backsource: United Nations Human Rights Website
Fact Sheet No.14, Contemporary Forms of Slavery
'No one shall be held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.'
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights
Slavery was the first human rights issue
to arouse wide international concern. Yet, in the face of universal condemnation,
slavery-like practices remain a grave and persistent problem in the closing
years of the twentieth century.
The word "slavery" today covers a variety
of human rights violations. In addition to traditional slavery and the
slave trade, these abuses include the sale of children, child prostitution,
child pornography, the exploitation of child labour, the sexual mutilation
of female children, the use of children in armed conflicts, debt bondage,
the traffic in persons and in the sale of human organs, the exploitation
of prostitution, and certain practices under apartheid and colonial
régimes.
Slavery-like practices may be clandestine.
This makes it difficult to have a clear picture of the scale of contemporary
slavery, let alone to uncover, punish or eliminate it. The problem is compounded
by the fact that the victims of slavery-like abuses are generally from
the poorest and most vulnerable social groups. Fear and the need to survive
do not encourage them to speak out.
There is enough evidence, however, to show
that slavery-like practices are vast and widespread. Just one figure tells
a grim story: 100 million children are exploited for their labour, according
to a recent estimate by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
As a contribution to the campaign to raise
public awareness of human rights issues, this Fact Sheet describes the
modern forms of slavery, as well as the work done at the international
level to halt and prevent it. There are also suggestions for private groups
and individuals who can help by their action to build a universal human
rights order in which slavery-like practices will no longer be tolerated.
A stream of evidence presented to United
Nations human rights bodies, notably the Working Group on Contemporary
Forms of Slavery, as well as studies and the findings of special rapporteurs,
give an accurate picture of current slavery-like practices. The descriptions
which follow are drawn from these official sources.
They also reveal that there are no clear
distinctions between different forms of slavery. The same families and
groups of people are often the victims of several kinds of modern slavery-for
example, bonded labour, forced labour, child labour or child prostitution-with
extreme poverty as a common linking factor.
Child labour is in great demand because
it is cheap, and because children are naturally more docile, easier to
discipline than adults, and too frightened to complain. Their small physique
and nimble fingers are seen as assets by unscrupulous employers for certain
kinds of work. It often happens that children are given jobs when their
parents are sitting at home, unemployed.
There are children between seven and ten
years of age who work twelve to fourteen hours a day and are paid less
than one-third of the adult wage.
Child domestic servants not only work long
hours for a pittance but are particularly vulnerable to sexual as well
as other physical abuse.
At the extreme fringe, children are kidnapped,
held in remote camps, and chained at night to prevent their escape. They
are put to work on road-building and stone-quarrying.
Child labour, often hard and hazardous,
damages health for life, deprives children of education and the normal
enjoyment of their early years.
Non-governmental organizations have proposed
an international timetable for the wiping out of the worst forms of child
exploitation. They suggest that:
All forced labour camps be eliminated within
12 months;
Children be excluded from the most hazardous
forms of work, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
ILO, by 1995;
All forms of labour for children under
10 outlawed by ILO Convention No. 138 be eliminated, and that those regarding
children in the 10-14 age group be halved by the year 2000.
Forcible recruitment of children into military
service has been reported in many parts of the world. The consequences
are devastating. Many have died or been disabled in armed operations, while
others have been interrogated, tortured, beaten, or kept as prisoners of
war.
The traffic in persons, sexual exploitation
The recruitment, clandestine transport
and exploitation of women as prostitutes, and the organized prostitution
of children of both sexes in a number of countries is well documented.
A link has been established in some places between prostitution and pornography-particularly
involving children-and the promotion and growth of tourism.
Sale of children
Unscrupulous go-betweens have found that
large profits can be made by arranging the transfer of children from poverty-stricken
homes to people with means-without guarantees and supervision to ensure
that the child's interests will be protected. In such cases, financial
gain-for the parents as well as the intermediaries-takes on the character
of trading in children.
Debt bondage
Debt bondage can hardly be distinguished
from traditional slavery because it prevents the victim from leaving his
job or the land he tills until the money is repaid. Although in theory
a debt is repayable over a period of time, a situation of bondage arises
when in spite of all his efforts, the borrower cannot wipe it out. Normally,
the debt is inherited by the bonded labourer's children. Sharecropping
is a familiar way of leading borrowers into debt bondage.
