A/HRC/33/46 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 4 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