33/46 Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
Document Type: Final Report
Date: 2016 Jul
Session: 33rd Regular Session (2016 Sep)
Agenda Item: Item3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
GE.16-11363 (E) 180716
Human Rights Council Thirty-third session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit the report of the Special Rapporteur on
contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, prepared pursuant to
Human Rights Council resolution 24/3. In the report, the Special Rapporteur investigates
the issue of debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery across the world. She
outlines the legal definition of debt bondage, before discussing trends in prevalence within
different regions. She then goes on to discuss the key drivers of debt bondage and
challenges in eradicating it. Finally, the Special Rapporteur outlines her vision for an
integrated, human rights-based approach to the full eradication and prevention of debt
bondage and develops recommendations for Member States on the implementation of such
an approach.
United Nations A/HRC/33/46
2 GE.16-11363
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
Contents
Page
I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
II. Legal characterization and definition of debt bondage.................................................................. 4
III. Trends in the prevalence of debt bondage ..................................................................................... 5
A. Global ................................................................................................................................... 5
B. Regional ................................................................................................................................ 5
C. Migrant workers and debt bondage ....................................................................................... 12
IV. Examples of national measures designed to eradicate and prevent debt bondage ......................... 13
A. Constitutional provisions relating to debt bondage ............................................................... 13
B. Debt bondage legislation, policies and programmes............................................................. 13
V. Key drivers of debt bondage and challenges in relation to its full eradication .............................. 15
A. Drivers .................................................................................................................................. 15
B. Main challenges in eradicating debt bondage ....................................................................... 16
VI. Developing an integrated, human rights–based approach to eradicating and preventing
debt bondage ................................................................................................................................. 17
VII. Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................................... 18
A. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 18
B. Recommendations to Member States .................................................................................... 19
GE.16-11363 3
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
slavery, including its causes and consequences, Urmila Bhoola, pursuant to Human Rights
Council resolution 24/3.
2. Since her presentation to the Human Rights Council at its thirtieth session, in
September 2015, the Special Rapporteur has made country visits to Nigeria and El
Salvador. The visit to Nigeria was made in conjunction with the Special Rapporteur on the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health and the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, and had the specific aim of assessing efforts made by the Government to
assist in rehabilitating and reintegrating women and children who had escaped or been
liberated from Boko Haram captivity. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health presented the
report summarizing the findings of that visit (A/HRC/32/32/Add.2) to the Human Rights
Council at its thirty-second session. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of
slavery, including its causes and consequences, also visited El Salvador to investigate the
prevalence of contemporary slavery there and efforts made by the Government to prevent
and eradicate the phenomenon. The report summarizing the findings of that visit
(A/HRC/33/46/Add.1) is issued as an addendum.
3. In addition to undertaking the above-mentioned country visits, the Special
Rapporteur has participated in a wide range of international conferences and initiatives
relating to the prevention and eradication of contemporary forms of slavery. For example,
she attended the Global Child Forum on Southern Africa, in September 2015; a United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime workshop, in November 2015 in Dakar; and the
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, in December 2014 at United Nations
Headquarters. Furthermore, on 26 and 27 November 2015, the Special Rapporteur
participated in the first African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage in Africa, together
with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
During that event, she took part in panel discussions and plenary sessions, as well as in a
meeting that brought together a number of non-governmental organizations and over 50
young girls who had been subjected to forced marriage. The Special Rapporteur was also
appointed a partner of the International Labour Organization’s 50 for Freedom campaign to
promote ratification of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.
29) and participated in a number of advocacy activities related to the campaign in South
Africa and Zambia, as well as in Geneva. She also took part in a United Nations University,
Government of Liechtenstein and Freedom Fund campaign to increase criminal penalties
and access to justice in the area of contemporary slavery.
4. In order to produce the present report on global trends in relation to debt bondage,
the Special Rapporteur prepared a questionnaire and circulated it to Member States and
other stakeholders. Analysis of the questionnaires, as well as desk-based research, informed
the report. Additional information supporting the findings of the Special Rapporteur’s
report, as well as a full list of the sources consulted, is included in an annex that can be
found on the web pages of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, its
causes and consequences.1
1 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Slavery/SRSlavery/Pages/SRSlaveryIndex.aspx.
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II. Legal characterization and definition of debt bondage
5. The practice of debt bondage, also known as bonded labour, is one of the four
practices similar to slavery or forms of servitude that are addressed in the Supplementary
Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices
Similar to Slavery, of 1956. Although servitude in international law has not been defined by
an international instrument and the distinction between servitude and slavery has not been
fully established, it has been considered that “servitude should be understood as human
exploitation falling short of slavery. That is to say, such exploitation which does not
manifest powers which would normally be associated with ownership, whether de jure or
de facto”.2 Debt bondage is a type of servitude but can also be characterized as slavery if
characteristics denoting ownership are present. Furthermore, debt bondage can also be
classified as forced labour under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). That Convention establishes debt bondage as “work or
service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which
the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. Although debt bondage is not included
in the definition of forced labour, there is a general consensus that the two practices
overlap.
6. People enter the status or condition of debt bondage when their labour, or the labour
of a third party under their control, is demanded as repayment of a loan or of money given
in advance, and the value of their labour is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or
the length of the service is not limited and/or the nature of the service is not defined.
Consequently, bonded labourers are often trapped into working for very little remuneration,
or in some cases none, to repay the loan or advance, even though the value of their labour
exceeds that sum of money.
7. In situations of debt bondage, the power imbalance between the employer (or
creditor) and the worker often increases the worker’s vulnerability to further human rights
abuses. Employers and creditors are reported to adjust interest rates, to make further
deductions arbitrarily as penalties for perceived poor performance, and/or to charge high
prices for basic goods or working tools resulting in an increase of the debt and the
perpetuation of deeply exploitative situations. Furthermore, bonded labourers are often
subjected to physical and psychological abuse, to abusive conditions of work, such as long
working hours, to dangerous and unhealthy work, and to severe restrictions on their
freedom of movement, including in relation to changing employment. Children in debt
bondage can be particularly vulnerable to additional violations of their human rights, as
they lack access to education as well as to opportunities to participate in cultural and
recreational activities.
8. The definition of debt bondage in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of
Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery is sufficiently
broad to cover the situation of workers trapped in debt bondage in systemic, archaic, feudal
systems of slave-labour exploitation, as well as that of migrant workers from developing
countries who leave their countries accruing debt to cover the costs associated with
recruitment. Debt bondage is closely related to a number of forms of exploitation, including
forced labour, the abuse of migrant workers, trafficking, and the worst forms of child
labour. It has been observed that debt bondage is an area in which the relationship between
trafficking and forced labour practices is particularly strong. Debt is considered to be a key
2 Jean Allain, “On the curious disappearance of human servitude from general international law”,
Journal of the History of International Law, vol. 11 (2009), p. 304.
GE.16-11363 5
source of vulnerability to trafficking and is one of the mechanisms used to force victims to
work in exploitative or abusive conditions.
