced labour. These figures refer to all forms of forced labour, however given the close interrelationship with debt bondage, the figures offer some insight into debt bondage prevalence trends globally. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for the highest absolute number of victims of forced labour: 11.7 million, or 56 per cent of the global total. The second-highest number is in Africa, with 3.7 million (18 per cent), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, with 1.8 million (9 per cent). Developed economies and the European Union account for 1.5 million victims of forced labour (7 per cent), while the non-EU countries of Central, South-East and Eastern Europe and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States have 1.6 million (7 per cent). In the Middle East, there are an estimated 600,000 victims (3 per cent). ILO has noted that the average period of time that victims spend in forced labour is approximately 18 months, with significant variation according to the forms of forced labour and across regions. The ILO data also illustrates that forced labour affects international migrants, internally displaced persons and people in their home countries. ILO estimates that there are 9.1 million victims (44 per cent) who have moved either internally or internationally, and 11.8 million (56 per cent) who are subjected to forced labour in their place of origin or residence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Also in India, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers, introduced in 1978, establishes that the cost of rehabilitation grants is to be assumed on an equal basis by the central Government and the states, and provides Rs. 20,000 in compensation per labourer.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The practice of debt bondage is prevalent worldwide in numerous sectors of the economy and particularly affects people belonging to minority groups, including women, children, indigenous people, people of "low" caste and migrant workers. Poverty, the lack of economic alternatives, illiteracy and the discrimination that people from minority groups suffer leave them with no other option than to take a loan or advance from employers or recruiters to meet basic needs, in exchange for their work or the work of their families. People in debt bondage end up working for no wages or wages below the minimum in order to repay the debts contracted or advances received, even though the value of the work they carry out exceeds the amount of their debts. Furthermore, bonded labourers are often subjected to different forms of abuse, including long working hours, physical and psychological abuse, and violence. Debt bondage is prevalent in many countries, due to a failure by many Governments to implement effective legislation on debt bondage, including deficiencies in the areas of identification, release, rehabilitation, and the prosecution of offenders, and due to a lack of data on the prevalence of debt bondage, weak rule of law, social exclusion and discrimination.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that debt bondage is prohibited as a specific crime within national legal frameworks with adequate penalties for violations. Debt bondage should be included as a stand-alone violation that is treated separately from related phenomena such as forced labour or trafficking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Take all necessary effective measures to ensure appropriate and effective remedies for victims of debt bondage, as established under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The practice of debt bondage, also known as bonded labour, is one of the four practices similar to slavery or forms of servitude that are addressed in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, of 1956. Although servitude in international law has not been defined by an international instrument and the distinction between servitude and slavery has not been fully established, it has been considered that "servitude should be understood as human exploitation falling short of slavery. That is to say, such exploitation which does not manifest powers which would normally be associated with ownership, whether de jure or de facto". Debt bondage is a type of servitude but can also be characterized as slavery if characteristics denoting ownership are present. Furthermore, debt bondage can also be classified as forced labour under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). That Convention establishes debt bondage as "work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily". Although debt bondage is not included in the definition of forced labour, there is a general consensus that the two practices overlap.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Train members of the judiciary on legal provisions relating to debt bondage and the rights of victims, in order to ensure the effective enforcement of legislation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Poverty is a key driver of debt bondage across the world. Bonded labourers are frequently reported to live in situations of poverty that are sustained through generations. They often do not own any assets and lack access to land, education, health care and/or decent work opportunities. The majority are trapped in debt bondage because the only source of credit they can obtain is from their employer or recruiter. Life events have been identified as triggering the need for the loans that can lead to debt bondage; these may include illness or accident, marriage, and death in the family. Loans are also commonly needed for subsistence, and for investments such as home improvements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The labour inspection system must be resourced and trained in order to ensure effective monitoring of the compliance with laws on debt bondage, as well as with other relevant labour laws, for example those on forced labour, child labour, social security, wages, working conditions, health and safety, unionization, collective bargaining and equality. To that purpose, the labour inspection system should be provided with the necessary resources to monitor both the formal and informal sectors. Regulation of the labour market should also ensure that the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly, as well as the right to collective bargaining, are universally upheld.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- There should be no time gap between identification of persons in debt bondage and their release on the one hand, and the start of the rehabilitation measures on the other. Effective rehabilitation and reintegration measures need to be in place to prevent relapse into debt bondage and need to be designed in consultation with released bonded labourers. Rehabilitation measures need to ensure a sustainable livelihood for freed bonded labourers, and access to rehabilitation needs to be provided. This requires the issuance of legal documents such as identity cards and birth certificates, which will also enable them to access social security and other government-run services. Children who are identified as being in debt bondage must be ensured access to education in order to support their full rehabilitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Interventions to support the empowerment of adults who are in debt bondage or who are vulnerable to debt bondage are necessary, both for the individuals concerned and for subsequent generations. Initiatives that ensure that bonded labourers have access to land, such as land reform in rural areas, and fairer leasing arrangements; full, free and productive employment and skill training; and affordable credit could promote the empowerment of bonded labourers and prevent debt bondage. Furthermore, the implementation of projects that facilitate access to regulated credit schemes, both for entrepreneurial purposes and for personal needs, could prevent workers from becoming trapped in debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In Pakistan, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992 abolished bonded labour throughout the country. The Act prohibits any loan or advance under the bonded labour system, or compelling a person to render any form of forced labour. It also extinguishes all obligations to repay any bonded debt and provides for 2 to 5 years' imprisonment for perpetrators and/or the imposition of a fine of PRs. 50,000. The law mandates provincial governments to set up district vigilance committees, for implementation of the law and the rehabilitation of bonded labourers. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1995 established the responsibility of various implementing agencies and mandated the setting up of a fund for the rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. In 2001, the Government developed the National Policy and Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour, in which the Government committed itself to eradicating bonded labour and developing the rehabilitation fund.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- People enter the status or condition of debt bondage when their labour, or the labour of a third party under their control, is demanded as repayment of a loan or of money given in advance, and the value of their labour is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length of the service is not limited and/or the nature of the service is not defined. Consequently, bonded labourers are often trapped into working for very little remuneration, or in some cases none, to repay the loan or advance, even though the value of their labour exceeds that sum of money.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 44c
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:] The lack of regulatory frameworks and oversight in respect of recruitment agencies or brokers that impose excessive recruitment fees or provide advances to migrant workers leaving them indebted;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure full respect of the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly, as well as the right to collective bargaining, to support decent work and the ability of bonded labourers to advocate for their rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Victims of debt bondage should be ensured equal access to justice and access to effective remedies. States should ensure that persons in debt bondage who seek to access the judicial system do not encounter discriminatory attitudes and/or policies which impede access to their rights under law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] As stated above, ensure that legislation is in place to protect from discrimination those who are vulnerable to bonded labour in order to prevent situations of exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that bonded labourers are fully consulted about the development of assistance and rehabilitation programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] As part of such efforts, issue identity cards to former bonded labourers to ensure that they can access social security assistance and Government services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Undertake public-awareness-raising campaigns to challenge stigma and prejudices towards groups vulnerable to debt bondage, and sensitize populations to the rights of such people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Implement human rights-based training on the prevention and elimination of all forms of discrimination across State institutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Undertake multifaceted sensitization programmes targeted at bonded labourers and at risk populations to ensure that they are aware of their rights and of avenues of remedy for violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Ensure that those who have been subjected to debt bondage are able to access decent work opportunities to support their rehabilitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Develop victim protection mechanisms to protect former bonded labourers in the context of judicial proceedings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Take all possible steps to ensure that all members of the population can fulfil their right to education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Given the gravity of slavery and slavery-like practices as gross human rights violations, judicial remedies are a key form of securing accountability for business-related human rights abuses. Access to justice for victims in this context is, however, often constrained by legal rules limiting the liability of a corporation for human rights violations not directly arising from its business operations. This is a problem in global supply chains whereby the business enterprise sourcing the product is not directly implicated in the exploitation that occurs lower down the supply chain, but is complicit as a result of failing to comply with its human rights due diligence obligations. Also, vicarious liability rules prevent corporate liability for management conduct in many instances which arise in the disarticulation in the supply between the global retailer and the many small subcontractors at the lowest tier.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The Brazilian Ministry of Labour maintains a record of people and corporations found to be using slave labour, which has been termed the "dirty list", established by ministerial decree of 2003. The database was used by public and private companies that applied commercial and financial sanctions. The list grew to include 52 employers of slave labourers in 2003 to 609 as of July 2014. However, in December 2014, the Supreme Court granted an injunction to an association of construction companies, suspending the "dirty list". To date, attorneys from the Federal Government have not been able to re-establish the database. Another challenge to the list was launched following the Labour Prosecutor's Office finding that Zara Brazil (part of global brand Inditex) had directive power over the supply chain and litigation has ensued which includes a challenge to the constitutionality of the "dirty list". Also in Brazil, the Sao Paulo State Law to Combat Slave Labour, also known as the Bezerra Law, seeks to regulate the disclosure of slave labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- At the United States federal level, under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, the Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labour Affairs is mandated to, inter alia, create and maintain a List of Goods Produced with Child Labor or Forced Labor. In addition, a list of products using forced or indentured child labour is also produced by the Bureau of International Labour Affairs and intended to ensure that United States federal agencies do not procure goods made by this labour. Under the Trade and Development Act of 2000, the Secretary of Labor is mandated to issue beneficiary country initiatives to implement their international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. These transparency initiatives primarily provide information for government procurement but also assist investors and consumers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The United States Tariff Act of 1930 is also relevant to supply chains and goods produced using forced labour. In section 1307 of the Tariff Act, the import of goods produced with prison labour and forced labour is specifically prohibited: "All goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labor or/and forced labor or/and indentured labor under penal sanctions shall not be entitled to entry at any of the ports of the United States, and the importation thereof is hereby prohibited". The terms forced labour or/and indentured labour include forced or indentured child labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Although the assessment of the efficacy of these legislative developments in practice is beyond the scope of the present report, they provide a snapshot of the issues that impact on the challenge of States to regulate the human rights conduct of businesses operating supply chains outside domestic economies. In these cases, risks and violations are often off-shored, resulting in lack of redress under domestic laws, but having significant impact on the human rights situation in developing economies. This results in challenges to effectively address business-related human rights harms in supply chains and requires sustainable and holistic solutions that involve all stakeholders in the supply chain.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- According to ILO data from 2012, 5.5 million of the 20.9 million of persons in forced labour are children and an estimated 5-15 per cent of those are working in supply chains, with the figure significantly higher if domestic supply chains are also taken into account. The lowest tiers in the informal economy are particularly at risk of involving the worst forms of child labour. In 2012, the number of children involved in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development, often understood as a proxy for the worst forms of child labour, was said to be 85 million in absolute terms. While reliable data on those sectors most susceptible to using such work are difficult to obtain, cases of the worst forms of child labour were found in sectors that correspond to those with a high risk of contemporary forms of slavery occurring in supply chains, including agriculture (i.e., farming of raw materials such as sugar, cotton, cocoa and tobacco), construction, mining and quarrying, and garments and textiles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In agriculture, contemporary forms of slavery have reportedly occurred in many countries, involving crops such as sugar cane, cut flowers, fruit and vegetables, tropical nuts and commodities, for example, palm oil, cotton, cocoa, tobacco and beef. Production in the sector often relies on temporary or migrant labour and is characterized by complex contracting and subcontracting chains, as well as smallholder farming in some cases. Much of the work on remote farms and plantations is typified by excessive working hours, lack of compliance with labour laws, weak or non-existent labour inspections and corruption. Competition to produce at the lowest cost enhances the risk of contemporary forms of slavery being involved in agriculture, especially debt bondage in impoverished rural communities and among vulnerable categories of workers, such as indigenous people, minorities, migrants, women and children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68b
