Measures to Combat

Child Slavery

and trafficking Reshma Rajagopalan Chair of HRC 2

Overseas Family School

Topic Summary Slavery was the first human rights

issue to arouse wide international concern (from the 1700s) yet it still continues today. Slave-like practices remain a grave and persistent problem today

The global market for child trafficking is over $12 billion a year

215 million children work in child labor

In sub-Saharan Africa, 40 per cent of all children work, in Asia and Latin America approximately 20 percent

Asia has the largest number of child laborers, accounting for 61 per cent of the world's total child slavery

Terms Defined

Child (as defined by the UN) – a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier

Child Slavery – work or service, including forced or bonded labor, which is forced from a child under the threat of any penalty and for which the said child has not voluntarily offered itself

Child Trafficking – the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for the purpose of exploitation

Timeline 1839 – Anti Slavery International is created

1919 – The International Labor Organization (ILO) is founded

1926 – The Slavery Convention defines slavery

1930 – ILO Convention 29 concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor broadens the previous definition of slavery

1974 – Economic and Social Council establishes the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, which monitors the application of slavery conventions and submits proposals for action on national and international levels

Timeline

1989 – Convention of the Rights of the Child is established as a legally binding instrument including the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of children

1992 – International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) is created by the ILO

1999 – ILO Convention 182, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention is created to take further measures against forms of child labor including trafficking, slavery, bonded or forced labor and illicit activities

Timeline 2000 – Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish

Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children defines child trafficking and acknowledges it as a violation of children’s rights. The protocol has been ratified by 135 member nations

2007 – Human Rights Council Resolution 6/14 establishes the Mandate on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its Causes and Consequences, which succeeds the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery 

2007 – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) establishes the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT)

Organizations/Bodies Most Connected

ILO – a U.N. agency made up of 183 member states, with government, employer, and worker representatives, which oversees international labor standards [International Labor Organization]

IPEC – created by the ILO in 1992, the IPEC works towards eradicating child labor and is funded by member nation donors [International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor]

Anti-Slavery International – a non governmental organization formed in the United Kingdom which is the oldest international human rights organization in the world

What has been done by the UN? Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions Similar to Slavery (1956)

ILO Convention 182, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (1999)

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000)

Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2000)

Relation to UN Policies

Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘No one shall be

held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their

forms’

Yet, slave trade, especially in children, continues.

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Current Situation

Current SituationThe UN estimates approximately 8.4 million in the worst forms of child labor, with a further 1.2 million children involved in trafficking. This results in a total of 9.6 million children who are in instances similar to enslavement.

Although the presence of child slavery has been decreasing in recent years, apart from in Sub Saharan continent of Africa where it is increasing, it continues to harm the physical and mental development of children and adolescents, while interfering with their education. The ILO estimates that only 5% of child laborers are paid.

Current actions to combat child slavery are limited, despite no state recognizing slavery as a legal practice and with many states signing relevant treaties. Measures taken to combat child trafficking in the developing world are also not only rare but quite limited.

Current Situation

The Trafficking in Persons Report identifies countries according to how much countries are doing to stop human trafficking

Useful Links

http://www.freetheslaves.net/

http://www.productsofslavery.org/

http://www.antislavery.org/english/

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/gender.shtml

http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58009.html

http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/lang--en/index.htm

Bibliography

“ C182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999.” International Labor Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.ilo.org/ ilolex/ cgi-lex/ convde.pl?C182>.

“Child Labor.” UNICEF. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.unicef.org/ protection/ 57929_58009.html>.

“International Standards.” UNOHCHR. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.ohchr.org/ EN/ Issues/ Slavery/ SRSlavery/ Pages/ InternationalStandards.aspx>.

“Millenium Development Goals.” UN.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals/ index.shtml>.

“Slavery and Forced Labor.” Human Rights Education Associates. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.hrea.org/ index.php?doc_id=430#top>.