III. Trends in the prevalence of debt bondage
A. Global
9. Debt bondage occurs worldwide and is not confined to any one country or region
and it occurs across various sectors of the economy. A global trend can be seen whereby
vulnerable people, including those belonging to minority groups, indigenous people,
women, children, people determined as being of low caste, and migrant workers, are
disproportionately impacted by debt bondage. As will be discussed below, many victims of
debt bondage face multiple and intersecting sources of discrimination which make them
vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
10. ILO estimated in 2012 that 20.9 million people worldwide were victims of forced
labour. These figures refer to all forms of forced labour, however given the close
interrelationship with debt bondage, the figures offer some insight into debt bondage
prevalence trends globally. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for the highest absolute
number of victims of forced labour: 11.7 million, or 56 per cent of the global total. The
second-highest number is in Africa, with 3.7 million (18 per cent), followed by Latin
America and the Caribbean, with 1.8 million (9 per cent). Developed economies and the
European Union account for 1.5 million victims of forced labour (7 per cent), while the
non-EU countries of Central, South-East and Eastern Europe and the countries of the
Commonwealth of Independent States have 1.6 million (7 per cent). In the Middle East,
there are an estimated 600,000 victims (3 per cent). ILO has noted that the average period
of time that victims spend in forced labour is approximately 18 months, with significant
variation according to the forms of forced labour and across regions. The ILO data also
illustrates that forced labour affects international migrants, internally displaced persons and
people in their home countries. ILO estimates that there are 9.1 million victims (44 per
cent) who have moved either internally or internationally, and 11.8 million (56 per cent)
who are subjected to forced labour in their place of origin or residence.3
B. Regional
Africa
11. In Africa, debt bondage has been reported in sectors such as mining and agriculture,
particularly in countries that are members of the Southern African Development
Community, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
12. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been identified
as being home to adults and children who are subjected to debt bondage or trafficking while
working in the mining sector.4 Forced labour in the mining sector has been reported to
3 International Labour Organization, ILO Global Estimate of Forced Labour: Results and Methodology
(2012), pp. 13, 16 and 17. Available from
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@declaration/documents/publication/wcms_182004.
pdf.
4 ILO, “Draft report on forced labour and human trafficking in the Southern African Development
Community”, paper prepared for the Subregional Conference on the Ratification and Implementation
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involve multinational corporations that work on the extraction of precious metals or
minerals. In the Kivu provinces in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, debt
bondage has been reported as one of the most common forms of contemporary slavery in
mines. Workers contract debts to purchase food, supplies and working tools when they start
working and continue to accrue debt in order to meet their basic needs. Most of the workers
in debt bondage in North Kivu province come from other eastern provinces.5
13. It has also been reported that indigenous peoples in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo are subjected to practices similar to slavery, including debt bondage, by the Bantu
majority. Indigenous peoples are often trapped in debt bondage by Bantu “masters” who
often sell them goods such as clothes, food and medicine at inflated prices and add
exorbitant rates of interest if the goods are not paid for on time and who demand their work
in return. It is also a common practice for the Bantu to create new debts in order to sustain
the exploitation of bonded labourers. For example, it has been reported that they provide
food to indigenous children and then add inflated costs to the debts of parents.6
14. In Malawi, situations of debt bondage are reported to be prevalent within the
tobacco industry.7 This sector is a major source of employment in Malawi and generates a
significant amount of income for the country. Tobacco is traditionally grown by farmers
who use waged workers, temporary workers and also tenants (workers to whom farmers
provide land, food and housing and to whom they loan agricultural tools, the costs of which
are deducted from future profits). The relationship between tenants and estate or farm
owners has been reported to be largely exploitative, leading to a situation of debt bondage.
The costs charged to tenants by the estate or farm owners exceed the amount received from
tobacco sales due to manipulation of the debts. This leads to tenants, who are reportedly
predominantly male, and their families, becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage. In
2013, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food estimated that 300,000 tobacco tenant
families were living in extremely precarious situations in Malawi (see A/HRC/25/57/Add.1,
para. 47). Since 1995, the Government has made several attempts to enact a specific law on
tenancy labour but has yet not successfully developed such legislation. A tenancy labour
bill was first drafted in 1995, and the latest version, from 2012, is still under debate.8
Asia
15. The practice of debt bondage in South Asia is reported to be widespread, particularly
in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.9 The existence of debt bondage has also been
of the New ILO Protocol on Forced Labour, Lusaka, 17 and 18 November 2015, p. 38. Available
from www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---africa/---ro-
addis_ababa/documents/publication/wcms_425974.pdf.
5 Free the Slaves, “The Congo report: slavery in conflict minerals”, June 2011, pp. 11 and 14-16.
Available from www.freetheslaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/The-Congo-Report-English.pdf.
6 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Work Group for
Indigenous Affairs, Report of the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous
Populations/Communities: Research and Information Visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo,
9-25 August 2009, p. 76. The report was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights, in 2011. Available from www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/0555_RDC-
ENGELSK.pdf; and Anti-Slavery International, Arrested Development: Discrimination and Slavery
in the 21st Century (2008), p. 24. Available from
www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2009/a/arresteddevelopment.pdf.
7 Submission from the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation; and
submission from ILO, “A rapid assessment of the tobacco sector in Malawi” (2015), p. 9.
8 ILO, “A rapid assessment of the tobacco sector in Malawi”, pp. 25-29.
9 Siddharth Kara, Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (New York, Columbia
University Press, 2012), pp. xiii and 6.
GE.16-11363 7
reported in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. However the majority of those in debt bondage are
reported to be in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, despite the specific prohibition on
such practices within the legal frameworks of these countries. Those who are trapped in
debt bondage in South Asia are reportedly predominantly Dalits, persons of “low” caste,
indigenous peoples10 or members of other minority groups.11
16. In traditional forms of debt bondage in South Asia, patronage assumes an important
role in the employer-employee relationship, in that the labour and the life of the debtor
become collateral for the debt accrued. In some cases, such patronage perpetuates the cycle
of debt from one generation to the next. 12
However, this generational debt bondage has
decreased over the years and has been replaced by a more individualized temporary and/or
seasonal form of bondage that is exclusively economic and lacks the dimension of
patronage. This form of debt bondage, also known as “neo-bondage”, is considered to
involve the seasonal movement of migrant workers within and between countries. Such
workers are recruited by intermediaries who usually demand the payment of an advance
and the settlement of wages at the end of the contract in exchange for their intermediation.
Neo-bondage is similar to traditional forms of bondage, in the sense that the men, women
and children vulnerable to such practices mainly belong to marginalized communities.
17. Women and children often become trapped in situations of bonded labour because of
debt contracted by an authoritative member of the family or as a result of the family’s
status. Children can also enter into bonded labour by inheriting a debt from a parent or
other family member or they can be pledged individually to work in various sectors. The
individual pledging of children has been identified as a phenomenon characterized by the
recruitment of children through intermediaries who give their parents an advance. Such
women and children are often vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse from employers.
