A few ‘Core’ Human Rights in

International Law:
Slavery
 What is Slavery
• 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour
worldwide:
• forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;
• owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through
mental or physical abuse or threatened
abuse;
• dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought
and sold as 'property';
• physically constrained or has restrictions placed on
his/her
• Our right to be protected against slavery and
servitude is absolute. It can never be
restricted.

• The law relating to forced labour is also

absolute. But it does not apply to work that
you have to do as part of a prison sentence or
a community sentence. Nor does it apply to
work the government requires you to do in a
state of emergency.
 Laws ?
• The modern world accepts that slavery is a
great evil and there are many international
documents that denounce it and make it
illegal.
 History-to suppress
• Between 1815 and 1957 around 300
international agreements were implemented,
with varying degrees of success, to suppress
slavery. Many of these agreements lacked
adequate institutions and procedures to
ensure that they were enforced
 key documents?
• The first international document
against slavery was the 1815
Declaration Relative to the
Universal Abolition of the Slave
Trade.
• The Slavery Convention, 1926 “Slavery is the
status or condition of a person over whom any
or all of the powers attaching to the right of
ownership are exercised.”
 UDHR
• Article 4: Prohibition of slavery and forced labour:

• 1. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.

• 2. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.

• 3. For the purpose of this Article the term "forced or compulsory labour" shall not include:

• a) any work required to be done in the ordinary course of detention imposed according to the
provisions of Article 5 of this Convention or during conditional release from such detention;

• b) any service of a military character or, in case of conscientious

objectors in countries where they are recognised, service exacted instead of compulsory military
service;

• c) any service exacted in case of an emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of
the community;

• d) any work or service which forms part of normal civic obligations.

 The International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
Article 8
• No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and
the slave-trade in all their forms shall be
prohibited.
• No one shall be held in servitude.
• No one shall be required to perform forced or
compulsory labour.
 Article 7-ICCPR
• Protects all human beings from torture or
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, thus outlawing some of the more
detestable practices of enslavement.
 Article 12-ICCPR
• gives people the rights of liberty of movement
and freedom to choose their residence, both
of which are incompatible with slavery.
 Article 16-ICCPR
• "Everyone shall have the right to recognition
everywhere as a person before the law."
 Article 26- ICCPR
• All persons are equal before the law and are
entitled without any discrimination to the
equal protection of the law."
The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition
of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions
Similar to Slavery (1956)
• (a) Debt bondage, that is to say, the status or
condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of
his personal services or of those of a person
under his control as security for a debt, if the
value of those services as reasonably assessed
is not applied towards the liquidation of the
debt or the length and nature of those
services are not respectively limited and
defined;
• (b) Serfdom, that is to say, the condition or
status of a tenant who is by law, custom or
agreement bound to live and labour on land
belonging to another person and to render
some determinate service to such other
person, whether for reward or not, and is not
free to change his status;
(c) Any institution or practice whereby:
(i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or
given in marriage on payment of a consideration in
money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any
other person or group; or
(ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has
the right to transfer her to another person for value
received or otherwise; or
(iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be
inherited by another person;
• (d) Any institution or practice whereby a child
or young person under the age of 18 years is
delivered by either or both of his natural
parents or by his guardian to another person,
whether for reward or not, with a view to the
exploitation of the child or young person or of
his labour.
• The same convention criminalised 'the act of
conveying or attempting to convey slaves from
one country to another' and told governments
to take all effective measures to prevent ships
and aircraft under their flags from conveying
slaves, and to stop their ports and airports
being used for such a purpose.
• The same convention criminalised 'the act of
conveying or attempting to convey slaves from
one country to another' and told governments
to take all effective measures to prevent ships
and aircraft under their flags from conveying
slaves, and to stop their ports and airports
being used for such a purpose.
Article 6- Supplementary Convention on the Abolition
of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions Similar to
Slavery (1956)
• The act of enslaving another person or of
inducing another person to give himself or a
person dependent upon him into slavery, or of
attempting these acts, or being accessory
thereto, or being a party to a conspiracy to
accomplish any such acts, shall be a criminal
offence
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court characterizes 'enslavement' as a crime
against humanity falling within the jurisdiction
of the Court , and describes 'enslavement' as:
• the exercise of any or all of the powers
attaching to the right of ownership over a
person and includes the exercise of such
power in the course of trafficking in persons,
in particular women and children
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children

• Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the

exploitation of the prostitution of others or
other forms of sexual exploitation, forced
labour or services, slavery or practices similar
to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs
 Siliadin v France (2005)

• A 15-year-old girl was brought to France from Togo by ‘Mrs D’, who
paid for her journey but then confiscated her passport. It was
agreed that the girl would work for Mrs D until she had paid back
her air fare, but after a few months she was ‘lent’ to ‘Mr and Mrs B’,
who forced her to work for 15 hours a day, seven days a week with
no pay, no holidays, no identity documents and without her
immigration status being authorised. The girl wore second-hand
clothes and did not have her own room. The authorities intervened
once they were alerted to the situation. However, at the time,
slavery and servitude were not specifically criminalised in France.
The European Court of Human Rights held that the girl had been
held in servitude and that France had breached its positive
obligations under the prohibition of slavery and forced labour,
because French law had not afforded the girl specific and effective
protection.
 Patience Asuquo
• Patience was brought to the UK as a domestic worker and
nanny. For two-and-a-half years she was abused physically
and mentally. She was never paid and her employer
withheld her passport. Patience eventually managed to
escape – only to be confronted with an uninterested police
force, refusing to take her allegations seriously.
• Liberty forced officers to investigate and Patience’s
employer was eventually prosecuted – although not for
slavery or forced servitude, as they still weren’t offences
under English law. Thankfully that’s now changed, and
there’s a new slavery offence on the statute book.
•
 Hadjiatou Mani (Niger)
• Aged 12, her parents master sold her to a 63 year old man
for £250 • Her new master enslaved her as both a domestic
servant and a ‘wife’ – she was never paid for her work,
constantly beaten and subjected to repeated rapes
• Her master released her when Niger passed a law banning
slavery, he said as his slave she was also his wife and so could
not leave.
• Hadjiatou left and married a man she chose but the master
took her to a local court which ruled that she had committed
bigamy and she was imprisoned for two months • IN 2008,
the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS)
court found Niger guilty of failing to protect it’s own citizens
from slavery
 Scenarios in some countries
• In northern Uganda, the LRA (Lord’s
Resistance Army) guerrillas have kidnapped
20,000 children over the past twenty years
and forced them into service as soldiers or
sexual slaves for the army.
• In Guinea-Bissau, children as young as five are
trafficked out of the country to work in cotton
fields in southern Senegal or as beggars in the
capital city. In Ghana, children five to fourteen
are tricked with false promises of education
and future into dangerous, unpaid jobs in the
fishing industry
• In Asia, Japan is the major destination country
for trafficked women, especially women
coming from the Philippines and Thailand.
UNICEF estimates 60,000 child prostitutes in
the Philippines.
• The US State Department estimates 600,000
to 820,000 men, women and children are
trafficked across international borders each
year, half of whom are minors, including
record numbers of women and girls fleeing
from Iraq. In nearly all countries, including
Canada, the US and the UK, deportation or
harassment are the usual governmental
responses, with no assistance services for the
victims.
• In the Dominican Republic, the operations of a
trafficking ring led to the death by
asphyxiation of 25 Haitian migrant workers. In
2007, two civilians and two military officers
received lenient prison sentences for their
part in the operation
• In Somalia in 2007, more than 1,400 displaced
Somalis and Ethiopian nationals died at sea in
trafficking operations.
 Malaysia: Practices
• In 2014,The United States has downgraded
Malaysia to a Tier 3 in its annual human
trafficking report. This is the lowest ranking and
Malaysia is now in the same category as
Zimbabwe, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

