Human Rights Committee
Research Report: Slavery
BALMUN IX
Implementing relevant legal instruments on fighting contemporary forms of
slavery
By Lithy Chaudhuri, Julia Amira Dannemann-Freitag, and Elisabeth Schloz
Introduction
When asking people of our society today about slavery, many will by impulse believe that slavery
has been abolished a long time ago, the classic example being the abolishment of slavery in the
United States by Abraham Lincoln, when finally citizens of color were free. On a second thought
though, one will recognize contemporary forms of slavery in the everyday world that are common
enough for people not to recognize them as slavery anymore, but as a stereotype of a culture. There
are countries in the world where slavery, such as child labor, is very common. And consumers in
developed countries are often buying the outcomes of such labor. We are accepting these modern day
forms of slavery by consuming these products, if they are the winter coat we wear every day, the
iPhone we get for Christmas, or the chair we sit on at school. The consumers are obviously not the
people to blame, since it is way out of their power to control laws of human rights and actually
implementing these relevant legal instruments, but it is still not ethically correct to support
contemporary forms of slavery. So what can you do? Where do you start? It is mostly the third world
countries that enslave their minorities. 4 percent of Mauritania are enslaved, 2.3 percent of Haiti and
1.1 percent of India. There are many ways to start defeating these forms of slavery, but we, the
Human Rights Committee, will be focusing on implementing relevant legal instruments on fighting
contemporary forms of slavery.
Key Terms
Slavery: One human being (the slave) being considered the property of another (the slave owner),
where the owner has full control over the slave and his or her labor, without the slave being able to
change this arrangement
Historical Background
Slavery or forms of slavery were common in most ancient civilizations and in most cases provided
the labor to build them. Slaves were used as cheap labor and for entertainment, and they were
popular among those who could afford them. They could either be born into slavery or made slaves,
for example when their country was defeated in a war or conquered. Often, slaves were of a different
religion or ethnicity than the slave owners, which resulted in elitism as a justification for slavery.
Ancient Egypt used slaves to build the pyramids and both the ancient Greek and ancient Roman
empires also had a tradition of slavery, not only for labor but also for entertainment. For example,
gladiators were popular in Rome. The Roman tradition of slavery was kept alive in Southeast Europe
and Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire, with slaves from the Caucasus and Tartary often
being sold to the Byzantine Empire and Muslim countries.
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Human Rights Committee
Research Report: Slavery
BALMUN IX
Slavery was also prominent in medieval Muslim countries. Slaves were captured in conquered
African countries, and later, during the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars and the Ottoman Wars in Europe,
Christian slaves were seized. Raids in Spain and Portugal also became common. Spain and Portugal
were also targets of Pirates between the 11th and the 19th century who captured Christian slaves and
sold them at slave markets in Africa.
Slavery also played a crucial part in colonialism, providing the workforce which allowed European
nations to utilize resources in countries they had colonized. Slaves from Africa were also transported
to the Americas by the Atlantic Slave Trade, which resulted in slaves from Africa being the most
numerous immigrants to America before the late 18th century.
Slavery often resulted in uprisings or revolts when slaves believed they had a chance to escape
slavery. These could then escalate, involving more parties than the slaves and slaves owners, for
example the Zanj Rebellion and the American Civil War.
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Forced Labor: Forced labor consists of any work or service people are forced to perform against
their will under the threat of some form punishment. Almost all slavery practices, including human
trafficking and bonded labor, contain some element of forced labor.
Forced labor affects millions of men, women and children around the world and is most frequently
found in labor intensive and/or under-regulated industries, such as agriculture, domestic work,
prostitution etc. Although this form of labor is a global problem, some regions have larger numbers
of people affected than others. More than half of the people involved in forced labor are in Asia and
the Pacific and nearly 20% in Africa.
Human Trafficking: Human trafficking involves men, women and children being brought into a
situation of exploitation through the use of violence, deception or coercion and forced to work
against their will. People can be trafficked for many different forms of exploitation such as forced
prostitution, forced labor, forced begging, forced criminality, domestic servitude, forced marriage or
forced organ removal.
Bonded labor: Bonded labor is the most widespread form of slavery in the world. A person becomes
a bonded laborer when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan. The person is
then tricked or trapped into working for very little or no pay. The value of their work becomes
invariably greater than the original sum of money borrowed. Often the debts are passed onto the next
generations.
