In 2016, a United Nations study found that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery – forced labour and forced marriage. What’s more, it was recently discovered that unaccompanied minors immigrating to Sweden have been working under slave-like conditions. So, RWI sat down with Urmila Bhoola, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its Causes and Consequences, to find out more.
About the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its Causes and Consequences
Urmila Bhoola is a South African lawyer, who works globally to advance human rights and end child labour, child marriage, forced labour and other contemporary forms of slavery. She was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its causes and consequences in June 2014, and her mandate has been renewed for a further period until 2020.
Ms. Bhoola is the National Director of Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa and a former Judge of the Labour Court of South Africa. Her judicial appointment followed twenty years of work as a labour and human rights lawyer in South Africa, and she has received many awards for her human rights and gender equality work. She has also been a technical advisor to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on labour rights in the Asia Pacific region and was Chief Legal Drafter of South Africa’s Employment Equity Act, designed to redress disadvantages caused by apartheid.
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