Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 95 entities
7 columns hidden
Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 48 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Relevant economic factors include advance or deferred payment designed to increase dependency, payment that keeps workers below the poverty level, payment in kind only or prohibitions to freely change employers. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 18 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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). | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2014 | ||
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 27 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2014 | ||
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 30 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | 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. 56 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 59 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 21 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 24 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 40 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 23 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Owing to the indicated vulnerabilities, domestic workers are often subject to unfair and exploitative labour practices. Some are paid way below minimum wage standards or not at all, while others are confronted with the arbitrary deduction or withholding of wages. Many domestic workers are expected to live with their employers, yet are only offered sub-standard or degrading living conditions. Live-in workers might be expected to work 16-18 hours a day, be always on call and forego regular rest days and vacations. They frequently face restrictions on their freedom of communication and movement. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse is also common. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 25 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Slavery and servitude have in common that the victim is economically exploited, totally dependent on other individuals and cannot end the relationship at his or her own volition. In cases of slavery, as classically defined by the Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour and Similar Institutions and Practices Convention of 1926, the perpetrator puts forward a claim to "own" the victim that is sustained by custom, social practice or domestic law, even though it violates international law. In servitude and slavery like practices, no such claim to formal ownership exists. This does not mean that servitude is the lesser human rights violation: the humiliation, exploitation and suffering can be equally or more intense depending on the nature of the individual case. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 47 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Servitude and other slavery-like practices prohibited by article 8 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights extend beyond the specific instances recognized by the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery and includes other cases of economic exploitation in which the victim is so dependent on the perpetrator that s/he cannot leave the situation of exploitation. Dependency in this context can derive from a multiplicity of physical, economic, social, cultural, psychological and legal factors. While each factor may by itself not be strong enough to create the severe dependency characterizing servitude, the factors may reinforce each other creating a net of dependency factors from which the victim cannot extract herself. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 59 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Trafficking is one path into domestic servitude. International law defines trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Slavery, practices similar to slavery and servitude are among the worst forms of exploitation that can result from trafficking; the victim's "consent" to such exploitation is immaterial. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 62 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Domestic servitude does not emerge in a vacuum but is linked to wider patterns of social and economic exclusion, discrimination and, most importantly, a lack of State protection. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 79 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Even where there are laws and contracts that are meant to protect domestic workers, they are often inadequately enforced. Sometimes employers do not even have to register live-in domestic workers. There are no meaningful complaints mechanisms or the authorities fail to adequately follow up complaints. In many countries, the authorities also lack the legal power or human resources to follow up violations taking place in private homes. A positive exception is Uruguay, where the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate can obtain judicial authorization to conduct home inspections in cases of presumed labour law violations; the inspectorate has created a special section to monitor domestic work. Other countries require that employers ensure that live-in domestic workers attend periodic, private interviews with labour inspectors. This breaks their isolation and allows them to report abuse and exploitation. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 80 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The implementation and enforcement of applicable laws and contracts is often undermined because domestic workers are not adequately informed of their rights and obligations. By the same token, many employers are not sensitized thereon and it is left to their individual moral judgement to determine what constitutes fair treatment. Unions may find it difficult to organize domestic workers since they are dispersed and often hard to access if they live with their employers. In some cases, domestic workers are even prohibited from forming or joining trade unions, which constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of association and the prohibition of discrimination. These obstacles notwithstanding, non-governmental organizations and domestic worker self-help groups have taken up tasks that are the responsibility of the Government: setting up points of information in places where domestic workers are accessible (e.g. shopping malls or water-drawing points) or providing shelter for workers fleeing abuse or exploitation. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Adopt specific provisions to criminalize servitude in all its forms and manifestations, including bonded labour, child and forced marriages and other so-called "cultural" practices; prosecute and punish perpetrators with due diligence and ensure that victims can obtain reparation for material and immaterial loss from perpetrators. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Put in place effective and accessible information and complaints mechanisms for victims of domestic servitude, domestic workers and other community members (e.g. telephone hotlines with operators speaking relevant languages). Instruct immigration and other relevant authorities to refer cases of suspected domestic servitude to the police and the labour authorities. Provide all victims of domestic servitude with adequate and unconditional assistance to protect, rehabilitate and reintegrate them, including by funding relevant non-governmental organizations. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Strictly prohibit and take action against anyone who unduly restricts the freedom of movement and communication of domestic workers, including by prohibiting them to leave the house outside work hours or by withholding passports, other identification documents or air tickets. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2010 | ||
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Curtail practices that reinforce dependency, including by prohibiting employment agencies from charging fees to domestic workers (rather than employers), prohibiting payment in kind and prohibiting advance or deferred payment schemes designed to create dependence. | 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. 111 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Governments should establish programmes to create awareness in frontier communities about the health risks they face particularly with regard to handling toxic chemicals such as mercury, cyanide and lead. The communities should undergo testing for contamination and those contaminated should be provided with medical care. Local health workers should be clinically trained on how to prevent, diagnose and treat contamination. These programmes should also extend to ensure that workers are made aware of the less visible and long-term negative impact on the environment (soil, water) which threatens food security and biodiversity. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2011 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 18 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 25 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | This provision is reiterated in article 16 (2) of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and in the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages. Article 2 of the latter states that States parties are to specify a minimum age for marriage, which is given as not less than 15 years in the non-binding recommendation accompanying the Convention. It further states that no marriage is to be legally entered into by any person under that age, except where a competent authority has granted a dispensation as to age, for serious reasons, in the interests of the intending spouses. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 32 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Servile marriage 2012, para. 80 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Furthermore, isolation, marital rape and verbal abuse have serious long-term effects on victims' mental health. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2012 | ||
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 16 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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". | 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. 19 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | 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. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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)). | 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. 39 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2013 |