Cases of abduction of family members have been reported as a result of labourers seeking
help to achieve release from bondage. 13
Indirect bondage is prevalent in sectors such as
agriculture and the brick kiln industry, in which women and children are reportedly bonded
through the male household head. 14
Women and children can also often be bonded in their
own right, for example in domestic work, fish processing, silk farming, bangle production,
or carpet making and weaving.
18. In India, debt bondage is geographically widespread and has been reported to be
prevalent in sectors such as the brick kiln industry, stone quarries, mining, manufacturing
of beedi (Indian cigarettes), carpet weaving, construction, agriculture, power looms and
cotton handlooms, as well as fish processing. 15
Such practices are reported to be present in
10 In South Asia, this term includes those categorized as “tribals” (also known as adivasi) or, by Indian
law, as “scheduled tribes”.
11 Anti-Slavery International, Arrested Development: Discrimination and Slavery in the 21st Century,
pp. 5 and 6.
12 Kevin Bales and Peter Robbins, “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude: a critical analysis of
international slavery agreements and concepts of slavery”, Human Rights Review, vol. 2 (January-
March 2001), pp. 34 and 35; and
Shikha Sethia, “Bonded labourers”, India Exclusion Report 2013-14 (Books for Change, 2014), p.
206. Available from www.indianet.nl/pdf/IndiaExclusionReport2013-2014.pdf.
13 Submission from Anti-Slavery International.
14 ILO, A Global Alliance Against Forced Labour: Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 2005, p. 32. Available from
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@declaration/documents/publication/wcms_081882.
pdf.
15 Supreme Court of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3922 of 1985. Available from
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/3922.pdf; and
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both the formal and the informal sectors. A survey conducted in 10 States in 1978 and 1979
by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute, which remains the most
detailed survey on debt bondage, estimated the total number of bonded labourers in the
agricultural sector at 2.62 million. 16
The majority of people who are in debt bondage are
Dalits, of “low” caste, or indigenous peoples — also referred to as members of the
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. 17
19. In the western and central parts of Tamil Nadu, a high number of adolescent girls
reportedly work as bonded labourers under the sumangali scheme 18
in textile mills and
garment factories, which is a major hub in the global knitwear sector that supplies
international brands. 19
The majority of these workers are reported to belong to Dalit
communities and are aged between 14 and 18 years. 20
Debt bondage is also reported in
power loom workshops located in the Tiruppur region of Tamil Nadu, which produce
woven cloth both for domestic manufacturers and for global suppliers. Those affected by
debt bondage in this region are reported to include members of Dalit communities and other
poor communities and to include both men and women. Furthermore, some non-agricultural
industries in which debt bondage among children is reported to exist include carpet
weaving, beedi making, silk production, silk sari production, the brick kilns and stone
quarries. 21
20. In Pakistan, debt bondage has been reported in industries such as the brick kilns,
agriculture, fisheries, mining, carpet weaving and glass bangle production, among others. 22
Debt bondage is primarily concentrated in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in agriculture,
and in the brickmaking industry where often entire families are held in bondage. Landless
sharecroppers (haris) in Sindh and brickmakers (patheras) in Punjab are the most affected
by debt bondage. It has been reported that bonded labourers are often held in captivity by
National Human Rights Commission, Know Your Rights: Bonded Labour (2010), p. 3. The
Commission noted the following in 2010 regarding the sectors of the economy where bonded labour
is prevalent: “High incidence of bonded labour in the agriculture sector is found in the States of
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Madhya
Pradesh. In the non-agriculture sector, it is prevalent in brick kilns, stone quarries, beedi
manufacturing, carpet weaving, match and fireworks industry, pottery, construction projects and
bonded child labour in the sericulture processing industry. Migrant bonded labour involving States
such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, present a
heightened form of deprivation and exploitation often amounting to bonded labour system. Domestic
workers, jogins and devdasis are subjected to exploitation in the form of bonded labour system”.
16 Ghandi Peace Foundation and National Labour Institute, National Survey on the Incidence of Bonded
Labour: Preliminary Report (New Delhi, 1979). Cited in India Exclusion Report 2013-14, pp. 205
and 217 (footnote 8). 17 Submission from Anti-Slavery International; submission from Prayas Centre for Labour Research and
Action; submission from Jeevika Trust.
18 Submission from Rights Education and Development Centre and Dalit Solidarity Network United
Kingdom. The sumangali scheme is considered to be a form of modern slavery and bonded labour,
which has been a particularly regular practice for the past 10 years in the textile industry of Tamil
Nadu. Adolescent girls are recruited from their villages by brokers/agents, who pay an advance
payment and then promise a considerable lump sum at the end of the contract. Often the wages
received by the girls either at the end of the “contract” or paid on a weekly or monthly basis are used
to cover expenses inside the work premises (e.g. food and housing costs).
19 Submission from Anti-Slavery International.
20 SOMO, Captured by Cotton: Exploited Dalit Girls Produce Garments in India for European and US
Markets (May 2011), p. 14. Available from www.somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_3673.
21 Shikha Sethia, “Bonded labourers”, India Exclusion Report 2013-14, p. 208.
22 Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, State of Human Rights in 2011, p. 204.
Available from http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/AR2011-A.pdf.
GE.16-11363 9
armed guards or their family members are held as hostages, severely limiting the freedom
of movement both of the bonded labourers and of their families. 23
The estimates reported
by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan pertaining to the period from 2011 to 2014
on the number of releases of bonded labourers ordered by courts in Sindh indicate that the
largest number of releases occurred in the districts of Mirpur Khas, Sanghar and Umerkot.
Furthermore, natural disasters such as the monsoon floods in 2010 have had a negative
impact on the levels of debt bondage in agriculture and have increased migration-based
bonded labour in numerous sectors such as construction and brickmaking. 24
Debt bondage
in Pakistan is mainly found among minorities, such as non-Muslims (Hindus or Christians)
or Muslims who have converted from Hinduism. 25
21. In Nepal, bonded labour can be found in sectors such as agriculture, cattle rearing,
domestic labour, the brick kiln industry, embroidered textiles and the stone-breaking
industry. 26
A United Nations assessment carried out in 2011 suggested that 547,000
individuals in Nepal were in forced and bonded labour. 27
A large proportion of bonded
labourers were reported to be involved in traditional forms of agricultural bonded labour,
such as haruwa-charuwa, 28
haliya 29
or kamaiya. 30
The majority of kamaiya labourers were
released following the declaration in 2000 that abolished the system and the enactment of
the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002). 31
However, traces of the kamaiya
system still remain, particularly where government action aimed at identification, release
and rehabilitation has not reached those affected. In 2008 the Government abolished the
haliya system and cancelled the debts of haliya bonded labourers, but in the absence of a
comprehensive rehabilitation programme some reportedly remain trapped in debt bondage.
A study conducted by ILO between 2008 and 2010 addressing forced labour of adults and
children in agriculture, with a particular focus on the haruwa-charuwa system in central
23 Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, State of Human Rights in 2013, p. 82. Available from
http://hrcp-web.org/publication/book-genre/annual-reports/.
