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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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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
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. 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. 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. 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. 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
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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
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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
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