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States should develop, enact and update a national action plan on business and human rights in accordance with the guidance provided by the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Measures outlined in the national action plan should take full advantage of the leverage home States have in order to effectively prevent, address and redress extraterritorial human rights harms of businesses domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Despite notable improvements in recent years, gaps in legal and regulatory protection for the human rights of victims of contemporary forms of slavery exist in a number of countries. This has a significant impact on enforcing corporate legal liability. In many cases, States also lack an integrated approach to criminal, labour and human rights laws, which impedes law enforcement and prevents effective investigation and prosecution of abuses. Where the legislative framework does exist, in some instances this is affected by lengthy legal proceedings and corruption, including bribery, which means that access to remedy is slow and victims are reluctant to come forward as a result.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Investors have also begun to play an increasing role in requiring human rights due diligence. Furthermore, civil society actors have been at the forefront of challenges to contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains and civil society "naming and shaming" of companies has resulted in some businesses responding positively by adopting or adjusting their policies and practices. A welcome initiative in the reporting context is the recently launched United Nations Guiding Principles Reporting Framework, which provides guidance for companies to report on how they respect human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Globalization has created unprecedented opportunities for corporations to extend their operations across national borders, including to developing countries, in order to source the cheapest products and maximize profit. The demand for cheap labour meets a ready supply of workers from vulnerable groups: indigenous people, minorities, those considered to be from the "lowest castes" and migrants, especially those in an irregular situation. Women workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in certain sectors given the nexus of gender discrimination and inequality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Following egregious violations of health and building safety standards that resulted in fatal accidents, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh leading to death of over 1,100 garment workers, additional attention has been given to increasing State and corporate accountability for violations of human rights, including labour rights, in global value or supply chains. In this context, the recent commitment by leaders of major global economies at the recent Group of Seven (G7) Summit to take action to address human rights in global supply chains is welcome and needs to be followed up by concrete actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In the garment and textile sectors, reports indicate a significant risk of contemporary forms of slavery occurring in the complex subcontracting that characterizes the industry in many parts of the world, including the sometimes home-based and informal workshops operating on the margins of the formal economy. Subcontractors such as these are often overlooked both by labour inspections and due diligence systems, making workers in these supply chains particularly vulnerable to exploitation given the quick turnaround time to meet orders from global fashion brands and consumer needs. Contemporary forms of slavery have often been cited as occurring in global supply chains of international brands.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States have an obligation under international human rights law to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all persons in their territory and/or jurisdiction. This includes the duty to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses committed by private actors, such as business enterprises. The Human Rights Committee, in paragraph 8 of its general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of general legal obligations on States Parties to the Covenant, stipulates the need for States to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by private persons or entities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In the context of contemporary forms of slavery, this duty to protect could translate into a smart mix of measures to ensure that businesses engage in their responsibility to respect human rights, including through undertaking human rights due diligence throughout their supply chains and remediating the adverse impact of their operations on human rights. At the very minimum, States should ensure that businesses realize the implications of purchasing products or services that have in any way been linked to forced labour or other contemporary forms of slavery. To date, States have adopted diverse approaches to addressing this issue, which include ensuring criminal, civil and tort liability for business-related human rights violations, setting up mechanisms to regulate such compliance in trade and consumer protection and addressing it in government procurement. Disclosure and transparency can also feature as legal obligations rather than being limited to voluntary corporate social responsibility initiatives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69f
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Gaps in national legislation and underdeveloped regulatory infrastructure can pose significant risks for contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains. To address this, businesses, working in partnership with business peers and other stakeholders or though representative industry and employer organizations, should engage public policy actors and regulators to encourage adoption of a relevant legal framework and effective law enforcement. Businesses, together with other stakeholders, also have an important role to play in addressing the root causes of contemporary forms of slavery;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 70a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations to other stakeholders:] International organizations and the donor community have an important role to play in providing a forum for stakeholder dialogue and partnership to address contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains and to empower communities. They are encouraged to assist the States and other actors, if needed, by providing technical assistance for research, capacity-building, remediation and for addressing root causes through human rights-based development and poverty reduction programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Global businesses have the capacity and resources to address, jointly with relevant stakeholders, the root causes of contemporary forms of slavery, particularly structural issues relating to discrimination, poverty and inequality and should use this leverage more prominently. There is also the need for increased dialogue and cooperation among all stakeholders working on the issue of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains, also within the international community, in order to combine their efforts to ensure its eradication, including in relation to the 2016 International Labour Conference general discussion on the issue of decent work in global supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956, the protection of the right is extended to include "institutions and practices similar to slavery", i.e. debt bondage, serfdom, servile marriage and delivering a child for exploitation. Child economic exploitation and child hazardous labour are further prohibited in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 10 (3)) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 32). In the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the elimination of the worst forms of child labour is called for, which are defined as including all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour as well as hazardous work (art. 3).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68e
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States must ensure that those affected by business-related human rights abuse, including victims of forced labour and other contemporary forms of slavery, have the right to an effective remedy by taking appropriate steps to ensure the effectiveness of judicial mechanisms, providing effective and appropriate non-judicial grievance mechanisms, facilitating access to effective non-State-based grievance mechanisms and reducing barriers that could deny access to remedy for victims;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68j
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States should consider different strategies to promote voluntary initiatives, especially multi-stakeholder public-private partnership platforms, which include Governments at all levels, civil society actors, including trade unions, business representatives and other stakeholders. These are crucial to effectively and holistically address contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains and can, inter alia, foster dialogue on policies to best tackle its root causes, provide an institutional framework to develop and implement supply chain strategies, grievance mechanisms and remediation, advocacy on legal and public policy reform, as well as to promote certification and independent investigation. Community- and area-based approaches, which do not target a single crop or commodity, are a key form of a partnership.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Given the complexity and span of supply chains, identifying and eradicating contemporary forms of slavery can be successful only if sustainable and effective multi-stakeholder partnerships and initiatives involving the authorities, businesses, trade unions, consumers and other stakeholders, each acting from their own areas of expertise to enforce mutually agreed goals, are formed. Such initiatives are frequently international in scope, given the breadth of transnational operations. Some focus on a single sector, industry or commodity, while others are cross-sectoral. Others focus on a single issue like child or forced labour, while many typically address a cross-section of labour and human rights issues alongside the environment and general principles of ethical business.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- An example of good practice is the multi-stakeholder public-private platform Project Issara initiated by Anti-Slavery International to tackle modern slavery in South-East Asia, with an initial focus on forced labour in the export-oriented industries of Thailand that affect global supply chains. Another well-known example of a multi-stakeholder private-public initiative is the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour in Brazil, which brings companies together to combat slave labour with the assistance of ILO, non-governmental organizations (including Repórter Brasil and Ethos) and support from the Government. Over 400 companies and trade associations had signed the pact as of May 2014, including large companies such as Walmart Brazil, committing not to do business with people and companies involved with slave labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives help to address questions of credibility and effectiveness that have surrounded business-only and corporate social responsibility strategies. They offer a more inclusive model as they involve various stakeholders and thus provide a long-term solution to addressing risks to contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains. Those multi-stakeholder platforms that are genuinely premised on social partnership and involve trade unions have the additional benefit that they can ensure collaboration across a number of initiatives including public-policy advocacy and grievance resolution.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The right to be free from slavery is a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted and creates an erga omnes obligation on all States to protect this right. It is entrenched in the Slavery Convention of 1926 and has been incorporated into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 4), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (1)) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68d
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] In addition to adoption and effective enforcement of human rights and labour laws, such as those ensuring the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and providing for minimum labour standards, States bear a fundamental duty to address the preventive aspect of contemporary forms of slavery through tackling its root causes, including poverty, discrimination, stigmatization, inequality and social exclusion of groups most vulnerable to slavery and slavery-like practices, by adopting a human-rights based approach and incorporating a gender perspective;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69e
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Businesses should provide for or cooperate in remediation by establishing or participating in an operational-level grievance mechanism, in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and cooperate with State-based judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms. The approach adopted by businesses in providing for a timely and effective remedy should be community-based and inclusive of, for example, public and/or non-governmental service providers with expertise in working with victims of contemporary forms of slavery;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Prior to that, principle 22 in the second pillar states that where businesses identify that they have caused or contributed to adverse human rights impacts, they should provide for or cooperate in their remediation through legitimate processes. Where businesses have not caused or contributed to harm but it is directly linked to their operations, products or services by a business relationship, they are encouraged to take a role in providing remediation. In terms of operational principles under the third pillar, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, call on companies to establish or to participate in effective operational-level grievance mechanisms for those adversely impacted by them, so that grievances can be addressed early and remediated directly (principle 29). Such mechanisms are typically administered by enterprises, alone or in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders. They can be important complements to wider stakeholder engagement and collective bargaining processes, but cannot substitute for either, and can also make it possible to prevent harm from compounding or escalating. To ensure their effectiveness, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights state that the operational-level grievance mechanisms should be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, a source of continuous learning, and based on engagement and dialogue (principle 31). There are already some good practice examples of operational-level grievance mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Despite the various measures taken to eradicate the worst forms of child labour from the carpet industry, these forms were reported to continue to exist in handmade carpet production units in South Asia, in which carpets are produced for export mainly to the United States of America. Various studies have reported the existence of contemporary forms of slavery and labour exploitation in the construction industry and forced labour in the manufacturing of electronic goods has also been the subject of recent research.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- States have a duty under international human rights law to ensure the right to a remedy, including equal and effective access to justice and adequate, effective and prompt reparations for human rights violations. For victims of gross violations of international human rights law, such as slavery and slavery-like practices, full and effective reparation may take the following forms: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. In the third pillar of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, clear guidance is set out on "access to remedy", delineating respective roles for both States and business.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- As part of its duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses, the State is required to take appropriate steps to ensure that those affected have access to effective remedy when abuses occur within their territory and/or jurisdiction and to reduce barriers that could lead to a denial of this access. In the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, it is indicated that this is to be achieved primarily through State-based judicial mechanisms and non-judicial grievance mechanisms, which are complementary in nature (principles 25-27). States are also encouraged to consider ways to facilitate access to effective non-State based grievance mechanisms that can have the benefit of reduced costs, increased speed of access and transnational reach, where States may be more limited. These may be non-judicial business, industry or multi-stakeholder mechanisms; or they may be regional or international human rights bodies (see principle 28).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In the context of transparency, the most often cited legislation is the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010, which came into effect on 1 January 2012. Under the Act, all retailers and manufacturers with annual global revenues of over US$100 million doing business in California, whether or not they have their headquarters there, are required to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale. While an important development, the law is judged to be insufficient because it only requires companies to report on what, if anything, they are doing to address contemporary forms of slavery, using five specific categories: verification, auditing, certification, internal accountability and training, and no specific preventive actions need to be taken nor does it call to improve conditions for those vulnerable to abuse in the supply chain.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In 2014, the draft Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014 was introduced into the United States Congress. The Act, not yet adopted, contains, inter alia, reporting requirements for businesses relating to the disclosure of conditions amounting to forced labour, slavery, human trafficking and the worst forms of child labour in supply chains. At the time of writing the present report, a draft law on business human rights due diligence in supply chains was pending before the Senate in France, after having been adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading in March 2015.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- While in the Slavery Convention reference is made to forced labour and States are called on to take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery (art. 5), forced labour was not defined until the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). The right not to be subjected to forced labour is now enshrined in a number of other international instruments, including in the ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (3)) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)). In the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and the effective abolition of child labour is required.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, States' obligation to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery is enshrined in a number of human rights instruments. Under article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, slavery, forced labour and servitude are prohibited. In article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, it is stated that, inter alia, slavery and slave trade shall be prohibited. