A/HRC/42/CRP.5
dignity915 and must be provided with basic necessities, including adequate food, water,
clothing, shelter and medical attention.916 Depending on its purpose and the severity of pain
and suffering that accompanies forced labour, it may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment.917 Depending on the dangers to which the forced labour exposes
people, it may also constitute a violation of the right to life.918
399. In situations of armed conflict, including the non-international armed conflicts in
Myanmar, international humanitarian law prohibits uncompensated or abusive forced
labour.919 Similarly to international human rights law, forced labour also constitutes the
prohibited act of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and, as such, places obligations towards
respecting victims’ dignity920 and providing them with basic necessities. 921 The ICTY has
found that forcing civilians to dig trenches and placing detainees in a life-threatening
situation in the context of an armed conflict can constitute the war crime of cruel or
inhumane treatment.922 Using civilians in forced labour activities that expose them to the
dangers and harms of armed conflict is also prohibited by international humanitarian law
under the rule that parties to a conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians
under their control against the effects of attacks.923
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
114
ICCPR, Article 10.
See, generally, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (revised),
A/RES/70/175, 17 December 2015.
For more discussion on legal requirements for torture see Conclusions and legal findings in Section
V. C. 3: The conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army; Torture, arbitrary detention and
deaths in custody.
Human Rights Committee, General comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life, paragraph 7.
See J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswald-Beck, “Customary International Humanitarian Law. Volume I:
Rules” (Cambridge, ICRC/Cambridge University Press, 2005), rule 95 (forced labour).
Ibid., rule 87 (humane treatment).
Ibid., rule 118 (provision of basic necessities to persons deprived of their liberty).
See, ICTY, Prosecutor v. Blaškić, Trial Judgement, Case No. IT-95-14-T, 3 March 2000, para 700.
See J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswald-Beck, “Customary International Humanitarian Law. Volume I:
Rules” (Cambridge, ICRC/Cambridge University Press, 2005), rule 22 (principle of precautions
against the effects of attacks). See, also, Common Article 3 to the four Geneva Conventions.
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