24 Siddharth Kara, Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (New York, Columbia
University Press, 2012), p. 71.
25 Submission from Gulshan-e-John; submission from Green Rural Development Organization; and Aly
Ercelawn and Muhammad Nauman, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, “Bonded
labour in Pakistan: an overview”, working paper (ILO, 2001), pp. 3-7.
26 Walk Free Foundation, Global Slavery Index 2013, p. 50.
27 United Nations country team in Nepal (2011), A Country Analysis with a Human Face, updated
February 2013, p. 32. Available from http://un.org.np/reports/country-analysis-2011.
28 Ibid. The haruwa/charuwa labourer (tiller and cattle herder) is employed on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis with various types of employment contract, oral or written. These contract agreements
often provide for work in exchange for land or for a portion of the harvest, or for work against an
annual payment or to pay the interest on a loan. Furthermore, the labourer’s wife and children may
also be obliged to work for the landowner, under pressures or threats such as being obliged to pay off
their loans promptly, being excluded from sharecropping, being refused a loan in times of crisis, and
violence.
Also: ILO, Forced Labour of Adults and Children in the Agriculture Sector of Nepal (ILO Country
Office for Nepal, 2013), series No. 11, p. xiii. Available from
https://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/Nepal_FL%20of%20Adults%20&%20Children%20in%20the%
20Agriculture%20S.pdf.
29 United Nations country team in Nepal (2011). Haliya (agricultural labourers) are landless workers
indebted to their landlords by custom and by debts that have not yet been repaid, sometimes over
generations. Consequently, they receive no pay in return for the agricultural and domestic labour that
they carry out. Some are allowed to migrate to India during the off-season to earn money to pay their
debts. The system is prevalent in the Far Western Hill districts.
30 The kamaiya system involved an agricultural labourer becoming bonded by receiving a loan from the
landlord at the beginning of the work relationship.
31 Submission from Anti-Slavery International.
10 GE.16-11363
and eastern Tarai and the haliya system in the far western hills, found that haruwa-charuwa
and haliya households accounted for 72 per cent of adults in forced labour. 32
The ILO study
also estimated that 33.5 per cent of the 89,545 working children aged from 5 to 17 were in
forced labour, 62 per cent of whom were male and 38 per cent of whom were female. The
vast majority of bonded labourers in Nepal are reported to be Dalits, persons of “low” caste,
indigenous peoples or members of religious minorities. 33
Latin America
22. In Latin America, debt bondage mainly affects marginalized communities, including
those impacted by poverty, indigenous peoples, those living in rural areas and persons of
African descent. Victims of debt bondage are often recruited to work within their own
locality or transported to areas where there are new commercial developments. They work
in a range of industries, including production of charcoal and pig iron, timber processing
and agriculture. 34
Debt bondage has been reported in countries such as the Plurinational
State of Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru, where there are high proportions of indigenous
peoples. 35
23. Most of the bonded labour documented in these countries is of short duration and
thus resembles the “neo-bondage” described above.36 Workers are usually bonded for a
season; only in a few cases do they remain bonded for a longer period. The recruitment of
workers is generally carried out through labour contractors or intermediaries who give
workers advances and promise them decent remuneration and favourable labour conditions.
Furthermore, the initial debts incurred by workers through the advances provided at the
time of recruitment often continue to increase due to unexplained wage deductions or to
credit used at stores run by employers to buy subsistence goods that are frequently sold at
inflated prices. In some cases, the geographical isolation of labour sites and the fact that
employers prevent any exchanges between workers and outside traders leaves workers with
no alternatives. Children and women reportedly help their male family members in the
performance of tasks or provide free domestic services to the landlord.
24. In Peru, debt bondage is reported to occur in the illegal logging and timber
extraction industries, with mestizos (individuals of mixed colonial and indigenous descent)
and indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon commonly victimized. 37
Two forms of
forced labour in logging activities have been identified in the Amazon. The first involves
indigenous workers being contracted to perform activities in their own communities,
whereas the second sees indigenous and mestizo workers being hired to work in logging
camps owned by timber bosses. Enforcement of the arrangements between workers and
32 ILO, Forced Labour of Adults and Children in the Agriculture Sector of Nepal (ILO Country Office
for Nepal, 2013), series No. 11, pp. 59 and 60.
33 Submission from Anti-Slavery International.
34 ILO, The Cost of Coercion: Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, International Labour Conference, ninety-eighth session
(2009), report I (B), pp. 8 and 19. Available from www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---
declaration/documents/publication/wcms_106268.pdf; and
submission from ILO.
35 See http://www.cepal.org/en/infografias/los-pueblos-indigenas-en-america-latina.
36 Eduardo Bedoya Garland, Alvaro Bedoya Silva‐Santisteban and Patrick Belser, “Debt bondage and ethnic discrimination in Latin America”, in Forced Labor: Coercion and Exploitation in the Private
Economy, Beate Andrees and Patrick Belser, eds. (Boulder, Colorado; Lynne Rienner Publishers,
ILO; 2009), pp. 42 and 45.
37 Eduardo Bedoya Garland and Alvaro Bedoya Silva-Santisteban, “El trabajo forzoso en la extracción
de la madera en la Amazonía peruana”, working paper (Geneva, ILO, 2005), p. ix; and
Bhavna Sharma, “Contemporary forms of slavery in Peru” (Anti-Slavery International, 2006), p. 3.
GE.16-11363 11
employers is in some cases ensured through threats and abuse, including physical
violence. 38
25. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, bonded labour has been reported among the
indigenous Guaranis in the Chaco region and among indigenous workers and mestizos on
sugar plantations, and in relation to the production of Brazil nuts in the northern Amazon. 39
The indigenous Guaranis in the Chaco region are mainly involved in farming and ranching,
in activities such as the production of corn, beans, cassava, plantain and fruits, and fishing
and hunting. It is estimated that a large number of indigenous Guarani families in the
Bolivian Chaco are subjected to debt bondage and forced labour and are thus referred to as
“captive communities”. 40 Furthermore, every year during the sugar harvest, tens of
thousands of indigenous workers and their families, 41
recruited by intermediaries or
contractors through the enganche recruitment system, 42
migrate to Santa Cruz and Tarija.
26. In Paraguay, debt bondage has reportedly been observed among members of various
indigenous ethnic groups on traditional low-technology cattle farms located in remote areas
of the Chaco region. 43
Casual workers are hired for changa work — short-term work
clearing fields or bringing in the harvest, and receive very low pay or no pay for their work
after employers have deducted amounts from their wages corresponding to the items
purchased on credit at the estate shop. 44
Permanent workers are employed as playeros
(ranch hands) to perform a variety of tasks, such as cutting wood or milking the cows, and
in some cases due to the debts they have contracted are directly or indirectly held against
their will. ILO estimated in 2005 that a total of 8,000 indigenous workers could be victims
of debt bondage in Paraguay. 45
27. In Brazil, the highest incidence of what is commonly referred to as “slave labour”,
which includes the practice of debt bondage, 46
is found in industries associated with the
38 Eduardo Bedoya Garland, Alvaro Bedoya Silva‐Santisteban and Patrick Belser, “Debt bondage and ethnic discrimination in Latin America”, in Forced Labor: Coercion and Exploitation in the Private
Economy, p. 44.
