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Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
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Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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." | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 23 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 76 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 90 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | At the regional level, the Council of Europe has shown leadership in taking up the issue. In its recommendation 1663 (2004) on domestic slavery, servitude, au pairs and "mail-order brides", the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed dismay that slavery still exists in Europe, while highlighting that "today's slaves are predominantly female and usually work in private households". Human rights bodies of the African Union and the Organization of American States have addressed concerns relating to domestic workers. From 17 to 18 June 2010, the Special Rapporteur participated in a major conference on trafficking for the purpose of domestic servitude organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 92 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Although the victims are largely invisible, domestic servitude constitutes a global human rights concern. Every region in the world is affected. Domestic servitude takes many shape and forms, ranging from slavery as understood by the 1926 Slavery Convention to slavery-like practices, such as bonded domestic labour and child domestic labour. Millions of women and girls, pursuing the opportunities that domestic work provides, while providing a valuable contribution to society, are at risk because their rights, equal human dignity and autonomy are not adequately protected. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 64 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Feminized poverty pushes women and girls into domestic work and makes them easy to exploit. Women, who often carry the burden of providing for children, suffer disproportionally from cuts to welfare programmes and essential public services in a situation of economic crisis and budget cuts. In many countries, the collapse of entire agricultural sectors, often linked to inequitable terms of trade, has driven also women and girls into rural-urban or international migrations. With the supply of cheap, desperate labour outstripping demand, power relationships are often so grossly unequal that the degree of exploitation endured by domestic workers depends on the employer's will. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2010 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 34 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 66 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2013 | ||
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 70 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2013 | ||
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 29 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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". | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 25 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2014 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 19 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 35 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 21 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2014 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 43 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Forced marriage combines sexual exploitation with domestic servitude. The victims are forced to perform household chores in line with gendered stereotypes, while submitting to their husbands' sexual demands. The link between forced marriages and servitude is explicitly recognized by article 1 (c) of the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery, which considers women to be persons of servile status if they have been subjected to:
"Any institution or practice whereby:
(i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or
(ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or
(iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person." | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 45 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Child marriages, unions that involve at least one partner below the minimum legal age of marriage, constitute a form of forced marriage since the child is not in a position to consent. Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women specifies that "the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage". The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years for both man and woman. This age limit, which is in line with the definition of the child provided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is also reflected in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (art. 21). | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 85 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Another successful ILO example is the programme for the prevention and progressive elimination of child labour in small-scale traditional gold-mining in Latin America, which had regional, national and local components and was aimed at contributing to the elimination of child labour in small-scale mining in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Successful intervention elements identified included: the establishment or improvement of social services, such as education services for children and health services for all the population; improvement of the technology for mining exploitation and health conditions and job security; giving impetus for micro-enterprises for mothers/fathers of children that had been working in mining and creation of income-generating alternatives for women; creation and strengthening of grass-roots organizations, and giving impetus to a local development processes with the participation of various actors. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2011 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 27 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 30 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 31 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 45 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 46 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 59 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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). | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 90 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Rapporteur recommends that States ratify fully and implement all relevant international legal instruments to prevent child slavery such as the 1926 Slavery Convention, the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2011 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 102 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 86 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 87 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 16 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
| 2016 | |||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 103 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | States should also increase and improve access to reproductive health services and information, in particular for girls and women, including access to family planning. Health information tailored to young mothers about proper nutrition and care for their health and the health of their babies should be made available. Access to reproductive health care for women and girls in urban and rural areas needs to be increased and improved by ensuring that adequate resources and health-care experts are available. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 60 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | As a result of cultural beliefs, girls and women with dual nationality are sometimes abducted by their families from one country and forced to marry men from their parents' country of origin. This has happened in the United Kingdom to women from Asian diaspora communities. The Governments involved have worked through consular assistance and judicial proceedings to provide victims with effective remedies. In 2005, the United Kingdom set up a forced marriage unit under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office to tackle the issue. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2012 |