• (refer:
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/
06/21/Malaysia-downgraded-in-US-human-
trafficking-report/)
• In 2007, more than 1,600 children were
reported missing in Malaysia. 86% were below
18 years old.
(Deputy Women, Family and Community
Minister Noriah Kasnon)
• 2011-2012, 10,765 children went missing – an
average of 15 missing a day.
• Refer:
http://www.ilkap.gov.my/nlc2013/download/
Nota/D1ParallelBSession2a.pdf
• The Wall Street Journal exposing serious
human rights and labor abuses in Malaysian
grower Felda Global Venture’s plantations, a
coalition of civil society groups is calling on
the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO) for an open investigation into the
abuses.
• The brutalised body of R. Ganesh was flown
back to Tamil Nadu state in India, one day
after Malaysian workers observed Labour Day.
Three suspects – sauce factory owner T. Rajan,
his wife M. Ganeswari, and their 20-year-old
son Vijaar
• Young Rohingya women from Myanmar sold
into marriage to Rohingya men already in
Malaysia as the price of escaping violence and
poverty in their homeland.
(NY Times)
 Malaysia
• Prohibition against slavery and forced labour
(Article 6)
 Malaysia

• Supplementary Convention on the Abolition

of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions
and Practices similar to Slavery
The Supplementary Convention provides for
the abolishment of slavery practices. Malaysia
ratified the Supplementary Convention on the
18 November 1957.
 Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-
Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
• The Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act came into
force on 28 February 2008. This Act was then
amended in 2010 in order to strengthen the
regulatory framework to deal more effectively
with the issues of human trafficking and
smuggling of migrants in Malaysia. After the
amendment was passed and the act came into
force on 15 November 2010
• Even with the amendments made, in hopes of
strengthening the legislation as well as its
enforcement, Malaysia was placed on Tier 2 in
the U.S Department of State’s Trafficking in
Persons Report for 2 consecutive years. The
2011 report stated that the Malaysian
Government has failed to comply fully with
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s
minimum standards to eliminate trafficking in
this country.
 MAPO
• The Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons
(MAPO) was established under the Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 which came
into force on 28 Feb, 2008. Following the Anti-
Trafficking in Persons (Amendment) Act 2010,
to also include the smuggling of migrants,
MAPO is now known as the Council for Anti-
Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of
Migrants.
 MAPO’s objective
• to make Malaysia internationally accredited as
being free of illegal activities in connection
with human trafficking and smuggling of
migrants.
Hence, MAPO’s main function is to prevent
and eradicate human trafficking and migrant
smuggling crimes through comprehensive
enforcement of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons
(Amendment) Act 2010
 CAMSA

• CAMSA (Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in

Asia) is working very closely with relevant authorities
to combat human trafficking from every possible
aspect.
• As one of the NGO members in Council for Anti-
Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants
(MAPO), CAMSA was also invited by the Prosecution
Department of the Attorney-General’s Chambers to be
part of the consultation group in assessing the current
law and making suggestions for amendments.
Flaws in our laws?
• Under the current law, once a victim is
identified, they will be put under the
Protection Order and then placed in a
gazetted shelter managed by the Government.
• Though the intention of placing them there is
one of protection and care, victims often feel
suffocated and isolated, as though they are
being punished for something they did wrong.
• In fact, many believe that they are being
detained because they broke the law. This
inflicts further trauma on many victims.
• Being kept in Government-institutionalised
shelters, the victims’ freedom of movement is
restricted.
• They are unable to earn a livelihood and have
no access to legal advice or representation.
• A victim of human trafficking could have many civil
claims against traffickers – including unpaid wages
(basic, overtime and holiday leave etc), termination
benefits, false imprisonment, assault (physical and/or
sexual), aggravated and exemplary damages, interest
thereon, declaratory and injunctive relief, unjust
enrichment, medical costs, cost of psychological
treatment and therapy, legal and other costs.

• The law also does not provide any alternatives for

victims who may face harm upon returning to their
home country. Most, if not all, the victims will be
repatriated after providing evidence under oath.
 Recommendations:

• The law should not only be prosecution-

centric, but must also consider the rights and
needs of victims. One of our proposals is to
widen the scope of shelters to be run and
managed by NGOs.
• This could provide greater flexibility in which
care and protection is not only given physically
but victims are also empowered and their
rights are protected.
• Victims should be given access to legal
representation so that they can be aware of
their rights, and to be able to make informed
decisions about their case
• Immunity should be given to them, simply
because they are victims of human trafficking
and not only if they cooperate with the
authorities. We must understand that some
victims are not willing to cooperate or disclose
any information for fear of their (or their
family back home’s) lives.