Apartheid and colonialism
Apartheid is not simply a racial
discrimination problem to be solved through education and political reform.
In essence, apartheid has dispossessed the black population of South
Africa by imposing a quasi-colonial system. Through coercive measures,
the labour of the indigenous peoples has been harnessed for the profit
of white investors.
By suppressing the human rights of entire
populations, apartheid
and other forms of colonialism have the effect
of collective or group slavery. A pernicious quality is that the subject
peoples have no choice: they are born into a state of slavery and have
very little, if any, means of appeal against it.
Slavery: a state of mind
As a legally-permitted labour system, traditional
slavery has been abolished everywhere, but it has not been completely stamped
out. There are still reports of slave markets. Even when abolished, slavery
leaves traces. It can persist as a state of mind-among its victims and
their descendants and among the inheritors of those who practised it-long
after it has formally disappeared.
International conventions
International concern with slavery and
its suppression is the theme of many treaties, declarations and conventions
of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first of three modern conven-tions
directly related to the issue is the Slavery Convention of 1926, drawn
up by the League of Nations.
With the approval of the General Assembly,
the United Nations formally became the successor to the League in the application
of the Slavery Convention in 1953. States which have ratified the Convention-by
1990 86 had done so-undertake to prevent and suppress the slave trade and
to bring about the abolition of slavery in all its forms.
In 1949, the General Assembly adopted the
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation
of the Prostitution of Others. This legal instrument consolidated other
international agreements dating back to 1904.
The procurer rather than the prostitute
is the target of the Convention. It requires States Parties to introduce
measures designed to prevent prostitution and to rehabilitate prostitutes.
States ratifying or acceding to the Convention-they
numbered 60 by the end of 1990-also undertake to check the traffic in persons
of either sex for the purpose of prostitution and to do away with laws,
regulations, special registration, and other requirements of persons who
are engaged-or suspected of engaging-in prostitution.
The 1926 Convention's definition of slavery
was broadened to include the practices and institutions of debt bondage,
servile forms of marriage, and the exploitation of children and adolescents
in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave
Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, adopted at a
United Nations conference in Geneva in 1956. The Supplementary Convention
has been ratified or acceded to by 106 States.
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms
of Slavery is the United Nations body which receives information from States
on the steps they have taken to implement the three slavery-related Conventions.
A number of other relevant Conventions
have been adopted and are supervised by ILO.
Other means of protection
Protection against abuses of human rights
which fall within the broad definition of slavery is a feature of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Committees
established under each Covenant and Convention monitor their implementation
by the States Parties.
In addition, there are United Nations channels
for receiving specific complaints of violations of human rights, including
those which merit the name of slavery.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child,
which entered into force on 2 September, 1990, deserves special mention
as the most recent and potentially one of the most effective means of combating
slavery-like practices, taking into account the number of child victims.
Properly implemented by States which have ratified it, the Convention offers
protection to children at risk from sexual, economic, and other forms of
exploitation, including their sale, trafficking and involvement in armed
conflict.
(The texts of these international legal
instruments and descriptions of the work of United Nations human rights
bodies which monitor their application, as well as the procedures for communicating
complaints of human rights violations to the United Nations are found in
other publications in the Fact Sheet series. A list of titles of Fact Sheets
already published is given on the inside back cover.)
Action in the United Nations
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms
of Slavery* has the general responsibility in the United Nations for the
study of slavery in all its aspects. Meeting for the first time in 1975
as the Working Group on Slavery, the group was renamed in 1988.
The Working Group consists of five independent
experts* chosen on the basis of fair geographical representation from the
membership of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection
of Minorities. The group meets for one week each year and reports to the
Sub-Commission.
* In 1990, the members of the Working Group
were: Fatma Zohra Ksentini (Algeria) (chairperson/rapporteur), Ion Diaconu
(Romania), Asbjorn Eide (Norway), Waleed M. Sadi (Jordan), Suescun Monroe
(Colombia).
In addition to monitoring the application
of the slavery conventions and making a review of the situation in different
parts of the world, the group selects a theme for special attention each
year. In 1989, the theme was prevention of the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, and in 1990, eradication of the exploitation
of child labour and debt bondage. The 1991 theme is the prevention of the
traffic in persons and exploitation of the prostitution of others.