39 Ibid.
40 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Captive communities: situation of the Guarani
indigenous people and contemporary forms of slavery in the Bolivian Chaco”, 2009.
41 Eduardo Bedoya Garland and Alvaro Bedoya Silva‐Santisteban, “Enganche y servidumbre por deudas en Bolivia” (ILO, 2005), p. 1.
42 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Captive communities: situation of the Guarani
indigenous people and contemporary forms of slavery in the Bolivian Chaco”, 2009, p. 7:
“According to a study by the ILO, the enganche system leads to a situation of debt bondage and
forced labour: To pay his debt, the farmer who receives an advance has no option other than to work
in the place determined by the enganchador (intermediary or contractor) … The farmer cannot repay
that advance with money, nor can he look for another recruiter who will give him more money, nor is
he in a position to seek other employment … The enganche, therefore, is a system of getting labour
that entails the worker’s loss of liberty and it takes place in the absence of a developed labour
market”.
Also: Eduardo Bedoya Garland and Alvaro Bedoya Silva‐Santisteban, “Enganche y servidumbre por deudas en Bolivia”, pp. 1 and 2.
43 Submission from Paraguay.
44 Eduardo Bedoya Garland and Alvaro Bedoya Silva-Santisteban, “Servidumbre por deudas y
marginación en el Chaco de Paraguay” (ILO, 2005), p. ix.
45 Ibid.
46 Slave labour is defined in art. 149 of the Brazilian Penal Code as reducing someone to a condition
analogous to that of a slave, namely subjecting a person to forced labour or to arduous working days,
or subjecting such a person to degrading working conditions or restricting, in any manner whatsoever,
his mobility by reason of a debt contracted in respect of the employer or a representative of that
employer. See Nicola Philips and Leonardo Sakamoto, “The dynamics of adverse incorporation in
12 GE.16-11363
production of commodities such as live cattle, soybean, cotton, sugar and coffee. 47
Other
products identified with slave labour include vegetable charcoal and ethanol. Some of the
regions reported to have a high incidence of slave labour include the states of Pará, Mato
Grosso, Maranhão, Tocantins and Bahia, which also have been identified as states with a
high incidence of violence and deforestation for cattle ranching. 48
Labour intermediaries
known as gatos usually recruit workers by offering them advance payments and free
transport to the work site. Once they have arrived, the labourers, most of whom are males
aged between 18 and 34, become indebted, as a result of items they buy on credit at the
canteens run by the employer, and the charges for working tools, accommodation and
transport.
C. Migrant workers and debt bondage
28. Debt bondage in the context of labour migration and trafficking is a trend that can be
seen across a number of countries and sectors. Migrant workers often become trapped in
situations of bondage by borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates to pay recruitment
fees or by taking an advance payment from intermediaries to secure work in the country of
destination. Once migrants arrive in the country of destination they are often forced to work
in harsh conditions to pay back debt they have accrued. Furthermore, workers are
commonly subjected to threats and physical abuse, and in some cases face severe
restrictions to their freedom of movement. The vast majority of people trafficked to
countries in North America, Europe and the Middle East and to other developed countries
are migrant workers who are trafficked into a variety of jobs including domestic work,
agricultural work, prostitution and factory work and are often controlled through debt
bondage and other mechanisms.
29. In the Middle East, migrant workers represent a significant portion of the labour
force in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, particularly in the private sector. The individual
sponsorship system, known as the kafalah system, which ties the employment and
residency of a worker to a specific employer, is considered to be an arrangement that
creates dependency of the worker on the employer and encourages abuses, including debt
bondage. The fees charged by recruitment agencies for travel arrangements, labour
contracts and other services trap migrant workers into bondage in their home countries.
Consequently, migrant workers are often indebted upon arrival in the country of
destination. Furthermore, practices such as the confiscation of passports, the non-payment,
underpayment or delayed payment of wages, and contract substitution are considered to
contribute to debt bondage. Those who are most susceptible to debt bondage in these
countries are Asians who work as migrant labourers and domestic servants.
30. Exploitation of migrant workers via debt bondage has also reportedly been seen in
South-East Asia. In Thailand, migrant workers, primarily from neighbouring countries
including Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar, are reported to
have been subjected to deceptive recruitment practices that can lead to cases of debt
global production networks: poverty, vulnerability and ‘slave labour’ in Brazil”, Chronic Poverty
Research Centre working paper No. 175 (2011), p. 6. Available at
http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/PDF/Outputs/ChronicPoverty_RC/WP175_Philips-Sakamoto.pdf.
47 Ibid., p. 12.
48 Leonardo Sakamoto, “‘Slave labour’ in Brazil”, in Forced Labor: Coercion and Exploitation in the
Private Economy, Beate Andrees and Patrick Belser, eds. (Boulder, Colorado; Lynne Rienner
Publishers, ILO; 2009), pp. 19 and 21.
GE.16-11363 13
bondage. 49
Workers are often lured to work on fishing boats free of charge and once they
start working are charged for the costs of recruitment and the travel expenses, with high
interest rates. 50
IV. Examples of national measures designed to eradicate and prevent debt bondage
31. A number of different countries have taken measures, including the development of
legislation, policies and programmes, to eradicate and prevent debt bondage and related
forms of servitude. Examples of these are discussed below, and additional material is
included in the annex.
A. Constitutional provisions relating to debt bondage
32. In South Asia, several countries have provisions in their national constitutions from
which further enacted legislation on debt bondage flows directly. For example, article 23 of
the Constitution of India prohibits trafficking in human beings, begar (debt bondage) and
other similar forms of forced labour, as an enforceable right. Article 11 of the Constitution
of Pakistan prohibits slavery and forced labour. Article 29 of the Constitution of Nepal
prohibits debt bondage and other forms of forced labour and specifies that an employer
contravening the prohibition must pay compensation. In Brazil, article 243 of the
Constitution provides for the expropriation of rural or urban property in which the use of
slave labour has been identified and its consignment to agrarian reform and social
housing. 51
B. Debt bondage legislation, policies and programmes
33. In South Asia, specific legislation on debt bondage and other relevant legislation to
combat debt bondage has been enacted in India, Nepal and Pakistan. In India, the Bonded
Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 abolishes the bonded labour system and discharges
every bonded labourer from any obligation to render labour related to debts. The Act also
prohibits the giving of advances to bonded labourers, obliges local governments to
rehabilitate freed bonded labourers and imposes a penalty on perpetrators of up to 3 years’
imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs. 2,000. The Act mandates the establishment of
vigilance committees at the district and subdivisional level, with a duty to provide for the
“economic and social rehabilitation” of bonded labourers. In addition, the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits the participation of children under 14
years of age in certain kinds of hazardous employment and regulates the conditions of work
in other kinds of employment. Section 374 of the Indian Penal Code punishes compelling
any person to labour against the will of that person, and section 370 prohibits trafficking in
persons for the purpose of exploitation, which includes “physical exploitation or any form
of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the forced
removal of organs”. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act, 1989 prohibits forced or bonded labour of a member of a scheduled caste or tribe.
