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Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have also taken action to punish perpetrators of contemporary forms of slavery and compensate their victims. In Argentina, in one notable court case, a judge ordered the owners of a garment factory that was employing Bolivian workers under conditions of forced labour to turn the factory over to the workers. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Government has confiscated land on which individuals were subject to forced labour and turned it over to those who were forced to work on it. In 2013, the state of São Paulo in Brazil passed a law that makes companies liable for contemporary forms of slavery in their production chains (including in the operations of their subcontractors). The law allows the state government to cancel complicit companies' tax registration for 10 years, thereby making it impossible for them to continue operating legally. In May 2013, the Governor of São Paulo signed a decree enacting the above-mentioned Law 14.946, and the Senate of Brazil was considering passing the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) 57A/1999, which allows for the expropriation of the property of companies that have subjected workers to contemporary forms of slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- As mentioned above, the issue of servile marriage in conflict was recently highlighted by the adoption of a landmark judgement by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Prosecutor v. Brima et al, in which it recognized forced marriage as a crime against humanity under international criminal law for the first time.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), outlines measures for prevention and elimination of forced labour and emphasizes the need for victim protection and access to appropriate and effective remedies, such as compensation. One of the preventive measures it sets out is "supporting due diligence by both the public and private sectors to prevent and respond to risks of forced or compulsory labour" (art. 2 (e)). The non-binding ILO Recommendation 203, providing practical guidance on the Protocol, while not referring specifically to supply chains, contains a provision on preventive measures, in which States are called on to provide guidance and support to employers and businesses to take effective measures to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the risks of forced or compulsory labour in their operations or in products, services or operations to which they may be directly linked (section 4 (j)). The Protocol is largely aligned with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework (see below), although it is limited because, inter alia, it focuses only on forced labour and not on all human rights violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Establish and/or update comprehensive national action plans for the eradication of contemporary forms of slavery including debt bondage. The national action plans should outline measures to prevent and eradicate debt bondage, and ensure the protection of persons released from debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Unions have also been active in combating contemporary forms of slavery. For example, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) established a best practice manual for trade unions on How to Combat Forced Labour and Trafficking in order to "provide trade unionists and other interested individuals and organisations with a useful tool for increasing awareness of what forced labour is and how it can be effectively challenged".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, courts have also enforced slavery laws. For example, in 2008, Niger - which had criminalized slavery in 2003 - was brought before the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice, which ruled that Niger was responsible for failing to protect 24-year-old Hadijatou Mani from slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Another challenge in combating contemporary forms of slavery is the failure of Governments in some countries to adequately protect victims, while in other countries punitive actions by the State can exacerbate worker vulnerability, in some cases forcing workers deeper underground and making it harder to detect victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 104
- Paragraph text
- States should launch awareness-raising campaigns about servile marriage and the remedies available to potential and actual victims, reproductive health and health care, and the importance of birth and marriage registration. These should be targeted at the general public and health-care workers. Programmes should be developed with local communities and their leaders, including elders and religious leaders, to stop servile marriage within the community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have enacted legislation that provides that a rapist may be acquitted of rape if he marries his victim. These laws do not consider the victim to be a victim and do not take into account her rights as they favour only the perpetrator of the crime. The victim's rights are further violated when she is forced to marry her rapist and enter a servile marriage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- [Domestic workers have made impressive gains in organizing themselves across the globe. More efforts are needed, however, to empower individual workers. The Special Rapporteur recommends:] States should abolish all legal or factual obstacles preventing domestic workers from exercising their human right to freely associate, including in trade unions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- [In the case of live-in domestic workers, the identity of work place and home is deeply problematic as it makes this group dangerously isolated. In order to limit and regulate live-in domestic work, States should:] In addition, States should establish blacklists prohibiting households, in which one member has been found to have abused or exploited a live-in domestic worker, from employing other workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Responding to a international campaign led by domestic workers associations, the ILO Governing Body decided to place an item on decent work for domestic workers on the agenda of the ninety-ninth session of the International Labour