Programmes of national and international
action to deal with the problems raised by the first two themes have been
drafted by the Working Group, which expects to receive reactions to its
proposals from governments and a wide range of organizations.
In 1992, the Working Group expects to evaluate
its study of the three themes and to take up the idea of an international
pledging conference to help put an end to the exploitation of child labour.
Special rapporteurs
On the Working Group's recommendation,
the Commission on Human Rights appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn in 1990 as special
rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography,
and the problem of the adoption of children for commercial purposes. He
is due to report his findings and recommendations to the Commission in
1992.
This is the latest in a series of investigations,
set in motion by the Working Group, which have shed light on contemporary
forms of slavery, and proposed means of combating it.
In 1982, Benjamin Whitaker's updated report
on slavery covered a range of topics, including forced labour, illicit
trafficking in migrant workers, slavery-like practices involving women
such as forced marriage, the sale of women and killings for reasons of
dowry, and the genital mutilation of female children.
The exploitation of child labour was investigated
by Abdelwahab Boudhiba. In his 1981 report to the Sub-Commission on Prevention
of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities he demonstrated that work
done by children is often traumatic, and perverts the notions of work as
a liberating force or as a means of development towards maturity.
Suppression of the traffic in persons and
the exploitation of the prostitution of others was the subject of a report
by Jean-Fernand Laurent to the Economic and Social Council. The Working
Group is expected to take his recommendations into account in developing
this theme in 1991.
At the invitation of the Government, a
United Nations mission visited Mauritania in 1984 to study the country's
needs in eliminating the consequences of slavery.
Recommendations
Among proposals for future action, the
Working Group has recommended that:
A voluntary or trust fund be created which
would make it possible for more directly-concerned organizations to take
part in the Working Group's activities;
Where child labour might be involved-as
in the making of carpets-the product should bear a special mark certifying
that children have not been employed. Consumers should be alerted to demand
products so marked;
Information campaigns for the boycotting
of goods produced on the basis of exploited child labour be launched;
A seminar or workshop on debt bondage be
organized by ILO in co-ordination with other United Nations bodies;
United Nations organs, specialized agencies,
development banks and other intergovernmental bodies avoid the involvement
of bonded labour in development projects with which they are concerned,
and contribute to its elimination;
States co-operate in drawing up a convention
on inter-country adoption as proposed at the Hague Conference on Private
International Law.
Sources of information
In studying the current problems of slavery,
setting priorities in its work, establishing the facts and making recommendations,
the Working Group gathers information from a variety of sources. Governments
co-operate and participate in its work, as do various United Nations bodies,
intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Statements by governments have revealed
their interest in and support for projects to help the victims of slavery-like
practices. Governments also provide information on changes in domestic
law designed to prevent or give better protection against these practices.
Other government initiatives have concerned requests for advisory services
in implementing United Nations conventions, co-ordination within the United
Nations system in combating the traffic in persons, and putting the issue
of sexual exploitation on the agenda of the Council of Europe.
NGOs make an important contribution to
the Working Group's activities. At its sessions, they inform the Working
Group of the situation as they see it in many parts of the world and describe
their work and experience in eliminating practices condemned in the slavery
conventions. Their involvement is in such areas as legal aid and assistance
for children affected by states of emergency; rehabilitative services for
children caught up in armed conflict; campaigns for the abolition of child
prostitution; assistance in framing legislation on inter-country adoptions;
and development assistance programmes for children who run the risk of
sexual exploitation.
The Working Group also benefits from the
information provided by the specialized agencies.
International co-operation
Efforts to eliminate contemporary forms
of slavery involve a wide spectrum of international organizations, which
have their own fields of action and which collaborate with the Working
Group.
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
ILO has adopted two conventions which require
the ratifying States to suppress and not to make use of any form of forced
or compulsory labour. Convention No. 29 of 1930 prohibits forced labour
in most of its forms, and Convention No. 105 of 1957 forbids its use for
development. Each has received more than 100 ratifications.
The ILO 1973 Minimum Age Convention is
designed to prevent the exploitation of child labour. It sets the minimum
age for work at not less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling
and in any case not less than 15 years (14 years for developing countries),
and for work "likely to harm health, safety or morals" at not less than
18 years.
Governments report to ILO on the steps
they take to comply with these international legal instruments. The reports
are examined by the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions
and Recommendations and by the International Labour Conference, and any
problems are followed up until they are resolved.