Bonded labor exists because of the persistence of poverty, widespread discrimination, making large
groups of people vulnerable to exploitation, and the existence of people who are prepared to exploit
the desperation of others. Today the International Labor Organization estimates a minimum 11.7
million people are in forced labor in the Asia-Pacific region, with the majority of them in debt
bondage.
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Human Rights Committee
Research Report: Slavery
BALMUN IX
Extreme Forms of Child Labor: While child labor in general is not considered a form of slavery,
about five percent of the children in child labor are engaged in “hazardous work,” otherwise known
as the worst forms of child labor. This is work that irreversibly threatens children’s health and
development through, for example, exposure to dangerous machinery or toxic substances, and it may
even endanger their lives. The worst forms of child labor also include the 5.5 million children in
slavery and slavery-like practices who are also subject to exploitation by others.
Early and forced marriage: Marriage involving children under 18 years old remains a widely
culturally accepted practice in many corners of the globe. Estimates suggest that 11 per cent of
women aged between 20 and 24 worldwide were married before reaching the age of 15. Child
marriage can operate as a shield behind which slavery and slavery-like practices occur with apparent
impunity. Although many marriages involving children will not amount to slavery, many married
children can experience levels of suffering, coercion and control that meet international legal
definitions of slavery and slavery-like practices.
Descent-based slavery: Descent-based slavery describes a situation where people are born into a
'slave class,' caste or a group viewed as being in slavery by other members of their society. People
born into slavery face a lifetime of exploitation. They are forced to work without pay for their socalled ‘masters’ throughout their lives, primarily in herding cattle, working on farmland or as
domestic servants. They often suffer from degrading treatment, are excluded from education and
politics and are not allowed to own land or inherit property. Since this form of slavery can be so
culturally ingrained in a society, challenging its existence is very difficult. Descent-based slavery
exists in countries that have strict hierarchical social structures, such as a number of Western African
countries.
The current situation
According to the International Labor Organization, around 21 million men, women and children are
being enslaved. Modern day slavery affects people of all ages, genders and races. One can recognize
a contemporary form of slavery by several characteristics, the most common one being that a person,
or even an entire family, is being forced or pressured to work in a very uncomfortable, inhuman
situation in which they are paid nothing or extremely little and treated in a forceful way. These
“workers” feel subjected and pressured into work, most likely by threats. But how can something
like this happen in the developed world we live in today? How can the products of slave-like work be
sold in first world countries to, and by, commoners?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads things such as “No one should be held in slavery
or servitude,” and “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment,” but the current situation shows cold negligence of what the declaration stands for.
What the declaration and international laws stand for is insufficient and needs to be supported by
effective legal instruments. The current situation shows multiple forms of contemporary slavery that
are not only disgraceful, but unacceptable and degrading.
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Human Rights Committee
Research Report: Slavery
BALMUN IX
As mentioned before, many people are unaware of the fact that when reading the label of their
clothing that states “Made in India” or “Made in Indonesia” they are consuming products of slavery.
It is well known that child labor is how most of our fast-fashion clothing is produced, but many
people do not see that as a form of slavery, they see it as work. It is a controversial topic, but if you
look at the aforementioned characteristics and the contemporary forms of slavery, child labor
definitely should be considered exactly that.
Possible Solutions
When approaching the development of clauses that will aid the eradication of contemporary forms of
slavery, you may consider these questions:
1.
What are additional steps that need to be taken by the UN and other organizations for the
eradication of different forms of modern slavery?
2.
Could there be any screening of corrupt nations which have been estimated to have a lot of
incidents linked to slavery?
3.
What more could be done for the protection and rehabilitation of the victims of any form of
slavery?
4.
What steps need to be taken in order to detect cases of human trafficking and slave trade?
5.
What could be done in order to strengthen the cooperation between border control agencies,
maintaining the main channels of communication?
6.
What are essential conditions when transferring the solutions on fighting contemporary forms
of slavery to legal instruments?
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Human Rights Committee
Research Report: Slavery
BALMUN IX
Useful links
-Resolution 6/14
-Resolution A/RES/46/122
Bibliography
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/slaveryen.pdf
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wpapps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2014/11/Screen-Shot2014-11-18-at-13.35.52.png&w=1484
http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/what_is_modern_slavery.aspx
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/violations-of-human-rights/democracy.html
http://www.acmun.gr/documents/guides/GA3_Modern_Forms_of_Slavery.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States
http://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology
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