A/HRC/9/20
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III. LEGAL FRAMEWORK: REFERENCE TO EXISTING REGIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS
26. In performing her functions, the Special Rapporteur will refer to fundamental human rights
instruments such as article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “no
one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all
their forms”. She will also rely upon its article 23 which states that “everyone has the right to
work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection
against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for
equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by
other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interests”. Article 24 states: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure,
including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”
27. The other main international human rights instruments that the Special Rapporteur shall
refer to are: article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits
slavery, the slave trade, servitude and forced labour; and articles 6 and 7 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which protects the right to just and
favourable conditions of work. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights directly
prohibits slavery and servitude in its article 8 in words similar to those of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. It goes on to expound on slavery as being a non-derogable right
under article 4, paragraph 2. In addition, the International Convention on the Suppression and
Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid adopted in 1973 outlaws a number of inhuman acts
committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group over
any other, including exploitation of the labour of the members of a racial group or groups by
subjecting them to forced labour.
28. The Special Rapporteur will also refer to regional human rights treaties such as article 4 (2)
of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, article 5 of the African Charter
on Human and Peoples’ Rights and article 6 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
29. As basic legal instruments, the Special Rapporteur will rely on the Slavery Convention
of 1926, the Protocol amending the Slavery Convention, the Supplementary Convention on the
abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956,
the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the
Prostitution of Others and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime.
30. The Special Rapporteur will also draw upon the ILO Conventions which seek to eliminate
forced labour. These are the ILO Forced Labour Convention of 1930 (No. 29) and the Abolition
of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), which provide for the immediate and complete
eradication of forced labour.
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