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

III. INTERNATIONAL MONITORING MECHANISMS

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Abolishing Slavery
158. In 1996 the General Assembly also authorized the post of Special Representative on the
impact of armed conflict on children. Now called the Special Representative on Children and
Armed Conflict, the mechanism works in cooperation with UNICEF and the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Since the early 1990s OHCHR has conducted an
increasing number of field operations. In 2000, it had 27 human rights field presences around the
world.
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159. In 1970 the Economic and Social Council adopted resolution 1503 (XLVIII) authorizing the
Commission on Human Rights to receive and review communications alleging the existence of a
consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights. In the 30 years since the procedure was
established, the Commission has dealt with over 65 country situations.
160. The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
(renamed the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 1999) has,
as authorized by the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Human Rights, estab-
lished intersessional working groups on contemporary forms of slavery (1975), indigenous popu-
lations (1982) and minorities (1995).
161. Most of the international mechanisms for implementation have been developed since the
advent of the treaties that prohibit slavery and slavery-like practices. Those treaties therefore did
not incorporate procedures which are now considered to be indispensable for monitoring com-
pliance with States’ human rights obligations.
A. Slavery Conventions
162. Article 7 of the Slavery Convention provides that “the High Contracting Parties undertake
to communicate to each other and to the Secretary-General . . . any laws and regulations which
they may enact with a view to the application of the provisions of the present Convention”.
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There is also a similar obligation to notify the Secretary-General of any measures implemented in
national law pursuant to the provisions of the Supplementary Convention (art. 8(2)). Compared
with the reporting and monitoring mechanisms of other more recent human rights instruments, the
reporting clauses of the Slavery Convention and the Supplementary Convention lack the requisite
periodicity and specificity. Most importantly, the slavery treaties do not designate a treaty body to
receive and comment on the reports. They have little effect on the fulfilment of States’ obligations
and contain no effective implementation mechanism for the provisions of the conventions aimed
at abolishing slavery. The Sub-Commission has noted that this gap is “a clear defect in the arrange-
ments made for the eradication of slavery and the slave trade and similar institutions and
practices”.
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163. Under the Slavery Convention and the Supplementary Convention, States parties agree but
are not obliged to send information on measures implemented in accordance with the slavery con-
ventions to the Secretary-General, who in turn communicates such information to the Economic
and Social Council for discussion “with a view to making further recommendations for the aboli-
tion of slavery”.
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The Economic and Social Council has not pursued this role actively. Instead,
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In general, these thematic mechanisms have the capacity to receive information from individuals, to make
direct appeals to Governments, to visit countries and ultimately to seek an end to specific violations. Their prompt action
and capacity to act in regard to all countries – regardless of whether the country has ratified a specific treaty – make the
thematic procedures one of the most effective human rights tools in the United Nations system – helping to save lives,
to stop torture, to find disappeared people and otherwise to protect individuals. The rapporteurs submit comprehensive
reports each year to the Commission.
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Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Human Rights Field Presences, available
at www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/5/field.htm.
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In 1953, by resolution 794 (VIII) of 23 October 1954, the General Assembly approved the Protocol amending
the Slavery Convention to bring it within the United Nations system.
268
Awad, supra note 21, para. 163.
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Supplementary Convention, supra note 20, art. 8(3).

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