A/HRC/30/35 A. International and regional normative framework for the duty of States to protect the right not to be subjected to slavery and slavery-like practices 14. The right to be free from slavery is a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted and creates an erga omnes obligation on all States to protect this right. It is entrenched in the Slavery Convention of 1926 and has been incorporated into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 4), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (1))6 and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)). 15. In the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956, the protection of the right is extended to include “institutions and practices similar to slavery”, i.e. debt bondage, serfdom, servile marriage and delivering a child for exploitation. Child economic exploitation and child hazardous labour are further prohibited in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 10 (3)) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 32). In the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the elimination of the worst forms of child labour is called for, which are defined as including all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour as well as hazardous work (art. 3). 16. While in the Slavery Convention reference is made to forced labour and States are called on to take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery (art. 5), forced labour was not defined until the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). The right not to be subjected to forced labour is now enshrined in a number of other international instruments, including in the ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (3)) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)). In the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and the effective abolition of child labour is required. 17. The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),7 outlines measures for prevention and elimination of forced labour and emphasizes the need for victim protection and access to appropriate and effective remedies, such as compensation. One of the preventive measures it sets out is “supporting due diligence by both the public and private sectors to prevent and respond to risks of forced or compulsory labour” (art. 2 (e)). The non-binding ILO Recommendation 203, 8 providing practical guidance on the Protocol, while not referring specifically to supply chains, contains a provision on preventive measures, in which States are called on to provide guidance and support to employers and businesses to take effective measures to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the risks of forced or compulsory labour in their operations or in products, services or operations to which they may be directly linked (section 4 (j)). The 6 7 8 In the Covenant and the Universal Declaration, it is stipulated that no one shall be held in servitude, although in neither of the instruments is that term defined. At the time of writing, the Protocol was not yet in force but had been ratified by the Niger on 14 May 2015. Recommendation on Supplementary Measures for the Effective Suppression of Forced Labour, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 103rd session, Geneva, 11 June 2014. 5