A/HRC/33/46 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 50 51 GE.16-11363 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. Submission from Human Rights and Development Foundation. ILO, “Application of international labour standards 2016 (I): report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations”, p. 179. 13