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in its article 15, enshrines the protection of children from all forms of economic exploitation and from performing any hazardous work. Slavery, involuntary servitude, slave trade and traffic in women, as well as forced labour, are prohibited under the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 6). In article 10 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights all forms of slavery, servitude and forced labour are prohibited.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Although more research into the scope and prevalence of contemporary forms of slavery is required, various small-scale studies (for example, on the garment, conflict mineral, seafood, sporting goods, handmade carpet and tea industries) show that products from the informal sector enter global supply chains and are also part of domestic economies in the developing world, often in the most labour-intensive sectors. Human rights violations in the sourcing of conflict minerals, for example, have received much attention, but more research is required to identify the scope and prevalence of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains of specific commodities and particular sectors. The sectors mentioned in the present report are therefore not meant to be a comprehensive list, but an indication of where contemporary forms of slavery have been reported to occur.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every individual and every organ of society is required to strive to contribute to the universal and effective recognition and observance of human rights for all. While it is commonly accepted that under international human rights law businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, there is as yet no international legal duty for them to protect human rights. Human rights due diligence, i.e. a continuous process of identifying and addressing the human rights impact of a company across its operations and products, and throughout its supplier and business partner networks, is therefore the primary standard used to assess business compliance with its human rights responsibilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- In order to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, businesses need to, as per principle 16, adopt human rights policy statements, the criteria for which are set out in this principle. The responsibility to respect also requires ongoing human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for human rights impacts (principles 17-21). The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights also state that, where businesses identify that they have caused or contributed to adverse human rights impacts, they should have processes in place to enable remediation (principle 15).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide conceptual and operational clarity for the two human rights principles of the Global Compact Initiative, a broad-based multi-stakeholder initiative addressed to business, launched in 2000. The Global Compact brings together Governments, employers, civil society groups and trade unions, as well as other stakeholders, on the basis of 10 universally accepted principles of human rights, labour, environment and the fight against corruption. The principles are drawn from key United Nations and ILO standards, with contemporary forms of slavery figuring prominently among the categories of human rights and labour rights (principles 1, 2, 4 and 5). Since the Global Compact's launch, more than 12,000 participants, including over 8,000 businesses from 145 countries, have joined. The high number of the initiative's participants is commendable, but the most obvious gap of Global Compact is in terms of a follow-up mechanism for monitoring and implementation, since businesses need only to communicate annually on progress made in implementing the 10 principles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Certification has arisen as another key approach from increased consumer, trade union and other civil society awareness. The most well-known is the Fairtrade Mark, which can be found on a wide range of products - over 27,000 - and certifies that those products meet internationally agreed Fairtrade Standards, including those relating to child labour and labour rights. In another example, the GoodWeave certification label provides assurance that no child labour was used in the manufacture of rugs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The first initiatives at the international level to address conduct of businesses emerged in the 1970s. In 1977, ILO adopted the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (subsequently amended in 2000 and 2006). It commits Governments, employers' and workers' organizations and multinational enterprises to respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants adopted by the General Assembly. In 2014, the ILO Governing Body adopted an implementation strategy for a new follow-up mechanism to the Declaration (which is not yet aligned with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights) envisaging public-private initiatives and technical cooperation, as well as awareness-raising, capacity-building, country-level support, research and information-gathering.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Global brands and other transnational corporations operating complex supply chains that span multiple jurisdictions have increasingly adopted voluntary codes of conduct to address contemporary forms of slavery in their operations, as well as those of their suppliers, prompted mainly by reputational risk. The voluntary codes cover a wide variety of issues, from social and environmental to human rights and anti-corruption. Policies that clearly prohibit forced labour are now commonplace in codes across companies of different sizes and operating in different regions and sectors. A key recent innovation is the development of policies that address recruitment and hiring in labour supply chains by banning private employment or recruitment agencies supplying workers to facilities in their supply chains from charging recruitment fees to those workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Despite their important role in complementing the normative framework, voluntary codes of conduct are often bald statements without any independent monitoring mechanisms and leave numerous gaps in protection if they do not apply to all entities, especially informal sector and home-based suppliers and subcontractors. However, an increasing number of steps are being taken to implement voluntary codes, involving a diverse set of strategies, typically starting with some form of compliance assessment conducted at workplace level in businesses' supply chains. These are commonly called "social audits" and frequently address other standards in addition to human rights issues, depending on the codes upon which they are based.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, validate the duty of States to protect against and redress business-related human rights harms, and it is stipulated therein that this is to be done through effective policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication (principle 1). State duties include setting out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction respect human rights throughout their operations (principle 2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In other cases, some legal jurisdictions are part of the problem, exacerbating the vulnerability of workers to contemporary forms of slavery. This is the case in countries where laws tie migrant workers to specific employers, preventing them from leaving without the employer's authorization. In some countries, for example, certain categories of workers are not guaranteed their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and thus not allowed to form or join trade unions or hold office within them, which adds to their vulnerability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68c
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] To support effective implementation of domestic laws, States should strengthen their institutional frameworks and enforcement mechanisms across relevant structures, including labour inspectorates, the judiciary and prosecution, through provision of continued capacity-building, awareness-raising and adequate human and financial resources;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69b
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Human rights policy commitments and supporting policies and procedures should be complemented by effective implementation which moves beyond auditing, and includes third party independent monitoring, proactive investigations, random unannounced assessments that prioritize confidential consultation with workers and strategies linked to prevention of unethical recruitment in supply chains;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 70b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations to other stakeholders:] Investors should use their leverage to exercise pressure on businesses to respect human rights, raise awareness of the risks of slavery and slavery-like practices in supply chains, build capacity, invest in research and data collection and analysis, and ensure that businesses establish relationships with other relevant actors, including through multi-stakeholder platforms;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The food processing and packaging industry has been frequently implicated in labour exploitation that can amount to contemporary forms of slavery, particularly in fish and seafood processing in parts of South-East Asia. Reports have been made involving workers enslaved on fishing vessels in the region.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- It also remains a challenge for transnational businesses with complex supply chains to conduct human rights due diligence on all levels of their supply chains, particularly where they have no direct business relationship with subcontractors. The same applies for labour supply chains, the informal economy and the production, harvesting or extraction that occurs at the commodities level of the global economy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- A key gap is the lack of research and data in identifying the exact scope and prevalence of contemporary forms of slavery in specific supply chains and related to particular commodities, as well as its prevalence in the informal sector, which could enable strengthened and targeted policy and normative response and practical strategies. More research and data is also needed on domestic supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68h
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States should invest in research and collection and analysis of data on the scope and prevalence of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains, specific commodities, sectors, the informal economy and in domestic production as the foundation for effective policy and strategy formulation by both public and private sector actors;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68i
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] Special attention of States should be given to the risk of contemporary forms of slavery in the informal economy, including by identifying at risk sectors and conducting effective labour inspections;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Executive Order 13627 on strengthening protections against trafficking in persons in federal contracts, issued in September 2012, targets contemporary forms of slavery in government procurement. Under the Executive Order, federal contractors, sub-contractors, and their employees are prohibited from engaging in misleading or fraudulent recruitment practices; charging employees recruitment fees; and destroying, concealing, confiscating or otherwise denying an employee access to their identity documents, such as passports or drivers' licences (section 2 (1)(A)(i)-(iii)). Under the Order, contractors and subcontractors are further required to agree to fully cooperate, by contractual agreement, in providing reasonable access to enforcement agencies to conduct audits, investigations and other actions to assess compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (section 2 (1)(B)). The Federal Acquisition Regulation that needed to be updated following the Executive Order and related requirements in the Ending Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013) entered into force in March 2015, hence it is difficult to comment on its impact in practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69a
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Businesses should adopt human rights policy commitments and conduct continuous human rights due diligence in line with the framework established in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and include the findings of the latter in their policies and procedures aimed at eliminating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Under principle 12, of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which in their second pillar clarify the business responsibility to respect human rights, this responsibility applies to all internationally recognized human rights, understood, at a minimum, as those expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. All businesses are required to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, address such impacts when they occur and seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts (principle 13). Under principle 12 in conjunction with principle 13 (which refers to "business relationships" that are understood to include relationships with business partners, entities in the value chain, and any other non-State or State entity directly linked to its business operations, products or services, i.e. entities in its supply chain beyond the first tier and indirect as well as direct business relationships), it is made clear that there is a responsibility on the part of businesses to effectively address contemporary forms of slavery in their supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 70e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations to other stakeholders:] Other civil society actors, including foundations, and academia, and the media should continue to conduct research, investigate and report on human rights violations in supply chains, highlight areas of non-compliance with international human rights norms and standards and call for an effective and prompt action by those responsible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The present report provides an indication of some of the challenges in enforcing accountability of States and businesses for preventing, mitigating and redressing contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains. The framework emerging from the United Nations system has provided greater clarity on how to operationalize the responsibility of business to respect human rights, including through conducting human rights due diligence, and the obligations of States to address business-related human rights abuses. The passing of national laws, which reflect an increasing global concern with transparency, reporting and human rights due diligence obligations that add to the accountability tool belt, is to be applauded. So are the businesses' human rights policy commitments, although loopholes exist in terms of their enforcement, and the important role played in the combat against contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains by other stakeholders, including civil society actors, such as non-governmental organisations, trade unions, foundations and consumers, as well as international organizations and the media. While these developments are notable, important gaps still exist in terms of effective access to justice and adequate and prompt remediation for victims of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68g
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States should explicitly prohibit fraudulent and abusive recruitment practices that are one of the main causes of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains and adopt measures to regulate recruitment;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- While businesses continue to rely on social audits as a key element of their human rights due diligence programmes and to assess their own facilities and those of their business partners, many believe that auditing has had a limited impact on identifying and eliminating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains. New strategies are therefore required that move beyond auditing and include proactive independent investigations and robust independent verification, which incorporate consultations with workers with due regard to confidentiality and privacy. Consumer and trade union advocacy can play an important role in ensuring the involvement of workers and their representatives in such processes. Largely as a result of stakeholder criticism, some companies have already piloted new protocols that prioritize the confidential testimony of workers and attempted to develop more robust investigative techniques, sometimes in partnership with civil society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Another strategy in tackling the risk of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains relates to transparency and reporting, on the one hand, and traceability, on the other. In both cases, pressure from regulators, civil society actors and investors has pushed companies not only to disclose information about business relationships in supply chains, but to implement measures to track products and materials from finished goods to the commodities level to promote "clean" production at every step of the way. However, opinion remains divided on the effectiveness of these initiatives in improving conditions for workers and, in particular, for addressing contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- For victims of contemporary forms of slavery, including those in supply chains, remedies may include compensation, medical and psychological care, free legal aid and social services, effective measures aimed at the cessation of continuing violations and alternative livelihood support measures. However, the right to an effective remedy for many workers, in particular the most vulnerable in supply chains, remains largely elusive and redress for corporate human rights violations is hampered by many barriers, including the high costs of litigation and a lack of a free legal aid. Moreover, the victims, especially if not members of trade unions, may not be aware that their rights have been violated. In extreme instances, workers may be enslaved and physically unable to enforce their rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- In the context of supply chains, a lack of extraterritorial jurisdiction affects access to remedies for contemporary forms of slavery and other human rights violations, which are committed outside the territory in which a business is domiciled. In this context, the United States Supreme Court held, for example, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Co., that the presumption against the extraterritorial application of United States law applies to the Alien Tort Statute, and this can only be overcome if the claim "touches and concerns" the territory of the United States "with sufficient force" to displace the presumption against extraterritorial application.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Global enterprises with supply chains that are long and complex and involve complicated networks of subsidiaries, franchisees, suppliers, contractors and subcontractors are more likely to be faced with challenges related to contemporary forms of slavery. While the first tier of supply chains is less susceptible to the risk of contemporary forms of slavery, the lower levels have been shown to be at risk of products or raw materials being sourced from home-based or small workshops in the informal economy and made in situations of debt bondage, forced labour or the worst forms of child labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Restrictions on trade that has negative human rights impact is particularly relevant to addressing slavery and slavery-like practices in supply chains. The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, and Humanity United have recently supported initiatives in the United States Congress to strengthen human rights provisions in trade agreements. This followed a proposed amendment to the Trade Act of 2015 to prohibit an international trade agreement from receiving fast-track benefits if it involves a country that is not meeting minimum standards in combating human trafficking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises were adopted in 1976 and updated five times, most recently in May 2011 to include a new chapter on human rights and business consistent with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In the Guidelines, explicit reference is made to the responsibilities of multinational enterprises in relation to their supply chains. A system of national contact points - a non-judicial mechanism that the adhering countries are obliged to set up - are established thereunder. National contact points contribute to the resolution of issues that arise from alleged non-observance of the Guidelines (so called specific instances mechanism). In dealing with specific instances, which are not legal cases, national contact points must make an initial assessment to determine if the issues raised merit further examination, assist in resolving the instances through offering good offices, and make the results of the procedure publicly available. Despite the value of this grievance mechanism, which is accessible to any interested party, the national contact point system has been criticized by civil society on multiple counts and specific recommendations have been provided to strengthen it. Business compliance with other guidelines, for example the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity that relate to reducing exploitation from the moment of the recruitment process is critical to reducing the incidence of forced labour and other contemporary forms of slavery at all levels of supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69c