49 Verité, “Recruitment practices and migrant labour conditions in Nestlé’s Thai shrimp supply chain: an
examination of forced labour and other human rights risks endemic to the Thai seafood sector”, p. 13.
50 Submission from Human Rights and Development Foundation.
51 ILO, “Application of international labour standards 2016 (I): report of the Committee of Experts on
the Application of Conventions and Recommendations”, p. 179.
14 GE.16-11363
34. Also in India, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded
Labourers, introduced in 1978, establishes that the cost of rehabilitation grants is to be
assumed on an equal basis by the central Government and the states, and provides Rs.
20,000 in compensation per labourer.
35. In Nepal, the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002) abolished bonded
labour in the country. 52
The 2002 Act makes null and void all the debts contracted by
persons in debt bondage and requires the establishment of freed bonded labourer
rehabilitation and monitoring committees in a number of districts. The 2002 Act provides
for penalties and fines for perpetrators. In 2010, the Ministry of Land Reform and
Management presented a haliya system (prohibition) bill, setting out the rights of freed
haliya, and establishing a rehabilitation fund, a case litigation and appeal process, and
provision for punishment. However, the bill has not yet passed into law. In May 2011, the
Government issued the “Freed haliya rehabilitation and monitoring guidelines”, which
mandated district-level task forces to update the information on freed haliya and to
distribute identification cards to them within six months of their being identified.
36. In Pakistan, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992 abolished bonded
labour throughout the country. The Act prohibits any loan or advance under the bonded
labour system, or compelling a person to render any form of forced labour. It also
extinguishes all obligations to repay any bonded debt and provides for 2 to 5 years’
imprisonment for perpetrators and/or the imposition of a fine of PRs. 50,000. The law
mandates provincial governments to set up district vigilance committees, for
implementation of the law and the rehabilitation of bonded labourers. The Bonded Labour
System (Abolition) Rules, 1995 established the responsibility of various implementing
agencies and mandated the setting up of a fund for the rehabilitation of freed bonded
labourers. In 2001, the Government developed the National Policy and Plan of Action for
the Abolition of Bonded Labour, in which the Government committed itself to eradicating
bonded labour and developing the rehabilitation fund. 53
37. In Mauritania, Act No. 2015-031 of 10 September 2015 criminalizes slavery and
punishes slavery-like practices including debt bondage. 54
The Act provides for the
possibility of third parties (those who have benefited from legal personality for at least five
years) taking legal action and being a party in the proceedings (section 23).
38. In Germany, subjecting a person under the age of 21 to debt bondage is penalized
under the Criminal Code (section 233 (1)) with a term of imprisonment of between 6
months and 10 years. 55
In Australia, the offence of debt bondage is penalized by 4 years’
imprisonment, under section 271.8 of the Criminal Code. 56
Furthermore, the Government of
Australia has adopted the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery
2015-2019, which includes actions to combat debt bondage. Other measures include the
setting up in 2015 of Task Force Cadena to tackle serious incidents of illegal work, visa
fraud and worker exploitation, with a focus on industries such as food production and
agriculture, and the establishment of the Ministerial Working Group Protecting Vulnerable
Visa Holders to consider policy options to protect vulnerable foreign workers in Australia.
52 Submission from Anti-Slavery International.
53 Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, “Effectiveness of interventions for the release
and rehabilitation of bonded labourers in Pakistan”, p. 11.
54 ILO, “Application of international labour standards 2016 (I): report of the Committee of Experts on
the Application of Conventions and Recommendations”, p. 200.
55 Submission from Germany.
56 Submission from Australia.
GE.16-11363 15
V. Key drivers of debt bondage and challenges in relation to its full eradication
A. Drivers
Poverty, lack of decent work and barriers to education
39. Poverty is a key driver of debt bondage across the world. Bonded labourers are
frequently reported to live in situations of poverty that are sustained through generations.
They often do not own any assets and lack access to land, education, health care and/or
decent work opportunities. The majority are trapped in debt bondage because the only
source of credit they can obtain is from their employer or recruiter. Life events have been
identified as triggering the need for the loans that can lead to debt bondage; these may
include illness or accident, marriage, and death in the family. Loans are also commonly
needed for subsistence, and for investments such as home improvements.
40. People in debt bondage tend to have experienced a low level of access to education,
which frequently results in illiteracy and innumeracy. This leads to a lack of alternative
employment options and makes them vulnerable to exploitation from their employers.
Illiteracy and innumeracy allow employers or recruiters to manipulate loans, interest rates
and wages. Poor remuneration in previous employment is considered to be a major cause of
debt bondage, as workers are forced to take loans or advances to cover basic subsistence
needs.
Discrimination
41. Bonded labourers commonly belong to minority groups vulnerable to
discrimination, such as certain racial groups, women, indigenous people, people of “low”
caste and migrant workers. The discrimination suffered by these groups frequently prevents
them from accessing education, health care, clean water and credit. Furthermore, demands
from bonded labourers for fair treatment, or their resistance to exploitation, often cause
them to face social sanctions and boycotts that further restrict their possibility of
overcoming discrimination or of leaving the situation of bondage. The discrimination faced
by bonded labourers comes in some cases not only from society at large but also from other
members of the same minority groups.
42. Gender inequalities and discrimination make women vulnerable to bondage, as they
are often excluded from the labour market and consequently are involved in unskilled and
poorly paid jobs. Furthermore, discrimination against children belonging to minority groups
is a factor that limits their full access to education and thus increases their vulnerability to
exploitation. Many bonded labourers, including women and children, face multiple and
intersecting forms of discrimination, which significantly increases their vulnerability to
debt bondage and at the same time limits their opportunities for escaping such abuse.
Precarious labour migration
43. Precarious labour migration has been identified as a driver of debt bondage. Migrant
workers are also often vulnerable to exploitation because of barriers they face in accessing
the protections provided to nationals of the country to which they have migrated and
because of generalized social hostility towards foreigners. The choices made by migrants
about securing employment abroad are often based on misinformation and false promises
concerning conditions of employment in destination countries. A lack of financial literacy
can lead to a poor understanding of the loans taken out to pay fees, and a lack of
alternatives in their home countries can incentivize migrants to take out loans on which
extortionate rates of interest are charged. Furthermore, a lack of effective regulation of the
16 GE.16-11363
recruitment sector, unethical practices by unscrupulous recruiters, late payment or the
withholding of payment by employers, and exorbitant charges for services can worsen
situations of debt bondage.