ILO also carries out an active programme
of technical assistance to combat child labour, bonded labour, and other
unacceptable forms of exploitation.
ILO supplies information to the Working
Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery; in return, the proceedings of the
Working Group throw light on the extent to which ILO conventions are being
observed and on cases where ILO may offer assistance in solving problems.
World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO has confirmed at Working Group hearings
that sex exploitation, debt bondage, the sale of children and the condition
of apartheid all present grave risks to the mental health and social
development of the children involved. Exploitation for sexual ends also
adds to the risk of spreading the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and
AIDS.
In addition to an offer to study the problem
of child prostitution, and develop approaches on prevention and the treatment
of health hazards, WHO and its regional offices are in a position to provide
technical support for specific projects.
Guidelines are also being prepared by WHO
on the issue of trafficking in human organs for transplantation purposes.
United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Slavery and slavery-like practices have
been the subject of meetings and reports prepared under UNESCO auspices.
As one example, UNESCO has sponsored a study by the International Catholic
Child Bureau on the protection of minors from pornography.
In 1988, a UNESCO meeting studied the effects
of armed conflict on children and recommended action to protect and promote
their rights in such situations.
UNESCO is organizing in 1991 a meeting
on the 1949 Convention on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and
the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The aim is to make proposals
to improve implementation of the Convention.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
FAO's approach relates to servitude of
children and debt bondage in connection with existing forms of land tenure.
FAO activities which promote people's participation and give assistance
to small farmers' organizations are seen as effective counter-measures
to debt bondage.
United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF)
The role of UNICEF is crucial to international
strategies to deal with the contemporary forms of slavery. UNICEF arranged
massive support for the adoption and rapid ratification of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and organized the World Summit for Children
in New York in September, 1990.
The Summit approved at the highest political
level a Declaration and Plan of Action for the survival, protection and
development of children in the nineteen-nineties. In the Plan of Action,
States are committed to work to ease the plight of millions of children
who live under especially difficult circumstances-as orphans and street
children, refugees or displaced persons, victims of war and natural and
man-made disasters ... children of migrant workers and other socially disadvantaged
groups, as child workers or youth trapped in the bondage of prostitution,
sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation, as disabled children or juvenile
delinquents and as victims of apartheid and foreign occupation.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR)
A standing group of UNHCR monitors the
situation of refugee children and the particular problems they encounter.
Guidelines to UNHCR field offices on refugee children include the issues
of recruitment in armed conflict and the adoption of unaccompanied minors.
United Nations Commission on the Status
of Women
Problems akin to slavery which affect women
in particular receive continued attention from the Commission on the Status
of Women, and have featured in the debates, conclusions and recommendations
of the World Conferences of the United Nations Decade for Women in Mexico
City, Copenhagen and Nairobi. The Commission submits information to the
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.
United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Branch
In its study of child victimization, including
trafficking in and the sale of children, this branch of the United Nations
identifies four fields of counteraction by the machinery of justice. These
are prevention; treatment and redress for victims; legal sanctions for
alleged offenders; and treatment and rehabilitation of offenders.
International Criminal Police Organization
(INTERPOL)
INTERPOL provides information on slavery-like
practices to the Working Group under a co-operative arrangement with the
United Nations.
Information has included the report of
the 1988 International Symposium on Traffic in Human Beings, where child
pornography was discussed. The symposium urged law enforcement agencies
to give priority to investigations into the international market for pornographic
material with the emphasis on the welfare of the child. It was recommended
that prevention of the sexual abuse of children should be included in the
public awareness campaigns of law enforcement agencies.
INTERPOL is making a study of ways to improve
international co-operation in preventing and punishing offences against
minors, and will communicate the results to the Working Group.
A role for everyone
The essential base of international covenants,
national legislation and enforcement procedures is established, but long
experience has shown that official action alone will not stamp out slavery
in its various forms. Attitudes and customs often deep-rooted-must change.
People moved by the plight of the victims
of modern forms of slavery-particularly where children are concerned-are
constantly writing to the United Nations. In their letters they often ask
the question: "What can I do?"
The answer is that everyone has a contribution
to make to a world order which no longer tolerates inhumane exploitation.
There are many things that can be done at the national and local levels,
by associations and by individuals.
Here are a few suggestions:
Slavery: the modern reality
Aspects of slavery
Child labour
Children in armed conflict
back