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] All businesses' human rights policies and procedures and the systems to implement them should integrate measures reaching beyond the first tier in supply chains and include clear guidelines and indicators to assist those operating at the lower tiers and in the informal economy to identify human rights violations, including contemporary forms of slavery, and ensure compliance with international human rights standards;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68f
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States are strongly encouraged to adopt effective legislation requiring transparency in supply chains, human rights due diligence throughout supply chains, public reporting and disclosures of businesses, as well as measures relating to procurement practices, and to guarantee its implementation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 68a
- Paragraph text
- [Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations to States:] States should ratify all relevant international instruments prohibiting slavery and slavery-like practices, including the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), align their domestic legislation with international standards, criminalize all contemporary forms of slavery and provide adequate penalties for violations;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Company-level grievance mechanisms, which range from complaints boxes to telephone hotlines, are being created to identify human rights violations and other forms of abuse. Their effectiveness is often dependent on information exchange between business peers and companies often rely on multi-stakeholder initiatives to develop efficient systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The mining and forestry sectors have also been cited in reports on forced labour in supply chains. Here risks include vulnerability arising from the isolated nature of workplaces, the role of private security firms, the presence of organized criminals attracted by high value commodities such as gold or other minerals, and the growth of illegal, unlicensed or unregulated mines and forestry operations that benefit from weak regulation and law enforcement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69d
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Transparency in supply chains is important for ensuring corporate accountability for human rights abuse. Businesses should publicly report on action undertaken to address their human rights impacts, including preventive and corrective measures, and share lessons learned and strategies for improvement;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 69g
- Paragraph text
- [In relation to businesses, the Special Rapporteur recommends the following:] Business should engage in capacity-building to ensure management and staff, as well as the relevant business partner, awareness-raising on the nature and risks of contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains and the strategies for its eradication.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 70c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations to other stakeholders:] Consumers should play a more active role in scrutinizing the origin of products and promoting ethical sourcing and other fair trade initiatives;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 70d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations to other stakeholders:] Trade unions and their confederations have a key role to play in ensuring that the human rights of workers are complied with by States and businesses;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), outlines measures for prevention and elimination of forced labour and emphasizes the need for victim protection and access to appropriate and effective remedies, such as compensation. One of the preventive measures it sets out is "supporting due diligence by both the public and private sectors to prevent and respond to risks of forced or compulsory labour" (art. 2 (e)). The non-binding ILO Recommendation 203, providing practical guidance on the Protocol, while not referring specifically to supply chains, contains a provision on preventive measures, in which States are called on to provide guidance and support to employers and businesses to take effective measures to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the risks of forced or compulsory labour in their operations or in products, services or operations to which they may be directly linked (section 4 (j)). The Protocol is largely aligned with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework (see below), although it is limited because, inter alia, it focuses only on forced labour and not on all human rights violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- In the most recent development, in March 2015, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Modern Slavery Bill, which includes a specific part on transparency in supply chains and imposes obligations on businesses to disclose the steps, if any, they are taking to address contemporary forms of slavery in supply chains. The duties imposed in the Modern Slavery Act can be enforced in civil proceedings undertaken by the authorities. Under the Act, company disclosures must be signed by a company director, creating clear accountability. Regulations are currently being prepared to operationalize the provisions for transparency, based on consultations. In some of the submissions for the consultations, it was suggested that a threshold be introduced that would bring even small companies within the ambit of the Act, which would require companies to reveal business relationships in the lower tiers of their supply chains and set clear criteria for disclosures in their reports; it was also suggested that reports be featured on a government website. The Act has, however, received criticism for creating a loophole that allows United Kingdom-based companies to effectively "hide" their supply chains if the goods produced do not enter the United Kingdom.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Another key area of focus of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, is child and forced marriage. The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery obligates Member States to take all "practicable and necessary legislative and other measures to bring about progressively and as soon as possible the complete abolition or abandonment" of, inter alia, any institution or practice which amounts to forced marriage, such as when a woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment to her parents, guardians, family or another person or group; when a husband, his family or his clan transfers his wife to another person for value received or for any other reason; or the inheriting by another person of a woman on the death of her husband (see art. 1). Early and forced marriage can, under certain circumstances, constitute servile marriage or result in domestic servitude or other forms of slavery. The previous mandate holder drew links between child marriage and slavery, and pointed out that Member States were obliged to prohibit and eliminate slavery as a non-derogable and fundamental principle of international law. Child marriage is linked to the thematic issues of trafficking for forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation, migration and contemporary forms of slavery, which reinforces the need for cooperation among the respective mandate holders as part of a comprehensive multi-agency and multi-stakeholder effort to eradicate those practices from society, as women and girls in child and forced marriages may experience conditions within the marriage that meet "international legal definitions of slavery and slavery-like practices", including forced labour. Furthermore, "a potentially high proportion of child marriage cases appear to constitute the worst forms of child labour under the 1999 ILO Convention No. 182."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The mandate calls for a coherent global response, involving evidence-based analysis, together with technical assistance to Member States which are committed to eradicating the scourge of contemporary slavery from their labour markets. It requires strengthening of the global partnership, involving unions, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, human rights advocates, the private sector, the legal sector and the judiciary, governments and public-sector institutions, United Nations agencies and mechanisms, academic and research institutions, as well as international foundations committed to research and advocacy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The mandate also requires a multi-faceted approach combining law and policy frameworks which provide for prevention, protection, prosecution and redress at the national and international levels, with consumer and civil society advocacy, rejecting goods produced through forced labour or other forms of slave labour and generating consumer awareness. It also requires that business practices be congruent with human rights, ethical and environmentally sound sustainable development, and durable peace and security for all. It requires a concerted global initiative to eradicate poverty and enforce the basic principles of justice, dignity and human rights for all. At the most basic level, it requires resources, mechanisms and processes for the effective implementation of recommendations made pursuant to fact-finding missions and consultations conducted as part of the mandate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur looks forward to fulfilling the requirements of her mandate, as outlined in Human Rights Council resolution 24/3, and to constructive and fruitful cooperation with diverse stakeholders in all regions towards that end. She particularly emphasizes her desire for constructive engagement with United Nations Member States and encourages Member States to respond positively to her requests for information or for country visits, while emphasizing that the mandate remains available to provide assistance to States and to respond to their requests, including in the area of technical cooperation, to the fullest extent possible. The Special Rapporteur reiterates the importance that she places on the role and views of non-governmental organizations, including in providing information to her and engaging with and assisting her fully as she conducts her work on slavery and slavery-like practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- While the profit motive drives the demand for forced labour and other contemporary forms of slavery, it is underpinned by "push" factors such as increasing household vulnerability to income shocks, which push more households below the absolute poverty line; lack of education and illiteracy; as well as loss of work and deprivation of land, which force increased informal-sector work, migration and trafficking. The disproportionate impact of those factors on women and girls, who constitute more than half of the victims of forced labour, has been widely documented.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 24/3, the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, will examine and report on all contemporary forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, in particular those defined in the Slavery Convention of 1926 and the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956, as well as all other issues covered previously by the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. She will also continue to promote the effective implementation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the 2014 Protocol thereto, as well as ILO Convention No. 189 (2011) and Recommendation No. 201 concerning decent work for domestic workers, which represent a significant advance in the international legal framework protecting the rights of domestic workers, including the right to education for child domestic workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- During her tenure, the Special Rapporteur will continue to address the different forms of contemporary slavery, including subtler forms of slavery that deserve specific attention, such as bonded labour, domestic servitude, early and forced marriage, child slave work, servile marriages and caste-based forms of slavery, which affect the lives of many and are not confined to developing and poor countries. She will also continue to work on the remaining challenges to the eradication of contemporary forms of slavery, as highlighted by her predecessor in her report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-fourth session (A/HRC/24/43).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In that regard, the Special Rapporteur will follow up on the key recommendations made by her predecessor for the elimination of all forms of domestic servitude. In her report to the Human Rights Council at its fifteenth session (A/HRC/15/20), the previous Special Rapporteur addressed the root causes of domestic servitude and its impact on women and children and made concrete recommendations for the monitoring and enforcement of labour standards. Besides the implementation of existing recommendations, which remains a key challenge, more research, notably qualitative reporting and situational analysis, is required on the often invisible workers in domestic servitude, including their existence in developed economies, which is often obscured.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Another area of focus for the Special Rapporteur is the role of business, in particular transnational corporations, in promoting and using forced labour in global supply chains. Recent estimates suggest that the total profits obtained from the use of forced labour in the private economy worldwide amount to US$ 150 billion per year. Victims of forced labour exploitation, including in domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities, such as construction, manufacturing, mining or utilities, generate an estimated US$ 51 billion in profits per year.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- It is essential to ensure standardized disaggregated data collection (with due regard to individuals' rights to privacy and data protection) and the strengthening of national legislative frameworks to ensure that violations of human and labour rights resulting in slavery are effectively monitored and swiftly eradicated through strict legal, judicial and institutional enforcement of measures, with appropriate rehabilitation and remedies. In addition, the early identification and prevention of forced labour through the cooperation of multiple stakeholders, including governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, trade unions and consumers, are critical.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In addition to children in domestic servitude and other forms of slavery, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the uneven implementation, and in some areas retrogression, of the human rights of women as guaranteed under international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Women are disproportionately affected by forced labour. Of the estimated 21 million people in situations of forced labour, 11.4 million (55 per cent) are women and girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the continued high prevalence of children in domestic servitude, bonded labour and other forms of slavery. Children in domestic work present a particular concern globally, in both developed and developing countries. Many child domestic workers are not only subject to exploitation and hazardous work, but often work in circumstances amounting to slavery or bonded labour in order to fulfil debts that they or their parents have incurred to the employer or to recruitment agents. An estimated 15.5 million children below the age of 18 are in paid or unpaid domestic work in the home of a third-party employer, of whom 10.5 million are estimated to be child labourers, either because they are under the legal minimum working age or are working in hazardous conditions or conditions tantamount to slavery. Furthermore, girls outnumber boys and they face specific additional vulnerabilities in the context of migration and are more likely to end up being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. The Special Rapporteur is committed to working with the International Labour Organization, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders towards eliminating every vestige of child slavery in the world. Children should be at school or play, not at work; and the continued violation of their human rights should be an urgent global priority for Member States and the international community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In particular, the Special Rapporteur views the elimination of domestic servitude as a key priority of the mandate, as that form of slavery continues to exist across both developed and developing countries. Women, low-skilled migrant workers, indigenous people, internally displaced persons and other marginalized groups and groups that are discriminated against are the most vulnerable to exploitation in domestic servitude.