B. Main challenges in eradicating debt bondage
44. Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there
are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including:
(a) The lack of adequate enforcement of legislation on debt bondage and on
workers’ rights, and of other relevant legislation for the eradication of debt bondage, and in
some countries the non-existence of specific legislation on debt bondage;
(b) The lack of implementation or absence of legal measures that could prevent
reprisals against victims of debt bondage when the criminal law is being used to punish
perpetrators (e.g. a summary procedure in cases of debt bondage), particularly when victims
and perpetrators are part of the same community;
(c) The lack of regulatory frameworks and oversight in respect of recruitment
agencies or brokers that impose excessive recruitment fees or provide advances to migrant
workers leaving them indebted;
(d) The limited access to justice and to effective remedies, which is often linked
to the discrimination that bonded labourers suffer. Members of minority groups frequently
continue to encounter discrimination, harassment and violence when seeking to access the
justice system;
(e) The ineffectiveness or non-existence of adequate mechanisms to identify
bonded labourers, including the lack of ongoing identification programmes conducted in
the formal and informal sectors and the lack of particular methods for identifying bonded
labourers. Other challenges in this regard include the insufficient resources allocated for the
purposes of identification; the non-proactive attitude by officials to seeking out and finding
cases of debt bondage; the lack of data, which could be obtained through surveys to identify
the number of persons in debt bondage and the sectors where it is the most prevalent; and
the failure by the authorities to recognize new forms of debt bondage, such as seasonal debt
bondage;
(f) Deficiencies in providing protection and assistance to promote the recovery
and reintegration of bonded labourers, particularly as regards ensuring that bonded
labourers get an alternative means of earning a living under decent working conditions that
will prevent them from relapsing into bondage. Furthermore, challenges remain regarding
their access to recovery and reintegration programmes, particularly due to the fact that
persons in debt bondage often do not have legal documents and due to the lack of adequate
measures to ensure that such documents are obtained promptly;
(g) The absence of measures to specifically target the factors that cause or
facilitate debt bondage, such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to decent work, social
exclusion and discrimination. Also, the absence of measures to address cultural and
economic pressures in some countries (e.g. in relation to marriage) and to ensure access to
education, health and social security;
(h) Corruption, which has reduced the effectiveness of the identification, release
and recovery of bonded labourers in some countries where debt bondage is prevalent. In
some cases, the authorities are influenced by pressure from employers who occupy
powerful positions in the community or belong to social elites. In that context, when
employers are prosecuted they may be charged with infringing more lenient laws rather
than the laws on debt bondage.
GE.16-11363 17
VI. Developing an integrated, human rights-based approach to eradicating and preventing debt bondage
45. Debt bondage is a complex and multidimensional form of contemporary slavery that
impacts on individuals across the world. In order to be effective in eradicating and
preventing debt bondage, Governments must develop comprehensive and integrated
programmes of action based upon international human rights standards, as well as on the
views of those affected. Such approaches must be multifaceted and include legislative and
policy measures that are effective in eradicating debt bondage and preventing such abuse,
by decreasing individual vulnerability and further developing the legal and institutional
framework. The vision of the Special Rapporteur for such an integrated, human rights-
based approach is outlined below.
46. The enactment of laws that prohibit debt bondage and adequately punish
perpetrators is essential as a first step towards the eradication and prevention of this
phenomenon. Such laws need to be actively enforced, along with those that are relevant to
the prevention and eradication of debt bondage, including those related to regulation of
recruitment agencies, the right to organize and the payment of wages. The necessary
resources must be allocated to assure full implementation of the laws at all levels of
government. Effective administrative institutional structures and processes must be in place
to implement legislation on debt bondage. As part of such implementation efforts,
enforcement officials and other State officials should be sensitized and trained in regard to
relevant laws on debt bondage and the rights of victims.
47. Alongside such legislation, Governments should take all possible steps to prevent
and address discrimination, as a key preventative strategy against debt bondage. Anti-
discrimination legislation should be in place, and programmes that reduce vulnerability to
exploitation should be targeted to populations commonly affected by debt bondage. Within
such efforts, specific attention should be paid to removing barriers to access to education
among children from vulnerable groups. In addition, addressing gender inequalities in
society at large will help to reduce the number of women in debt bondage. Ensuring that
women are given the same opportunities as men and that they enjoy equal rights at work is
a key step in preventing them from becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage.
48. The labour inspection system must be resourced and trained in order to ensure
effective monitoring of the compliance with laws on debt bondage, as well as with other
relevant labour laws, for example those on forced labour, child labour, social security,
wages, working conditions, health and safety, unionization, collective bargaining and
equality. To that purpose, the labour inspection system should be provided with the
necessary resources to monitor both the formal and informal sectors. Regulation of the
labour market should also ensure that the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful
assembly, as well as the right to collective bargaining, are universally upheld.
49. Comprehensive national and/or regional surveys should be undertaken to identify
those in bonded labour, and should include disaggregated information on those affected, by
age, gender, nationality, caste or ethnic group, and to identify the industries in which debt
bondage is prevalent. The existence of detailed data is a necessary step for the development
of effective policies, systems and practices.
50. There should be no time gap between identification of persons in debt bondage and
their release on the one hand, and the start of the rehabilitation measures on the other.
Effective rehabilitation and reintegration measures need to be in place to prevent relapse
into debt bondage and need to be designed in consultation with released bonded labourers.
Rehabilitation measures need to ensure a sustainable livelihood for freed bonded labourers,
and access to rehabilitation needs to be provided. This requires the issuance of legal
18 GE.16-11363
documents such as identity cards and birth certificates, which will also enable them to
access social security and other government-run services. Children who are identified as
being in debt bondage must be ensured access to education in order to support their full
rehabilitation.
51. Interventions to support the empowerment of adults who are in debt bondage or who
are vulnerable to debt bondage are necessary, both for the individuals concerned and for
subsequent generations. Initiatives that ensure that bonded labourers have access to land,
such as land reform in rural areas, and fairer leasing arrangements; full, free and productive
employment and skill training; and affordable credit could promote the empowerment of
bonded labourers and prevent debt bondage. Furthermore, the implementation of projects
that facilitate access to regulated credit schemes, both for entrepreneurial purposes and for
personal needs, could prevent workers from becoming trapped in debt bondage.
52. In regard to migrant workers who are in debt bondage as a result of abusive
recruitment practices, a comprehensive programme of initiatives needs to be implemented
by States. This should include awareness-raising, training on safe migration, and capacity-
building, for prospective migrants, officials from local and central government, and civil
society organizations; the effective regulation of recruitment agencies and intermediaries;
and regional and international cooperation on the issue.
VII. Conclusions and recommendations
A. Conclusions
53. The practice of debt bondage is prevalent worldwide in numerous sectors of the
economy and particularly affects people belonging to minority groups, including
women, children, indigenous people, people of “low” caste and migrant workers.
Poverty, the lack of economic alternatives, illiteracy and the discrimination that
people from minority groups suffer leave them with no other option than to take a
loan or advance from employers or recruiters to meet basic needs, in exchange for
their work or the work of their families. People in debt bondage end up working for
no wages or wages below the minimum in order to repay the debts contracted or
advances received, even though the value of the work they carry out exceeds the
amount of their debts. Furthermore, bonded labourers are often subjected to different
forms of abuse, including long working hours, physical and psychological abuse, and
violence. Debt bondage is prevalent in many countries, due to a failure by many
Governments to implement effective legislation on debt bondage, including
deficiencies in the areas of identification, release, rehabilitation, and the prosecution
of offenders, and due to a lack of data on the prevalence of debt bondage, weak rule of
law, social exclusion and discrimination.
