This article is written by a master student and reflects their individual perspectives and opinions. It does not constitute an official representation of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. The content provided here is for educational and informational purposes only, and readers should be aware that it does not necessarily align with the official position of the institute. Readers are encouraged to independently verify information and seek guidance from appropriate academic authorities when necessary. The authors bear full responsibility for the content presented in this blog and any potential consequences resulting from it.
This article was written by Blandine Garot–Jacquey, a master’s student in international human rights law at Lund University. She holds an LL.B. in German Law from the University of Potsdam, an LL.B. in French Law and an LL.M. in European Law from the University of Paris Nanterre. She specializes in immigration law and data protection law.
December 2 is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. This date corresponds to the date on which the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 2, 1949. According to the International Labour Organization, 49.6 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, including 27.6 million in forced labour and 22 million in forced marriage.
The Traditional Definition of Slavery
Historically, the prohibition of slavery refers to banning the slave trade. According to Article 1 of the 1926 Slavery Convention, slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching the right of ownership are exercised. The slave trade includes all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves. A few years later, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reaffirmed the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade in all its forms in Article 4. Nevertheless, since the first convention in 1926, forms of slavery have evolved. So, what does the definition of modern slavery entail?
The Diversity of Modern Forms of Slavery
Modern Slavery includes forced labour, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. The prohibition of these modern forms of slavery is covered by specific international conventions such as the 1945 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, the 1965 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages and the 2020 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
Focus on Forced Labour
Forced Labour is defined by the 1930 Forced Labour Convention as all work or service which exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntary. According to the International Labour Organization (“ILO”), forced labour exist in all regions of the world and is a concern for each country regardless of the country’s wealth. The ILO underlines that most forced labour occurs in the private economy: eighty-six percent of forced labour cases are imposed by private actors. The concerned sectors are domestic work, services, manufacturing, construction and agriculture.
Diplomatic Immunity: One of the Obstacles to Combating Forced Labour
One of the obstacles to combating forced labour is diplomatic immunity. In its Recommendation n°203 from 2014, the ILO called for the necessary cooperation of States to address and prevent the use of forced labour by diplomatic personnel. Forced labour by diplomatic personnel is a reality documented by several associations specialised against forced labour. Victims of modern slavery are hampered by the criminal jurisdictional immunity enjoyed by diplomats when they try to assert their rights in court. However, an innovative way to exclude the jurisdictional immunity of a diplomatic agent was found in 2022 in the case of Basfar v Wong. In this case, it was not criminal immunity that was examined, but civil immunity. The judges of the United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled that a Saudi diplomat’s “employment” of a modern-day slave in his British diplomatic residence constituted the exercise of a “commercial activity”. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, the exercise of a “commercial activity” is one of the exceptions to the civil immunity of diplomatic agents.
European Union: A Future Regulation to Ban Products Made with Forced Labor?
In the European Union, slavery and forced labour are prohibited by Article 5 of the Charter of the European Union on Fundamental Rights. A specific directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims already existed since 2011. Following the discovery of Uyghur forced labor in China, the European Parliament mobilised in June 2022 to condemn the human rights situation in Xinjiang, recognising that crimes against humanity were being committed and that there was a “serious risk of genocide”. Against this backdrop, in September 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation to ban products made with forced labor. This text was amended by two committees and a final version was adopted on October 16, 2023. It must now be adopted by the plenary assembly before being sent to the Council.
Sources:
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention 1957
Basfar v Wong [2022] UKSC 20
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others 1949
Forced Labour Convention 1930
ILO Report ‘Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, Forced Labour and Forced Marriage’ (12 September 2022)
ILO Recommendation R203: Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation (11 June 2014)
Slavery Convention 1926
UNHRC, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences’ (16 July 2020) UN Doc A/75/166
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/fr/prohibiting-products-made-with-forced- la/product-details/20221121CDT10669
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20231016IPR07307/towards-an-eu-ban- on-products-made-with-forced-labour
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=fr&reference=2022
https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang–en/index.htm https://www.un.org/en/observances/slavery-abolition-day
Click to read more Student Perspectives on Human Rights
Photo by Safal Karki on Unsplash