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- There is thus a need to address the structural and systemic causes of poverty and inequality, which render the poor and marginalized most vulnerable to slavery and labour exploitation. The proposed post-2015 sustainable development goals provide a comprehensive framework for addressing those issues and setting clear targets and indicators for both developed and developing countries to eliminate labour exploitation and manifestations of contemporary forms of slavery once and for all.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur will continue to investigate, monitor and address, relying on the support of governments, other United Nations agencies and mechanisms, civil society organizations, trade unions, employers and activists, various contemporary manifestations of slavery involving children in agriculture, tobacco tilling, cotton picking, entertainment, construction, mining and quarrying.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, a debt bondage system, the labourers of which are known as Haliyas, can be found in the agricultural sector. Haliya means "one who ploughs". Ploughing land is considered to be dirty and unskilled work that only lower-class citizens should perform, making it the work of "untouchables" or Dalits. Haliyas are either paid very little for their work or paid only in small amounts of food. Debt quickly accrues as workers take out loans for personal expenses, while landowners take advantage of them by charging exorbitant interest rates. According to a Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice report, "such discrimination is intentionally designed to keep alive a system of debt bondage".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Migrant workers are also disproportionately affected by contemporary forms of slavery. Many are especially vulnerable because they are employed far from their homes, lack language skills and familiarity with host country legal systems, may be undocumented, hired through recruitment agencies, are unprotected by laws in host jurisdictions, rarely receive adequate training, lack access to effective grievance mechanisms, are vulnerable to contract substitution, and/or are severely underpaid. Limitations on migrant workers' freedom of movement greatly increase their chances of becoming victims of contemporary slavery. Employers may confiscate their passports or identity papers and migrant workers are often employed in remote locations where they are dependent on their employers even for basic necessities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Of course, companies are ultimately responsible for meeting their legal and moral obligations to prevent contemporary forms of slavery in their supply chains, and NGOs and multi-stakeholder initiatives have emerged to provide practical guidance to companies seeking to meet their obligations under national law, international standards and voluntary principles. The Fair Hiring Toolkit, developed by Verité and launched in 2011, gives companies comprehensive guidance on improving their codes of conduct, strengthening their social audits, and better understanding the complexities and risks of contemporary forms of slavery in their supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- A number of stakeholders have begun to take action to combat slavery in its contemporary forms. However, there are key challenges that prevent the reduction of slavery, including legal and policy challenges and institutional and implementation challenges. Among the legal and policy challenges are the absence of legislation in some countries, deficiencies and loopholes in legal frameworks, insufficiently dissuasive sanctions and laws that increase the vulnerability of workers. Institutional and implementation challenges include corruption, government failure to recognize the existence of contemporary slavery, a lack of political will and/or resources, the difficulty of locating and identifying victims, and a failure to adequately protect affected workers and provide sustained programmes for their effective rehabilitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Nevertheless, Government-run rehabilitation and reintegration efforts are not always effective. In these cases, other stakeholders can offer assistance. Unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in sending and receiving countries have cooperated in order to facilitate the reintegration of victims when return home. In Nepal, where government reintegration services have been limited, two NGOs rehabilitate and reintegrate returned migrant workers. Pouraki Nepal was initiated by women migrant workers, while Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee advocates for the rights of male migrants. In-country research in Nepal also indicates that a new foundation to aid migrant workers has been established, with a free training centre in Kathmandu that helps rehabilitate and reintegrate returned migrant workers, including a counselling centre for female returnees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- A large number of NGOs have taken up the fight against contemporary forms of slavery and engaged other stakeholders to successfully do so. For example, Anti-Slavery International has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ITUC in order to form a Global Trade Union Alliance to Combat Forced Labour and Trafficking. They have agreed to share skills and experience on combating contemporary forms of slavery and integrate their members to reach a common goal. Under this auspice, they have formed a multi-stakeholder group in Europe comprised of unions and NGOs whose goal is to protect women and young people from contemporary forms of slavery. The Brazilian NGOs Repórter Brasil and Ethos have created the National Pact for the Elimination of Slavery, which brings the Government, ILO, NGOs and companies together to combat forced labour. Over 130 companies had signed the pact as of the end of 2010, including large companies such as Wal-Mart Brazil, committing to not buying goods produced with forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Supplementary Convention also addresses the practice of servile marriage as a form of slavery, although it does not label it as such. The Convention outlaws practices in which: a woman is "promised or given in marriage on payment"; "the husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person"; and "a woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited" (art. 1 (c)). States Parties to the Convention are asked to establish suitable minimum ages of marriage. Servile marriage was also alluded to in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 16 establishes that "marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have taken proactive efforts to form multi-stakeholder initiatives to ensure more effective efforts to combat contemporary forms of slavery. This includes multi-stakeholder committees responsible for combating contemporary forms of slavery, which include members of civil society. These committees are important in holding Governments accountable for enforcing laws on contemporary forms of slavery. In cases in which the Government fails to carry out its commitments, it is necessary for these stakeholders to engage the media, form alliances and mobilize public support in order to exert pressure on the authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Recently, stakeholders have made efforts to influence the sourcing decisions of companies and national and local governments in order to reduce the level of contemporary forms of slavery. It is now generally accepted that Governments are responsible for preventing contemporary forms of slavery and holding companies accountable - whether a product is produced in the country, manufactured by a company based in the country or imported and consumed by its citizens. Additionally, civil society organizations have also taken steps to promote responsible sourcing decisions and have provided guidance to companies on ways to prevent contemporary forms of slavery in their supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Some Governments in countries that produce goods associated with contemporary forms of slavery have taken steps to publicize and punish individuals and companies that produce these goods. For example, Brazil passed a decree in 2003 containing a list, commonly referred to as "the Dirty List" of 52 individuals and entities that use or have used slave labour. The individuals and entities on the biannually updated list are barred from receiving national subsidies or tax exemptions and from engaging in financial arrangements with a number of public financial institutions. The Bank of Brazil denies financing to landowners who employ slave labour and the Ministry of National Integration recommended that private sector lenders also deny them financing. The Ministry of Labour's "dirty list" included 165 employers of slave labourers in 17 states in 2009, 220 employers in 2010 and 294 employers at the end of 2011.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- In other cases, Governments have taken efforts to reward companies that take positive steps to combat contemporary forms of slavery, including by offering access to State contracts. In Argentina, the National Institute for Industrial Technology recently established a comprehensive national certification system for companies operating in the textile industry. The agency offers "certificates of quality" to firms that refrain from using forced labour and provide their employees with decent working conditions. Participating companies granted the certificate are eligible to bid on lucrative State textile contracts. In a similar spirit, the Plurinational State of Bolivia operates a certification programme called the Triple Seal, which is designed to encourage compliance with national labour laws and awarded to companies that prohibit child labour, discrimination and forced labour across their entire supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Governments should introduce or amend, where necessary, laws to effectively combat exploitation; strengthen implementation and enforcement; harmonize legislative and policy approaches to ensure greater coherence, efficiency and efficacy; develop and effectively monitor and implement national plans of action; introduce specialized agencies or institutions with the specific mandate to tackle contemporary forms of slavery; and ensure all such efforts are appropriately resourced and staffed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives and recent efforts to encourage responsible sourcing to protect workers also have the potential to strengthen the global fight against slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Despite the progress that has been made in recent years, awareness-raising and prevention have not been fully effective and victims of contemporary forms of slavery still abound. This requires the identification, protection and rehabilitation of victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Contemporary forms of slavery can be found around the world, but there are certain regions where it is more prevalent. For the 2012 International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate, the number of persons in conditions of forced labour are broken down by region: the Middle East had 600,000 persons in forced labour, "developed economies and the European Union" had 1.5 million, Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States had 1.6 million, Latin America and the Caribbean had 1.8 million, Africa had 3.7 million, and Asia and the Pacific had 11.7 million. Despite having the second lowest number of victims of forced labour, Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States registered the highest rate of forced labour, at 420 per 100,000 inhabitants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Supplementary Convention also alludes to child slavery. The Convention requires the abolition of "any institution or practice whereby a child or young person under the age of 18 years, is delivered by either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian to another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or young person or his labour" (art. 1 (d)). Article 10, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that, "children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal development should be punishable by law." Drawing on this, ILO Convention No. 182 (1999) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour defines and prohibits the worst forms of child labour, including child slavery (arts. 1 and 3).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Domestic servitude can be another contemporary form of slavery, although it has not garnered as much attention in the international human rights frameworks of the twentieth century. Domestic servitude is implicitly prohibited in the articles of the Slavery Convention, the Covenants and Declarations that make up the International Bill of Human Rights, ILO Convention No. 105 (1959) concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour and the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention No. 182 both protect children against conditions akin to domestic servitude. In June 2011, ILO adopted Convention No. 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers, which similarly addresses such issues. The Convention sets out protections against domestic servitude, outlining specific rights for domestic workers, including fair terms of employment, decent working and living conditions, respect for their privacy, and protection against all forms of abuse, harassment, and violence (arts. 5 and 6).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- There are a number of legal limitations that present challenges in protecting individuals from becoming the victims of contemporary forms of slavery. First, some countries have failed to ratify the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, including El Salvador, Liberia and Peru. In other cases, many countries that have ratified the Convention have not brought their domestic legislation into line with international standards. Still other countries also fail to explicitly define, prohibit or sanction specific forms of slavery, making it difficult to prosecute such cases. In Colombia, for example, the law does not specify sanctions for forced labour, except in cases involving trafficking in persons, while in Philippines, labour experts have noted that many laws prohibiting contemporary forms of slavery only cover children, victims of trafficking and victims of forced labour subjected to violence or debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Legal loopholes that fail to cover certain categories of workers may also allow for their exploitation. This is the case in France and a number of other countries, where labour laws do not cover domestic workers (A/HRC/15/20, para. 74). In Guatemala, the law fails to provide special protections for agricultural workers and instead includes legislation that discriminates against them. It was not until 2011, for example, that the minimum wage for agricultural workers was set at the same level as that for workers in other sectors, while payments in kind, a remnant of peonage in Guatemala, are still permitted in the agricultural sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Certain countries also have laws that make migrant workers vulnerable to slavery-like practices. For example, in the Dominican Republic, temporary migrants must be provided with a "temporary worker card". This carnet only allows them "to perform the gainful activity for which they were admitted, for the authorized period of time and within the authorized area". Migration Law 285-04 stipulates that employers should "repatriate" workers once their carnets expire, giving employers the authority to deport workers. This creates a legal restriction on migrant workers' freedom of movement, links them to a specific employer and creates an inherent menace of penalty of deportation for leaving their jobs or workplaces.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- There are a number of institutional deficits that may prevent the full enforcement of laws against contemporary forms of slavery. Although countries may have ratified laws and international conventions that explicitly prohibit and sanction such exploitation, many Governments have not taken adequate action to enforce these laws. In some cases, central Governments' failure to recognize the existence of contemporary slavery severely limits their enforcement activities. For example, the Government of the Dominican Republic has not recognized the existence of forced labour in any economic sector in the country, including sugar. For this reason, there are no plans or programmes designed to combat the abuse.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In many countries in which slavery occurs, victims are poor, have few political connections and have little power to voice their grievances. These communities are normally marginalized and discriminated against as a result of their caste, race, gender and/or their origin as migrants or indigenous populations. In contrast, perpetrators may be wealthy, well-connected individuals who are able to influence policy and enforcement. This can result in corruption and a system in which there is little pressure on authorities to take action to combat exploitation. In Peru, gold generates tremendous profits and breeds corruption at every level, making it extremely difficult to combat labour abuses in illegal gold mining, including significant indicators of slavery. Such corruption facilitates the continued operation of illegal mines and gold-laundering and frustrates government enforcement efforts. In many cases, even when authorities have the will to carry out enforcement, they lack the training and resources to adequately do so.