Conference (June 2010). In a landmark decision, the Conference decided to adopt standards concerning decent work for domestic workers, which are to take the form of a binding convention supplemented by a recommendation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Restrictions of domestic workers' human rights to freedom of movement and residence can also be indicators for dependency. In some cases, domestic workers are forced to live with their employers and locked into the house virtually 24 hours a day. This is not only a violation, but also means that they are isolated, unable to report exploitation to the authorities and incapable of obtaining support from peers, friends or labour union representatives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The mining and forestry sectors have also been cited in reports on forced labour in supply chains. Here risks include vulnerability arising from the isolated nature of workplaces, the role of private security firms, the presence of organized criminals attracted by high value commodities such as gold or other minerals, and the growth of illegal, unlicensed or unregulated mines and forestry operations that benefit from weak regulation and law enforcement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- While links with other forms of organized violent crime cannot be excluded, trafficking into domestic servitude usually takes places under the cover of activities that seem legal or enjoy widespread social acceptance. Agents recruiting domestic workers become perpetrators of trafficking, if they deliberately deceive their clients about the conditions of work or engage in illegal practices of control (such as the withholding of passports), while knowing that such practices will result in the exploitation of their recruits.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Despite the various measures taken to eradicate the worst forms of child labour from the carpet industry, these forms were reported to continue to exist in handmade carpet production units in South Asia, in which carpets are produced for export mainly to the United States of America. Various studies have reported the existence of contemporary forms of slavery and labour exploitation in the construction industry and forced labour in the manufacturing of electronic goods has also been the subject of recent research.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- [In the case of live-in domestic workers, the identity of work place and home is deeply problematic as it makes this group dangerously isolated. In order to limit and regulate live-in domestic work, States should:] Require employers to undergo a mandatory awareness raising training before employing live-in workers. Employers should be obliged to register live-in workers and ensure that they present themselves to periodic private interviews with labour inspectors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The State's ability to enforce the law can also be weak in remote and isolated areas. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, for example, the State had a weak presence in the Chaco region, resulting in a failure to comply with ILO Convention No. 29. In Peru, research indicates that the Government's capacity to enforce labour and criminal law in protected and remote areas is limited by the danger and costliness of entering them. Owing to a fear of heavily armed groups operating illegally, the authorities are not able to enter protected areas unless they are provided with military support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Large-scale mining companies undergo regular inspection and have unionized workers; however, child slavery in the mining and quarrying sector normally occurs in the small-scale (artisanal) mining and quarrying sector. The mining sector includes the extraction of minerals (such as coltan), precious metals (such as gold and silver), precious stones (such as diamonds and rubies) and semi-precious stones (such as tanzanite). Quarrying is extraction from an open pit in order to acquire stone or aggregate (sand, gravel or crushed rock) for the construction industry.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- There are positive examples of States adopting specific norms to protect domestic workers and thereby discouraging domestic servitude. South Africa, for instance, has introduced a minimum wage for domestic workers. Labour legislation in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China, foresees a minimum wage, overtime pay, a weekly day of rest, maternity leave and paid annual leave for domestic workers. Austrian law requires that live-in domestic workers have at least a 10-hour period of daily rest, including during the night hours of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Interventions to support the empowerment of adults who are in debt bondage or who are vulnerable to debt bondage are necessary, both for the individuals concerned and for subsequent generations. Initiatives that ensure that bonded labourers have access to land, such as land reform in rural areas, and fairer leasing arrangements; full, free and productive employment and skill training; and affordable credit could promote the empowerment of bonded labourers and prevent debt bondage. Furthermore, the implementation of projects that facilitate access to regulated credit schemes, both for entrepreneurial purposes and for personal needs, could prevent workers from becoming trapped in debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In Brazil, the highest incidence of what is commonly referred to as "slave labour", which includes the practice of debt bondage, is found in industries associated with the production of commodities such as live cattle, soybean, cotton, sugar and coffee. Other products identified with slave labour include vegetable charcoal and ethanol. Some of the regions reported to have a high incidence of slave labour include the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Tocantins and Bahia, which also have been identified as states with a high incidence of violence and deforestation for cattle ranching. Labour intermediaries known as gatos usually recruit workers by offering them advance payments and free transport to the work site. Once they have arrived, the labourers, most of whom are males aged between 18 and 34, become indebted, as a result of items they buy on credit at the canteens run by the employer, and the charges for working tools, accommodation and transport.