54. Under the due diligence standard, States have an obligation to exercise a
measure of care in preventing and responding to the acts of private individuals. More
specifically, they have a duty to protect people in debt bondage by means of adequate
procedures to identify them, to provide short-term and long-term rehabilitation that
prevents revictimizations, to enact legislation on debt bondage and to ensure that
victims have access to justice and remedies. Furthermore, States have an obligation to
prevent debt bondage through prevention of discrimination, regulation of wages,
enforcement of labour law and regulation of recruitment practices, and by protecting
persons in debt bondage against violations in the context of business activities.
55. A comprehensive, human rights-based approach to tackling debt bondage must
have at its centre the compliance of States with their obligations under international
GE.16-11363 19
law and the empowerment of freed bonded labourers and people vulnerable to debt
bondage. Recommendations on the implementation of such an approach are detailed
below.
B. Recommendations to Member States
Institutional and legal framework
• Ratify all relevant international instruments prohibiting slavery and slavery-
like practices and other relevant international instruments pertaining to the
eradication of debt bondage, including the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). States should align their national legislation
with these international standards, in order to adequately criminalize debt
bondage and provide adequate penalties for violations.
• Ensure that debt bondage is prohibited as a specific crime within national legal
frameworks with adequate penalties for violations. Debt bondage should be
included as a stand-alone violation that is treated separately from related
phenomena such as forced labour or trafficking.
• In addition, ensure that the relevant legislative provisions declare null and void
all debt contracted during any period during which a person was held in debt
bondage.
• Establish and/or update comprehensive national action plans for the
eradication of contemporary forms of slavery including debt bondage. The
national action plans should outline measures to prevent and eradicate debt
bondage, and ensure the protection of persons released from debt bondage.
• Provide training and sensitize law enforcement and labour officials at the
national and local levels on the identification of persons in debt bondage and on
the implementation of legislation on debt bondage if it exists and other relevant
labour laws to tackle debt bondage. States should ensure the enforcement of
legislation on debt bondage and other relevant laws to tackle debt bondage, and
should ensure that these apply to all workers and all sectors of the economy.
• Sensitize the competent authorities on the effective identification of victims of
debt bondage, including by developing specific guidelines and procedures and
implementing human rights-based training.
• Invest in the capacity and knowledge of the labour inspectorate in order to
detect and tackle cases of debt bondage. Ensure that the inspectorate covers all
sectors impacted by debt bondage, including those within the informal sector.
• Ensure that robust anti-discrimination legislation is in place to protect groups
that can become vulnerable to debt bondage because of multiple and
intersecting forms of discrimination.
• Ensure that legislation is in place that regulates the payment of wages, and that
such provisions are in alignment with obligations under the ILO Social Policy
(Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117).
• Poverty reduction, the right to education and access to decent work
opportunities.
• In the context of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals,
continue and expand targeted poverty reduction programmes that reduce the
vulnerability of the individual to debt bondage.
20 GE.16-11363
• Ensure basic social security guarantees in order to reduce vulnerability to debt
bondage.
• Take all possible steps to ensure that all members of the population can fulfil
their right to education.
• Ensure effective regulation of private sector organizations in line with the
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• Invest in programmes that facilitate people’s access to decent work
opportunities, in order to ensure that they have economic alternatives to debt
bondage.
• Ensure full respect of the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful
assembly, as well as the right to collective bargaining, to support decent work
and the ability of bonded labourers to advocate for their rights.
• Prevention and elimination of discrimination.
• As stated above, ensure that legislation is in place to protect from
discrimination those who are vulnerable to bonded labour in order to prevent
situations of exploitation.
• Undertake public-awareness-raising campaigns to challenge stigma and
prejudices towards groups vulnerable to debt bondage, and sensitize
populations to the rights of such people.
• Implement human rights-based training on the prevention and elimination of
all forms of discrimination across State institutions.
• Integrate provisions designed to prevent stigma and prejudice against
populations vulnerable to debt bondage, within all educational curricula.
• Victims of debt bondage should be ensured equal access to justice and access to
effective remedies. States should ensure that persons in debt bondage who seek
to access the judicial system do not encounter discriminatory attitudes and/or
policies which impede access to their rights under law.
• Remove any forms of discrimination that negatively impact on the rights of
certain groups, including girls, indigenous peoples and migrant children, to an
education.
• Protect migrant workers.
• As outlined above, invest in the development of economic alternatives to reduce
the push factors that drive individuals into migration that can lead to
exploitative labour.
• Develop a comprehensive system of regulation of recruitment practices in
relation to migrant workers that includes the banning of recruitment fees and
the issuing of licences to recruiters and other related intermediaries.
• Origin and destination countries should work together to ensure the effective
monitoring of the situation of migrant workers and that adequate protection
systems are in place.
• Identification, data collection, assistance and rehabilitation.
• Undertake national and/or regional surveys to identify victims of debt bondage;
these should include disaggregated information on those affected, by age,
gender, nationality, caste and ethnic group, as well as information about the
industries in which debt bondage is prevalent. Such surveys should cover
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remote areas and informal workplaces. Data collected from such surveys
should be used as the basis for the development of effective legislation, policy
and programmes.
• Within the design of such surveys, provisions should be included to provide
immediate assistance to identified bonded labourers. The steps taken must
ensure the safety of labourers and protect them from any threats or reprisals
from employers.
• Put in place comprehensive programmes that allow identified bonded labourers
to be able to access the support that they need to fulfil their right to
rehabilitation.
• Ensure that bonded labourers are fully consulted about the development of
assistance and rehabilitation programmes.
• As part of such efforts, issue identity cards to former bonded labourers to
ensure that they can access social security assistance and Government services.
• When children are identified as bonded labourers, ensure that they are able to
reaccess education and that specific provisions are in place to support their
reintegration.
• Ensure that those who have been subjected to debt bondage are able to access
decent work opportunities to support their rehabilitation.
• Access to justice and redress.
• Take all necessary effective measures to ensure appropriate and effective
remedies for victims of debt bondage, as established under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.
29).
• Train members of the judiciary on legal provisions relating to debt bondage
and the rights of victims, in order to ensure the effective enforcement of
legislation.
• Take all possible steps to establish effective rule of law, in particular by
building the capacity of the judiciary to ensure that relevant laws are properly
and consistently enforced.
• Develop victim protection mechanisms to protect former bonded labourers in
the context of judicial proceedings.
• Undertake multifaceted sensitization programmes targeted at bonded
labourers and at risk populations to ensure that they are aware of their rights
and of avenues of remedy for violations.
• Ensure that penal and administrative sanctions are applied to all those involved
in perpetrating debt bondage and that all victims are able to access redress for
harm suffered, including adequate compensation.