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- There have also been successful cases in which international associations of employers and employment agencies have established agreements with other stakeholders in order to improve efforts to combat contemporary forms of slavery. For example, the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Union for Skills and Services in 2008. This Memorandum established a global partnership with other stakeholders to combat contemporary forms of slavery, policy advocacy and cooperation with ILO to encourage ratification and application of ILO conventions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- There has been a series of improvements to legal frameworks on both an international and national level that represent best practice in combating contemporary forms of slavery. At the national level, a wide range of countries have passed comprehensive legislation prohibiting and sanctioning contemporary forms of slavery. For example, in 2007 Mauritania passed a law criminalizing slavery. Additionally, in Brazil, article 149 of the Penal Code establishes a sentence of between two and eight years' imprisonment for subjecting a person to forced labour, arduous or degrading working conditions or holding workers at workplaces through surveillance, debt bondage, restriction of movement and retention of personal identification documents or property. The sentence is increased by 50 per cent for cases involving children or discrimination based on religion, gender or race. Brazilian law also prohibits and penalizes other activities related to forced labour, including debt bondage. Nevertheless, owing to the variety of mechanisms used to subject individuals to slavery, many countries have also necessarily looked beyond traditional laws on forced labour and human trafficking. For example, some have established mechanisms to combat exploitative recruitment and hiring practices which increase the risk of contemporary forms of slavery. The Contract Act in Bangladesh, for example, establishes that all employment contracts must be made with the free consent of all parties without coercion, undue influence, fraud or misrepresentation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In addition to domestic work and mining, contemporary forms of slavery can be found in many other industries. According to the ILO 2012 estimate, 90 per cent of the 20.9 million victims of forced labour were employed in the private economy. Slavery can also be found in fishing, domestic work, quarrying, brick kilns and illegal activities. Forced labour is prominent in agriculture, logging, mining, apparel and electronics manufacturing, personal-care services, construction and food processing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Slavery and compulsory or forced labour are separate practices that are addressed independently in most international human rights documents. The Slavery Convention establishes that States should "take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery" (art. 5). ILO Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour defines forced labour as, "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily" (art. 2). The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, ILO Convention No. 182 and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) all address forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Lack of prosecutions and convictions for contemporary forms of slavery can also be a significant problem. One reason for this is poor integration and cooperation among government institutions. The Special Rapporteur noted that, during some of her missions, there was lack of integration between the criminal, labour and civil law specifically addressing forced labour, which impeded enforcement efforts. This lack results in inadequate investigations and sanctioning of slavery-like practices. The Special Rapporteur has noted that multi-sectoral commissions must have representation from relevant concerned government offices in order for them to effectively combat slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Other countries have also stepped up efforts to regulate private employment agencies, as required by ILO Convention No. 181 (1997) concerning Private Employment Agencies. In 2011, the Government of Malaysia amended its Employment Act of 1955, defining the term "labour contractor" and requiring that wages paid to domestic workers be deposited into a bank account, that labour contractors register employees with the Director General of Labour and that the termination of foreign workers' employment be reported to the Director General of Labour. This amendment created a new type of legal labour relationship between third-party contractors and employees. In the Czech Republic, the Employment Act was amended in January 2011 to require the regulation of employment agencies. Such agencies must now be insured, pass a criminal record check and report statistics on the number and nationality of workers placed in employment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Government measures to ensure that victims receive full protection and support when they are identified are also important. Such measures guarantee that perpetrators do not retaliate against victims for reporting abuses and help those victims to feel safe whenever they do report. Victims and their family members may be provided with safe houses, protection services and legal assistance. To this end, some countries have established specific protections for workers. For example, in Guatemala, article 10 of the Labour Code prohibits any form of reprisals against workers that are intended to completely or partially restrict them from exercising their legal rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Since 1926, a number of other international instruments have been drafted in order to address the varied forms of modern-day slavery that occur in the ever-changing social, political and economic environment. The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, adopted in 1956, highlights debt bondage and serfdom as specific forms of slavery. The Convention defines debt bondage as "the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt of the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined" (art. 1 (a)). Serfdom is defined as "the condition or status of a tenant who is by law, custom or agreement bound to live and labour on land belonging to another person and to render some determinate service to such other person, whether for reward or not, and is not free to change his status" (art. 1 (b)).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Even in countries in which authorities have the will and resources to combat contemporary slavery, they face the difficulty of locating victims. Contemporary forms of slavery often involve hidden populations, some of whom perform illicit work. Slavery often occurs in isolated areas and access can be challenged or compromised when workers are involved in illegal activities, when they are geographically isolated, or when they work in violent or politically unstable countries or regions. The challenge of accessing women and children can increase in countries with cultural norms that restrict them from having contact with outsiders or strangers, or their general freedom of movement. For example, the Special Rapporteur has reported that it is difficult to access forced child labourers working in mines and quarries located in remote areas (see A/HRC/18/30).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- It can also be difficult to identify victims of contemporary forms of slavery. Unlike child labour or dangerous working conditions, in which inspectors may identify victims by sight, it is difficult to identify victims of slavery without conducting extensive assessments. As most victims may not show visible signs of entrapment, authorities must ascertain whether they are being forced to work against their will. They must assess whether workers are employed under conditions to which they originally consented and whether there is the menace of penalty for leaving their employment. In some cases, a victim of slavery may be labouring alongside a freely employed worker. This requires authorities to have a much higher level of training, time and resources at their disposal.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Consumer-based initiatives and public awareness campaigns have also begun to focus on contemporary forms of slavery. The International Organization for Migration "Buy Responsibly" campaign looks at consumer products like cocoa, coffee, sugar and shrimp, and identifies how each of these can be linked to forced labour in global supply chains. The Slavery Footprint campaign personalizes modern-day slavery by asking consumers "how many slaves work for you?" It raises awareness about the effects of each person's consumption, including products such as electronics, food, apparel and other household items. Finally, the Free2Work application for mobile phones provides consumers with information about specific products and how they relate to modern-day slavery. It rates companies based on their anti-slavery commitments, assigning them a letter grade from "A" to "F" to inform consumers and promote ethical consumerism.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The identification of victims is greatly aided by strengthening the capacity of labour inspectorates and other public institutions, such as police and immigration authorities, and by raising the awareness of authorities regarding laws on contemporary forms of slavery and techniques for identifying victims. The creation of specialized units to identify victims is also crucial. In the Czech Republic, a special police department aimed at uncovering forced labour was established in April 2006. Brazil also offers an important and highly successful example of specialized training, with its mobile inspections unit comprised of representatives from across government enforcement agencies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Nevertheless, a series of good practices at international, regional, and country levels provide us with examples of the way forward. Among these are improvements to legislation, enforcement efforts, awareness-raising and prevention activities, and the identification, protection and rehabilitation of victims. The Special Rapporteur held follow up workshops in Brazil, Ecuador, Mauritania and Peru which resulted in action plans to implement her recommendations. Her recommendations included the need to include and strengthen these good practices and show the commitment and will of Governments to tackle slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Slavery and slavery-like practices are often clandestine. The majority of those affected are from the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized social groups in society such as indigenous and caste-based groups. In order to effectively eradicate such exploitation in all its forms, Governments and other stakeholders must address the root causes of poverty, social exclusion and all forms of discrimination. At the heart of these campaigns, poverty reduction, the promotion of the Millennium Development Goals, the protection of human dignity and the establishment of robust protections against human and labour rights abuses, including effective access to remedy, should guide national and international strategies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- A lack of resources and low levels of awareness and understanding often manifest themselves in deficiencies in labour inspectorates and other public enforcement institutions, severely limiting Governments' ability to detect victims of contemporary forms of slavery. For example, one of the biggest factors impeding the ability of the Government of Guatemala to protect agricultural workers from exploitation is its deficient labour inspection system. Problems facing the Labour Inspectorate include a lack of staff and funding, the inability of inspectors to set fines and labour inspectors' fear of carrying out inspections in the agricultural sector due to high levels of violence in the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The State's ability to enforce the law can also be weak in remote and isolated areas. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, for example, the State had a weak presence in the Chaco region, resulting in a failure to comply with ILO Convention No. 29. In Peru, research indicates that the Government's capacity to enforce labour and criminal law in protected and remote areas is limited by the danger and costliness of entering them. Owing to a fear of heavily armed groups operating illegally, the authorities are not able to enter protected areas unless they are provided with military support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have developed national strategies or action plans against contemporary forms of slavery. These initiatives can take various forms, including high-level interministerial commissions or new departments within existing government agencies. During her missions, the Special Rapporteur has encouraged countries to develop national action plans that incorporate country-level efforts into wider regional and international initiatives, which should be adapted to each country's context, and incorporate all relevant stakeholders. In-country research in Peru indicates that the Ministry of Labour's new National Plan to Combat Forced Labour for 2013-2017 includes many of these elements, as well as a number of other advances. This new plan includes improved definitions of forced labour; explicit acknowledgement of forced labour in the country; a baseline study to address a lack of statistics; pilot interventions to combat forced labour; and strategic, progressive and measurable goals. In Brazil, the National Commission for the Eradication of Slave Labour was established in 2003 to bring representatives of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of the Government of Brazil together with representatives of the United Nations and civil society to combat contemporary forms of slavery. This well-funded, permanent Commission, which is responsible for developing national plans to combat slavery and carrying out national awareness-raising campaigns, has been considered a leading example of successful efforts to combat slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Companies should engage with other actors across their industries and sectors; advocate for global action on contemporary forms of slavery both unilaterally and through membership or multi-stakeholder organizations; adopt codes of conduct and other corporate policies that explicitly prohibit forced labour and contemporary slavery; ensure that these policies are integrated throughout the company's management and performance systems; train all relevant staff, suppliers and other business partners on contemporary forms of slavery, and ensure that actions are taken beyond the first tier of the supply chain, where risks are greatest; and carry out risks assessments, audits and other forms of due diligence to determine, identify and root out any potential risk of exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In September 2008, the Government of Nepal officially liberated all Haliyas and pardoned their debts to landowners. However, in 2010, the Asia Human Rights Commission reported that most Haliyas were still working for their landlords, despite formal liberation. It is very difficult for former Haliyas to integrate into the labour force as they have little to no education or technical skills and 97 per cent do not own land. Approximately 150,000 people were estimated to be affected by the Haliya system in 2010. All Haliyas are male because females are not allowed to plough and cannot get loans to own land of their own. However, women still assist their husbands' landlords by collecting food for the animals or carrying manure to the farms. Children of Haliyas are often involved in the work as cattle herders, and therefore miss out on educational opportunities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Consumer countries and countries in which companies are headquartered have also taken action to prevent contemporary forms of slavery. In the United States, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which took effect on 1 January 2012, states that human trafficking and forced labour are state, federal and international crimes. The Act requires that all retailers and manufacturers with annual worldwide revenues in excess of USD 100 million disclose information about their efforts to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery from their supply chains so that consumers' purchasing decisions can be better informed. These disclosures must be posted on the companies' websites and include information about efforts to eradicate slavery from their supply chains, including verification, supplier audits, certifications, accountability standards and training. Failure to disclose this information by 30 November 2012 could allow for legal actions brought by the Attorney General of California.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Another vulnerable group of workers are Pallaris, women who work outside the mines separating out minerals from piles of dirt. Interviews with in-country labour experts indicate that Pallaris generally lack formal work contracts, are paid at piece rates set by mineral brokers and must obtain authorization from the mine owners or administrators to work outside the mines. This authorization can be rescinded at any time, which makes Pallaris extremely vulnerable. Sometimes Pallaris are forced to provide sexual favours or do additional work to obtain or maintain their authorization. Children often work alongside their mothers or in the gold mines themselves. Children as young as 8 have been known to work underground with their fathers, small children are often sent down small mine shafts, and children are made to carry extremely heavy loads and exposed to toxic chemicals in gold extraction and processing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Malaysia is currently the world's second largest producer of palm oil. According to a recent report, in order for Malaysia to "meet the growing global demand for cheaply produced palm oil, some producers are relying on forced labor and other forms of modern slavery". Agricultural work is not an attractive form of employment for the majority of Malaysians. Therefore, men, women, and children - primarily from Indonesia and Philippines - migrate to Malaysia in order to work on these plantations. Many of these workers are undocumented, poor and isolated, making them extremely vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery. The Secretary General of Indonesia's Commission for Child Protection reported that tens of thousands of Indonesian migrant workers and their children had been "systematically enslaved" on Malaysian plantations. The number of Indonesian children in forced labour in Sabah, Malaysia, is estimated to be as high as 72,000. Children born at the plantations are not issued birth certificates, preventing them from attending school and forcing them to stay at the plantations and work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- According to recent reports, migrant workers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are subject to contemporary forms of slavery in the construction sector. By nature, work in this sector is seasonal, time-sensitive and temporary, qualities that can lead to poor working conditions. Construction companies also use subcontracted labour, which can be exploited more easily. A 2003 survey estimated that 88,000 non-British workers were employed in construction. Migrant workers are attractive to construction companies because they are often seen as cheap, disposable labour. It is not possible for migrant workers to obtain a work permit for construction work, so they must enter the United Kingdom on a self-employed visa, which adds to their vulnerability and invisibility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Children as young as 3 years old were reportedly working in mines and quarries in Sierra Leone in 2012, with children as young as 10 subjected to contemporary forms of slavery in diamond mines. Children break apart, shovel and wash gravel all day, six days a week, for little to no compensation, with wages ranging from USD 0.15-0.60 per day. They are vulnerable to disease, injury and death due to collapsing mine pits. Children working in mines are denied educational opportunities, preventing them from escaping the cycle of poverty and enslavement. Families often cannot afford to send their children to school because they need their labour to supplement family earnings, as 60 per cent of the population lives in poverty, according to the United Nations Development Programme. The civil war in the country exacerbated children's vulnerability to slavery, as numerous child soldiers abducted by armed factions were subsequently forced to work in mining, many children lost their parents and schooling for most children was interrupted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Article 1 of the 1926 Slavery Convention defines slavery as the "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised". The Convention calls for the "complete abolition of slavery in all its forms", including the "capture, acquisition, sale or exchange, and disposal" of persons (art. 2, in conjunction with art. 1). Since the drafting of the Convention, most international legal frameworks have included articles concerning the prohibition of slavery, including article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 8, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and, more recently, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Protocol).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Governments must create long-term and nationwide awareness campaigns to disseminate information about relevant laws and risks of slavery, and mechanisms to detect, report and combat it must be widely disseminated to all stakeholders, not just to workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- International organizations should also support government efforts to build law enforcement capacity within public institutions; raise awareness of relevant stakeholders; build broad-based support for policies to eliminate contemporary slavery; develop and implement measures to assist victims of exploitation and prosecute perpetrators; and lead mobilization efforts for further financing and support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Without sustained assistance from the international donor community, national Governments will lack the resources they need to effectively challenge the diverse and complex forms of abuse described in the present report.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- Businesses must also take action both inside and outside of their supply chains. They need to find creative and effective ways to work with business peers and partners, NGOs, trade unions, Governments and international organizations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 88d
