A/HRC/33/46 law and the empowerment of freed bonded labourers and people vulnerable to debt bondage. Recommendations on the implementation of such an approach are detailed below. B. Recommendations to Member States Institutional and legal framework • Ratify all relevant international instruments prohibiting slavery and slaverylike practices and other relevant international instruments pertaining to the eradication of debt bondage, including the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). States should align their national legislation with these international standards, in order to adequately criminalize debt bondage and provide adequate penalties for violations. • Ensure that debt bondage is prohibited as a specific crime within national legal frameworks with adequate penalties for violations. Debt bondage should be included as a stand-alone violation that is treated separately from related phenomena such as forced labour or trafficking. • In addition, ensure that the relevant legislative provisions declare null and void all debt contracted during any period during which a person was held in debt bondage. • Establish and/or update comprehensive national action plans for the eradication of contemporary forms of slavery including debt bondage. The national action plans should outline measures to prevent and eradicate debt bondage, and ensure the protection of persons released from debt bondage. • Provide training and sensitize law enforcement and labour officials at the national and local levels on the identification of persons in debt bondage and on the implementation of legislation on debt bondage if it exists and other relevant labour laws to tackle debt bondage. States should ensure the enforcement of legislation on debt bondage and other relevant laws to tackle debt bondage, and should ensure that these apply to all workers and all sectors of the economy. • Sensitize the competent authorities on the effective identification of victims of debt bondage, including by developing specific guidelines and procedures and implementing human rights-based training. • Invest in the capacity and knowledge of the labour inspectorate in order to detect and tackle cases of debt bondage. Ensure that the inspectorate covers all sectors impacted by debt bondage, including those within the informal sector. • Ensure that robust anti-discrimination legislation is in place to protect groups that can become vulnerable to debt bondage because of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. • Ensure that legislation is in place that regulates the payment of wages, and that such provisions are in alignment with obligations under the ILO Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117). • Poverty reduction, the right to education and access to decent work opportunities. • In the context of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, continue and expand targeted poverty reduction programmes that reduce the vulnerability of the individual to debt bondage. GE.16-11363 19