A/HRC/18/30 working in artisanal small-scale mining alone.2 Although estimates of the number of children working in this sector may vary, what is clear is that the numbers are likely to increase as a result of higher prices and demand for minerals from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and emerging economies.3 17. In the past, the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery considered the issue of child economic exploitation.4 The Special Rapporteur has given due consideration to the discussions of the Working Group in the elaboration of her present report. 18. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges that not all children who work are exploited. Indeed, the Special Rapporteur acknowledges that in some situations working can enrich the development of the child, family and community.5 Child exploitation occurs when the work that a child carries out is hazardous or interferes with the child’s education, or is harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development (art. 32, para. 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). 19. This report will demonstrate that the work carried out by children in the mining and quarrying sector, by its very nature and the conditions in which it is performed, qualifies as a contemporary form of slavery due to the debt bondage, forced labour and economic exploitation of the child and particularly so with regard to unaccompanied children working in artisanal mining and quarries. For instance, employers yield complete physical and psychological power and control over the children, they are completely and severely dependent on their employer for their basic needs, unable to leave their place of work due to fear of reprisals against themselves or their families and work in physically and socially isolated and remote areas where they are not able to report abuses or access justice. IV. Relevant international legal framework for combating child slavery 20. Different international instruments, ranging from the core international law against slavery to international human rights law and international labour law are relevant when defining the concept of child slavery. 21. The core international law against slavery comprises the 1926 Slavery Convention and the 1956 Supplementary Convention. While the 1926 Convention defines the concept of slavery (art. 1) and introduces forced labour as being analogous to slavery (art. 5), the 1956 Convention broadens the concept so as to encompass other slavery-like practices. The ILO Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour offers a definition of forced labour and lays down a number of exceptions from its general prohibition. 2 3 4 5 6 UNEP, Squeezing Gold from a Stone (2010), p. 5. World Bank, “Communities, Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (CASM), Issue Brief: CASM’s holistic approach to small-scale mining aims to transform this activity from a source of conflict and poverty into a catalyst for economic growth and sustainable development”, updated September 2008. See for example report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery on its thirtieth session, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/34, para. 10, and report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery on its twenty-ninth session, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/36, para. 28 (f). Alston, Philip, “The Implementing Children’s Rights: The case of child labour”, Nordic Journal of International Law, vol. 58, No. 1, (1989), pp. 35–53.