- Paragraph text
- [Governments should also ensure that other institutions and stakeholders are appropriately resourced and trained to detect, report and prosecute cases, including by providing:] Providing victims with free legal assistance, compensation, social protection, and long-term strategies for community and labour-market reintegration, including vocational training and job placement services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- A number of sources have reported that children are subjected to contemporary slavery in Ghanaian fisheries by "fisher-entrepreneurs" or middlemen who take them far from their homes to work in fisheries. Recruiters reportedly deceive families with promises of educational opportunities in exchange for a few hours of work each day. Children are also often promised cash or in-kind payments for their labour, such as a cow for boys or a sewing machine for girls. Parents may be offered an advance for their child's work, thus placing the child in a situation of debt bondage. Lake Volta is a popular destination for child slaves, as fishery resources have been depleted and children are considered cheap sources of labour. Tasks in the fishing sector are gendered: boys paddle canoes, pull in nets and carry fish; girls sort, pack and transport fish; and both boys and girls are often tasked with deep-water diving to clear entangled nets. Children usually work six to seven days a week, at least 12 hours a day, and fishing expeditions can last for many days. These children are exposed to dangerous working conditions, long hours, sexual and physical abuse, and even death due to drowning, snake bites or physical abuse at the hands of boat or equipment owners.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have also taken action to punish perpetrators of contemporary forms of slavery and compensate their victims. In Argentina, in one notable court case, a judge ordered the owners of a garment factory that was employing Bolivian workers under conditions of forced labour to turn the factory over to the workers. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Government has confiscated land on which individuals were subject to forced labour and turned it over to those who were forced to work on it. In 2013, the state of São Paulo in Brazil passed a law that makes companies liable for contemporary forms of slavery in their production chains (including in the operations of their subcontractors). The law allows the state government to cancel complicit companies' tax registration for 10 years, thereby making it impossible for them to continue operating legally. In May 2013, the Governor of São Paulo signed a decree enacting the above-mentioned Law 14.946, and the Senate of Brazil was considering passing the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) 57A/1999, which allows for the expropriation of the property of companies that have subjected workers to contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- To strengthen global efforts, the following recommendations are made to Governments, international organizations and businesses.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- In addition to identifying and protecting victims, Governments have also taken steps to rehabilitate them and reintegrate them into communities and labour markets. Victims may need psychological counselling to overcome the trauma they have experienced; they may also need compensation, social support, job training, social welfare and assistance with finding new employment to ensure that they do not fall prey to slavery again.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- In cases in where Governments are unwilling or unable to take action to combat contemporary forms of slavery or where complex problems require the coordinated action of multiple stakeholders, new initiatives have been formed to tackle these issues. While national authorities are the primary entities responsible for combating slavery, other stakeholders have recently emerged to aid their efforts, including intergovernmental organizations, unions, NGOs and companies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 88c
- Paragraph text
- [Governments should also ensure that other institutions and stakeholders are appropriately resourced and trained to detect, report and prosecute cases, including by providing:] Promoting greater public awareness of contemporary forms of slavery and the labour and human rights of workers and citizens; and
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- ILO followed this up in October 2008 with the publication of its handbook for employers on Combating Forced Labour, which sought to "encourage a broad partnership approach to the fight against forced labour and trafficking through the active engagement of business actors in global action" (p. 7).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Unions have also been active in combating contemporary forms of slavery. For example, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) established a best practice manual for trade unions on How to Combat Forced Labour and Trafficking in order to "provide trade unionists and other interested individuals and organisations with a useful tool for increasing awareness of what forced labour is and how it can be effectively challenged".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- In recent years, contemporary slavery has drawn increasing attention from Governments and stakeholders around the world, although this attention remains insufficient to the task of its eradication. A number of international instruments have defined and prohibited, inter alia, debt bondage, serfdom, servile marriage, child slavery, forced labour and traditional forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- To detect and remedy contemporary forms of slavery, Governments should improve the capacity of labour inspectorates and other public enforcement bodies; provide them with adequate resources and training; enable them to carry out their duties in regions and sectors where individuals are vulnerable; and establish systems to effectively verify legal compliance, payment of fines and adherence to remediation orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 88a
- Paragraph text
- [Governments should also ensure that other institutions and stakeholders are appropriately resourced and trained to detect, report and prosecute cases, including by providing:] Training for labour ministries, police, prosecutors, judges, NGOs, service providers and health workers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- To effectively tackle the contemporary forms of slavery, Governments at national and sub-national levels need sustainable, reliable and systematic assistance both of a technical and financial kind.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- To successfully combat contemporary forms of slavery, Governments should consider the good practices identified above and the recommendations presented below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- International agencies can assist Governments to develop strong legal and regulatory frameworks or revise existing frameworks, and promote the mainstreaming of policies against contemporary slavery, including across ministries and mandates such as poverty reduction, education, labour, social protection, health, trade, immigration and internal affairs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The closest figure for the number of individuals subjected to contemporary forms of slavery is that of 21 million victims of forced labour worldwide. This obviously does not include other forms of slavery that the Special Rapporteur has covered such as servile marriage, domestic servitude, child slavery and bonded labour which would show in a much higher number of victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Servile marriages are still practised today; for example, in Papua New Guinea. According to a 2012 report by The Projection Project, "women are victims of forced, fraudulent, servile, fraudulently brokered, and temporary marriages. Children may also become victims of exploitative marriage".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- ILO has reported that 69 per cent of child labour occurs in the agricultural sector, where there is a high incidence of the worst forms of child labour. Because agricultural work is generally low-paid, carried out by temporary and migrant workers and occurs in isolated rural areas subject to little government oversight, both child and adult agricultural workers are vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Even if prosecutors are able to successfully prosecute cases, penalties and fines are often too low to be dissuasive. For example, in Morocco, employers found guilty of using forced labour are subject to fines of approximately USD 3,000-3,500 for a first offence and double for a subsequent offence, along with a jail sentence of 6-90 days. However, these sanctions are not sufficiently dissuasive.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Governments should promote and ensure access to basic rights such as education, work and health for all living within their country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Supporting the engagement of national Governments should be a priority for the international community and donor agencies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Another challenge in combating contemporary forms of slavery is the failure of Governments in some countries to adequately protect victims, while in other countries punitive actions by the State can exacerbate worker vulnerability, in some cases forcing workers deeper underground and making it harder to detect victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 88b
- Paragraph text
- [Governments should also ensure that other institutions and stakeholders are appropriately resourced and trained to detect, report and prosecute cases, including by providing:] Establishing effective and reliable systems for reporting cases and referring victims to support services;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Servile marriage and domestic servitude are two forms of contemporary slavery that disproportionately affect women and girls. In a previous report, the Special Rapporteur defined servile marriage as an arrangement "in which a spouse is reduced to a commodity over whom any or all the powers of ownership are attached" (A/HRC/21/41, summary). Practices such as polygamy and "bride price", especially when coupled with the prevalence of domestic violence, are possible indicators of servile marriage. Women's bodies are directly tied to a family's honour in many cultures, and if a girl refuses to marry, "she can be subject to character assassination or kidnapping by the man or his family to force her into marriage or to rape her" (ibid., para. 71). There is little to no legal protection for women in these situations in many countries. Some countries have gone so far as to enact legislation that acquits perpetrators of rape if they marry their victim. If a woman enters into a servile marriage, she essentially becomes a slave to her husband and his family.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Domestic work is one of the largest service industries in the world, but it is among the least visible due to its location in the private sphere. Many women in domestic work find themselves physically and socially isolated and their right to organize is significantly restricted. Live-in workers are often expected to work 16-17 hours a day, frequently without a day off or vacation time. The work can be extremely taxing, including carrying heavy loads and handling toxic substances. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse occur in situations of domestic servitude. Employers often confiscate domestic workers' passports or identity papers and withhold their wages for "safe keeping", which makes it very difficult for them to leave their employment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- During her mission to Lebanon, the Special Rapporteur was informed that migrant domestic workers made up 25 per cent of the Lebanese workforce and faced "physical abuse, a category encompassing physical suffering caused by working a minimum of 18 hours per day and physical assault … non-payment of wages, sexual abuse, moral harassment, food deprivation, sexual harassment, forced labour … physical threats, forced prostitution, non-renewal of papers and employment of minors" (A/HRC/21/41/Add.1, para. 9). The Governments of Madagascar, Philippines and Sri Lanka have since prohibited their citizens from working in domestic service in Lebanon due to these extremely poor conditions and the fact that there is virtually no system in place in Lebanon to protect domestic workers. Article 7 of the Lebanese Labour Code of 1946 specifically excludes domestic workers from its provisions (ibid., para. 21).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In informal artisanal mining, contemporary slavery is prevalent and freedom of movement is severely curtailed. Mines are often located far from population centres and many small, informal mines operate in areas outside the purview of the law. Therefore, it is very difficult for authorities to locate and identify victims of slavery in the sector. There are no labour inspections at many informal mines and violence, crime, and substance abuse are rampant. Working hours are often long, work is extremely dangerous, living conditions are poor and workers are often paid illegally low wages. Debt bondage and child slavery are also common.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- A number of countries have also established specific protections for migrant workers, many of whom are extremely vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery. In 2011, the Czech Republic made several legislative changes to improve protections for migrants and reduce their vulnerability to exploitation. The Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals was amended to require that employers cover the costs of repatriation when foreign nationals exit the country before the expiration of their work permit. Taiwanese law requires government oversight of the agencies through which migrant workers are recruited in order to ensure that they are not charged excessive service fees. In the United Arab Emirates, Ministerial Resolution No. 1186 of 2010 allows migrant workers to transfer from one employer to another after their contracts expire. In 2007, the Mexican National Migration Institute improved labour protections for migrant agricultural workers with the intent of regularizing and reducing abuses of migrant workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Some countries of origin of migrant workers have also taken important steps. They have established protections for their citizens to reduce the risk of contemporary forms of slavery when migrating overseas for employment. The Nepalese Foreign Employment Act of 2007 delineates the role of the Government in the management of overseas employment through the regulation of licences for recruitment agencies. It also defines the process of recruitment for overseas employment; sets minimum wage, labour contract and insurance requirements; requires pre-departure training; and sets procedures for filing complaints. However, it failed to cover employment of Nepali migrants in India. In May 2012, the Government of Nepal announced a policy of mandatory verification of migrant workers' documents by Nepali missions abroad and that it was working with receiving-country Governments to establish a minimum salary for Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are amongst the largest employers of Nepali workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- As business has become increasingly global, the international community has also responded by adopting non-binding global frameworks that are addressed to business. For example, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights offer companies guidance on key labour and human rights issues relevant to contemporary forms of slavery. These principles, which were endorsed by the Human Rights Council in June 2011, cover all aspects of human rights, including reference to ILO core labour standards; and provide a common, authoritative standard and reference point for mitigating the risk of negative human rights impacts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- In order to do so, some sending and receiving countries of migrant workers have signed bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding. Argentina and Peru, for example, recently established a Memorandum of Understanding on migrant domestic workers (see A/HRC/15/20, para. 82), while a new one for the employment of Indonesian maids was signed between the Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia in 2011 to update a 2006 agreement. This agreement requires an employment contract, sets recruitment fees, provides for a weekly day of rest, allows maids to keep their passports and requires the month-long training of Indonesian maids prior to entering Malaysia as workers. The agreement lifted a two-year ban that Indonesia had imposed on migration to Malaysia for domestic work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Labour inspectorates and labour courts are extremely important entities, as they are on the frontline of detection and sanctioning of contemporary forms of slavery. It is therefore essential that they function properly and include measures such as increased fines for labour law violations; reduced timelines for processing cases and imposing fines; increased funding for the labour inspectorate; provision of police assistance; establishment of a unit to verify employer compliance with labour court orders; criminal prosecution of employers who fail to comply; and monitoring of enforcement of labour court orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- There have also been recent awareness-raising campaigns on an international level that focus on awareness among global companies. Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) has laid out a series of good practice examples on global migration to which businesses should adhere. BSR establishes specific standards regarding the legal status of migrant workers, worker rights, recruitment, orientation and training, wages and benefits, withholding of documents, living conditions, leave, grievance mechanisms, and termination and repatriation. ILO has also developed a handbook for employers and business on forced labour, which seeks to raise their awareness and understanding of the issue.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Unions have also become increasingly involved in global initiatives to raise awareness of contemporary forms of slavery. For example, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations has recently published a tool for its affiliates on migrant workers' vulnerability. The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) has carried out a mass media campaign to raise awareness about slave-like conditions under which workers are employed in the Italian agricultural sector. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has also set up information desks at airports, bus and train stations; shown videos on public transportation; and established community education programmes and a website to educate potential victims on risks of contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Women are also more often in charge of children, which adds pressure on them to work and provide for their households. Owing to the need to work, women may be financially obliged to remain in undesirable jobs and thus forced to endure less than ideal working conditions. In many countries, women are also at a disadvantage due to cultural traditions. Finally, women and girls are often denied equal access to education, which makes them less attractive in the labour market and fuels the cycle of poverty and vulnerability to slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Children working as domestic servants experienced a variety of abuses, including physical and sexual abuse, long working hours, isolation and little to no access to education. According to the University of Nairobi, "child domestics [experience] significantly more psychological problems than other children (both working and non-working children). Frequent headaches, eating problems, nightmares, tiredness and unhappiness were found to be very common amongst child domestics". These children were found to be extremely vulnerable to becoming victims of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination based on race, ethnicity and caste also plays a role in increasing vulnerability to contemporary forms of slavery. Bonded labour in Asia, for example, disproportionately affects people with disadvantaged social statuses such as a low caste and the majority of forced labour victims in South America were from indigenous cultures, while strict social hierarchies in West Africa can dictate a person's status as a slave. In many societies, racism is very common and typically the darker the skin, the more abuse that follows.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Yet, even when inspectors are trained to identify victims of slavery, many victims may be afraid to talk because of threats made against them. This is especially true with migrant workers, many of whom are afraid that authorities may harass, detain or deport them. In the United States of America, for example, some migrant workers have reported that they are afraid to talk to neighbours or unable to do so owing to language barriers. In some cases, their employers have threatened to report them to immigration authorities if they try to leave.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- One of the most important steps in ensuring the successful implementation of laws on contemporary forms of slavery is the provision of training to authorities, including law enforcement officers, labour inspectors, judges and immigration officials. Training should cover relevant law, victim protection mechanisms and techniques for identifying victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, courts have also enforced slavery laws. For example, in 2008, Niger - which had criminalized slavery in 2003 - was brought before the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice, which ruled that Niger was responsible for failing to protect 24-year-old Hadijatou Mani from slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- One of the most important elements in combating contemporary slavery is awareness-raising and prevention. Some countries have set up innovative systems to raise awareness of contemporary forms of slavery. For example, in 2009, ILO noted that, as part of the National Policy and Plan of Action of Pakistan, the Government incorporated information on bonded labour into the curriculum of judicial officials, police and the civil service.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Alongside the development of new laws, many countries have also taken steps to ensure that laws are effectively enforced. This is often more difficult, resource-intensive and time-consuming than getting laws passed. However, a number of countries have taken efforts to overcome challenges to successfully combat contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- A UNICEF study on early marriage indicates that girls under the age of 15 years are five times more likely to die during delivery as a result of haemorrhage, sepsis, preeclampsia or eclampsia and obstructed labour than women between the ages of 20 and 24 years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution 66/140, the General Assembly reiterated its call for an end to harmful traditional or customary practices, such as early and forced marriage, and called upon States to take appropriate measures to address the root factors of child and forced marriages, including by undertaking educational activities to raise awareness regarding the negative aspects of such practices. It urged all States to enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage was entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses, and, in addition, to enact and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage and raise the minimum age for marriage where necessary, and to develop and implement comprehensive policies, plans of action and programmes for the survival, protection, development and advancement of the girl child in order to promote and protect the full enjoyment of her human rights and to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including by making such plans an integral part of her total development process.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly also urged States to ensure that efforts to enact and implement legislation to end child and forced marriages engaged all stakeholders and agents of change and to ensure that the information on the legislation against the practice was well known and generated social support for the enforcement of such laws and legislation. States were urged to support community workshops and discussion sessions to enable communities to collectively explore ways to prevent and address child and forced marriages, provide information through stakeholders credible to the community, such as medical personnel and local, community and religious leaders, regarding the harm associated with those marriages, give greater voice to girls and ensure consistence of message throughout the entire community, and encourage the much-needed strong engagement of men and boys.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly called upon States to support and implement, including with dedicated resources, multisectoral policies and programmes that ended the practice of child and forced marriages and to ensure the provision of viable alternatives and institutional support, especially educational opportunities for girls, with an emphasis on keeping girls in school through post-primary education, including those who were already married or pregnant, ensuring physical access to education, including by establishing safe residential facilities, increasing financial incentives to families, promoting the empowerment of girls, improving educational quality and ensuring safe and hygienic conditions in schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Servile marriage affects both adults and children. Under international human rights law, a child cannot provide informed consent to a marriage. The marriage is therefore considered forced and falls under the slavery-like practices defined in the Convention. International human rights law, including the Convention, requires that a minimum age for marriage be established, with 18 years the recommended minimum age. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges that, in some countries, the minimum age for marriage is lower than 18 years. She also recognizes that, in some countries, exceptions are made for marriage below the national minimum age. The Special Rapporteur strongly urges that rigorous measures be taken in such situations to ensure that the rights of the child are in no way violated by marriage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- On 22 February 2008, in Prosecutor v. Brima et al, the Special Court for Sierra Leone recognized forced marriage as a crime against humanity under international criminal law for the first time. The Court confirmed that forced marriage involved a perpetrator compelling a person by force or threat of force, through words, or conduct of the perpetrator, or anyone associated with him, into a forced conjugal association resulting in great suffering or serious physical or mental injury on the part of the victim. It concluded that forced marriage might also include one or more international crimes such as enslavement, imprisonment, rape, sexual slavery and abduction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In 2005, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted resolution 1468 on forced marriages and child marriage. The Assembly defined forced marriage as "the union of two persons at least one of whom has not given their full consent to the marriage". It defined child marriage as "the union of two persons at least one of whom is under 18 years of age". Among other things, it urged the national parliaments of the Council of Europe member States to fix at or raise to 18 years the minimum statutory age of marriage for women and men, to make it compulsory for every marriage to be declared and entered by the competent authority in an official register, and to consider the possibility of dealing with acts of forced marriage as an independent criminal offence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In its general recommendation No. 24, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women specifically recommends that States parties enact and effectively enforce laws that prohibit the marriage of girls. In its general recommendation No. 21, the Committee recognizes that forced marriage may exist as a result of cultural or religious beliefs, but maintains that a woman's right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage is central to her life and to her dignity and equality as a human being and that this must be protected and enforced by law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- The minimum age cannot be applied if there is no proper birth and marriage registration in the country. Registration of births should be compulsory even if the marriages of the parents are not registered.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 27
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- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women contains specific provisions in relation to forced marriage (article 16 (1) (b)) and early marriage (article 16 (2)). Child marriages, which are unions that involve at least one partner below the minimum legal age of marriage, constitute a form of forced marriage as the child is not in a position to consent. Article 16 of the Convention specifies that the betrothal and the marriage of a child are to have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, is to be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Under article 24 (3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, States parties are required to take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Article 17 (2) of the American Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to raise a family, and requires that no marriage is to be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses. Under article 17 (3), the States parties are to take appropriate steps to ensure the equality of rights and the adequate balancing of responsibilities of the spouses as to marriage, during marriage, and in the event of its dissolution. Article 3 of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women safeguards a woman's right to be free from violence in both the public and private spheres.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Article 21 (2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child states that child marriage and the betrothal of girls and boys are to be prohibited and effective action, including legislation, is to be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years. Article 6 of the 2003 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa states that no marriage is to take place without the free and full consent of both parties, and requires States to enact appropriate national legislative measures to guarantee that the minimum age of marriage for women is to be 18 years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- In some communities, honour is connected with virtue, good works, righteous behaviour and obligations to one's parents, older persons and the community. Honour-related killings have often been associated with religious beliefs. These, however, are traditional or cultural practices. Among some Asian tribes, honour (or izzat) is associated with the female body and therefore women and girls must be guarded, protected and passed on to another member of the tribe. A girl or woman dishonours her family and tribe if her body is violated, even by force, and the shame can be cleansed only through her death.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Family status depends on honour. In patriarchal and patrilineal societies, maintaining the honour of the family is a woman's responsibility. The concept of women as commodities and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights equal to those of men is deeply embedded in these societies. Women are seen as the property of men and must be obedient and passive, rather than assertive and active. Any assertive behaviour is considered to be an element that would result in an imbalance of power relations within the parameters of the family unit (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 27). UNICEF reports that in some countries, early marriages are regarded by families as a means of protecting girls from premarital sex that would undermine their honour and that of their families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- In many countries, there is a widespread belief, which also finds expression in law, that a husband is entitled to sexual intercourse and may insist on this entitlement by force. There is a growing trend by countries to repeal such laws, however. For example, Ghana, after much public debate and consultation with stakeholders, amended its legislation in order to protect women from marital rape and enacted new legislation criminalizing physical, sexual and physiological abuse, intimidation, threats and harassment between spouses, other intimate partners and former partners, among others (A/HRC/7/6/Add. 3, paras. 37 and 74).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 102
- Paragraph text
- Education has been recognized as one of the most effective ways to delay early marriage and allow for married women to make more informed choices about their health and that of their families. States should establish more schools, recruit qualified teachers (in particular female teachers) and train teachers in subjects such as gender sensitivity, HIV/AIDS and reproductive and sexual health. They should also offer economic support and incentives for girls and their families, such as fee subsidies, scholarships, school supplies, school uniform and conditional cash transfers. There should be proper monitoring and evaluation of such transfers. States should also adopt all appropriate educational measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct that foster cultural practices among families that lead to servile marriage. Teachers and other educational staff should be trained to recognize vulnerable girls and react appropriately. Continuing formal education and vocational training for married girls and women should be provided.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Girls and women who seek to leave servile marriage may be victims of acid attacks or honour-related killings. Acid attacks, which involve the use of sulphuric acid to disfigure or kill, have been reported in Asia, Europe and North and Latin America.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- The right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex features in numerous international human rights instruments in relation to marriage. For example, articles 1 and 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women call for the elimination of discrimination against women in all matters related to marriage and family relations. Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of children to be free from discrimination, including on the grounds of age and sex. In cases where there is a difference between the minimum age for girls and boys to marry, however, the minimum age for girls is always lower than that for boys.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Victims of servile marriage are often unable to escape because their families and/or the societies in which they live will not support them, whether for economic reasons or for traditional, cultural and religious beliefs. Such beliefs and practices cannot, however, be used to justify servile marriage. Under the Supplementary Slavery Convention, States parties are to bring about the complete abolition or abandonment of slavery-like institutions and practices, such as servile marriage. It does not provide for any exceptions in which slavery may continue to exist. Evolving international law has confirmed that slavery is a crime against humanity and, as such, no culture, tradition or religious practice can be used to justify servile marriage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Families
- Year
- 2012
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