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Some Governments in countries that produce goods associated with contemporary forms of slavery have taken steps to publicize and punish individuals and companies that produce these goods. For example, Brazil passed a decree in 2003 containing a list, commonly referred to as "the Dirty List" of 52 individuals and entities that use or have used slave labour. The individuals and entities on the biannually updated list are barred from receiving national subsidies or tax exemptions and from engaging in financial arrangements with a number of public financial institutions. The Bank of Brazil denies financing to landowners who employ slave labour and the Ministry of National Integration recommended that private sector lenders also deny them financing. The Ministry of Labour's "dirty list" included 165 employers of slave labourers in 17 states in 2009, 220 employers in 2010 and 294 employers at the end of 2011.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Consumer-based initiatives and public awareness campaigns have also begun to focus on contemporary forms of slavery. The International Organization for Migration "Buy Responsibly" campaign looks at consumer products like cocoa, coffee, sugar and shrimp, and identifies how each of these can be linked to forced labour in global supply chains. The Slavery Footprint campaign personalizes modern-day slavery by asking consumers "how many slaves work for you?" It raises awareness about the effects of each person's consumption, including products such as electronics, food, apparel and other household items. Finally, the Free2Work application for mobile phones provides consumers with information about specific products and how they relate to modern-day slavery. It rates companies based on their anti-slavery commitments, assigning them a letter grade from "A" to "F" to inform consumers and promote ethical consumerism.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Contemporary forms of slavery can be found around the world, but there are certain regions where it is more prevalent. For the 2012 International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate, the number of persons in conditions of forced labour are broken down by region: the Middle East had 600,000 persons in forced labour, "developed economies and the European Union" had 1.5 million, Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States had 1.6 million, Latin America and the Caribbean had 1.8 million, Africa had 3.7 million, and Asia and the Pacific had 11.7 million. Despite having the second lowest number of victims of forced labour, Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States registered the highest rate of forced labour, at 420 per 100,000 inhabitants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- Violations relating to servile marriage such as domestic servitude and sexual slavery should be criminalized. Governments should also denounce and strengthen laws regarding crimes committed in the name of honour. Victims or survivors of honour crimes should not be placed in protective custody but instead provided with long-term safe housing. Psychosocial services should be provided for victims, such as community-based support mechanisms and services, including mobilizing the community and raising its awareness of the consequences of the crimes, to help to prevent future crimes and to assist with the reintegration of victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Legislation should allow for marriages concluded under force to be made void, annulled or dissolved without undue burden placed on the victims of such marriages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- As early as 1965, the ILO passed a resolution calling for normative action to improve the condition of domestic workers. However, this call has yet to be heeded by the international community of States. None of the 188 ILO conventions to date specifically addresses domestic workers. Instead, many key conventions contain "flexibility clauses" that have been used by certain States to specifically exclude domestic workers from the protective ambit of the conventions. Among more recent treaties, the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) and the Night Work Convention (No. 171) allow States to exclude "limited categories of workers when the application of the Convention to them would raise special problems of a substantial nature" (common art. 2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The Brazilian Ministry of Labour maintains a record of people and corporations found to be using slave labour, which has been termed the "dirty list", established by ministerial decree of 2003. The database was used by public and private companies that applied commercial and financial sanctions. The list grew to include 52 employers of slave labourers in 2003 to 609 as of July 2014. However, in December 2014, the Supreme Court granted an injunction to an association of construction companies, suspending the "dirty list". To date, attorneys from the Federal Government have not been able to re-establish the database. Another challenge to the list was launched following the Labour Prosecutor's Office finding that Zara Brazil (part of global brand Inditex) had directive power over the supply chain and litigation has ensued which includes a challenge to the constitutionality of the "dirty list". Also in Brazil, the Sao Paulo State Law to Combat Slave Labour, also known as the Bezerra Law, seeks to regulate the disclosure of slave labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Following egregious violations of health and building safety standards that resulted in fatal accidents, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh leading to death of over 1,100 garment workers, additional attention has been given to increasing State and corporate accountability for violations of human rights, including labour rights, in global value or supply chains. In this context, the recent commitment by leaders of major global economies at the recent Group of Seven (G7) Summit to take action to address human rights in global supply chains is welcome and needs to be followed up by concrete actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
30 shown of 30 entities