Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms

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HR/PUB/02/4
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Abolishing Slavery
and its Contemporary Forms
David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International*
United Nations
New York and Geneva 2002
OHCHR
* Michael Dottridge, Director

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NOTE
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations Secretariat con-
cerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Copyright © United Nations 2002
All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may be freely quoted or reproduced or
stored in a retrieval system for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given and a copy
of the publication containing the reprinted material is sent to the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. No part of this publica-
tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the prior
permission of the copyright owner if the purpose relates to profit-making ventures. The licensing
of rights for commercial purposes is encouraged by the United Nations.
HR/PUB/02/4

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iii
CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................
v
Paragraphs
Introduction .................................................................................................
00
1-4
00
1
II
I.
C
ORE
I
NTERNATIONAL
L
AW
A
GAINST
S
LAVERY
..............................................
00
5-29
0
3
A. Background...................................................................................
00
5-7
00
3
B. Definition of Slavery: the Slavery Convention of 1926 and the
B.
Supplementary Convention of 1956 ..............................................
00
8-18
0
4
C. Main Characteristics of Slavery......................................................
0
19-22
0
7
D. Other Instruments Prohibiting Slavery ...........................................
23-25
7
E. Violations of Other Fundamental Rights Associated with Slavery ...
0
26-29
0
8
III.
F
ORMS
OF
S
LAVERY
..................................................................................
0
30-149
11
A. Serfdom.........................................................................................
00
1-35
0
11
B. Forced Labour ...............................................................................
0
36-48
0
12
B.
1. International Labour Organization ..........................................
37
12
B.
2. Forced labour conventions......................................................
0
38-43
0
12
B.
3. Other relevant human rights instruments.................................
00
44-48
0
14
C. Debt Bondage ...............................................................................
00
49-54
0
15
D. Migrant Workers ...........................................................................
0
55-59
0
16
E. Trafficking ......................................................................................
0
60-92
0
18
B.
1. Trafficking in women ..............................................................
83
26
B.
2. Trafficking in children .............................................................
0
84-92
0
27
F. Prostitution.....................................................................................
0
93-111
30
B.
1. Forced prostitution..................................................................
0
96-101
31
B.
2. Children and prostitution ........................................................
102-103
33
B.
3. Sexual slavery .........................................................................
104-108
33
B.
4. Sex tourism .............................................................................
109-111
34 
G. Forced Marriage and the Sale of Wives .........................................
112-118
35
B.
1. Mail-order brides ....................................................................
0
15-118
36
H. Child Labour and Child Servitude .................................................
119-137
37
B.
1. The ILO and child labour........................................................
122-127 
37
B.
2. The United Nations and child labour ......................................
128-129
38
B.
3. Implementation strategies .......................................................
130
39
B.
4. Convention on the Rights of the Child.....................................
131-137
40

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iv
Paragraphs
Page
I. Other Issues....................................................................................
138-154
41
I.
1 Apartheid and colonialism ........................................................
139-141
41
I.
2. World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination
2. I.
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; Historic responsibility
2. I.
and reparations .......................................................................
142-146
41
I.
3. Trafficking in human organs .....................................................
147-150
44
I.
4. Incest .......................................................................................
151-154
45
III.
I
NTERNATIONAL
M
ONITORING
M
ECHANISMS
................................................
155-187
47
A. Slavery Conventions......................................................................
162-163
48
B. ILO Mechanisms ...........................................................................
164-173
49
1. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at
2.
Work .............................................................................................
171-173
50
C. The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery................
174-187
51
IV. C
ONCLUSION
AND
R
ECOMMENDATION
........................................................
188-189
55

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