A/HRC/27/53 An estimated 15.5 million children below the age of 18 are in paid or unpaid domestic work in the home of a third-party employer, of whom 10.5 million are estimated to be child labourers, either because they are under the legal minimum working age or are working in hazardous conditions or conditions tantamount to slavery. 4 Furthermore, girls outnumber boys and they face specific additional vulnerabilities in the context of migration and are more likely to end up being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. The Special Rapporteur is committed to working with the International Labour Organization, nongovernmental organizations and other stakeholders towards eliminating every vestige of child slavery in the world. Children should be at school or play, not at work; and the continued violation of their human rights should be an urgent global priority for Member States and the international community. 23. In addition to children in domestic servitude and other forms of slavery, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the uneven implementation, and in some areas retrogression, of the human rights of women as guaranteed under international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Women are disproportionately affected by forced labour. Of the estimated 21 million people in situations of forced labour, 11.4 million (55 per cent) are women and girls.5 24. Another area of focus for the Special Rapporteur is the role of business, in particular transnational corporations, in promoting and using forced labour in global supply chains.6 Recent estimates suggest that the total profits obtained from the use of forced labour in the private economy worldwide amount to US$ 150 billion per year.7 Victims of forced labour exploitation, including in domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities, such as construction, manufacturing, mining or utilities, generate an estimated US$ 51 billion in profits per year. 25. While the profit motive drives the demand for forced labour and other contemporary forms of slavery, it is underpinned by “push” factors such as increasing household vulnerability to income shocks, which push more households below the absolute poverty line; lack of education and illiteracy; as well as loss of work and deprivation of land, which force increased informal-sector work, migration and trafficking. The disproportionate impact of those factors on women and girls, who constitute more than half of the victims of forced labour, has been widely documented. 26. There is thus a need to address the structural and systemic causes of poverty and inequality, which render the poor and marginalized most vulnerable to slavery and labour exploitation. The proposed post-2015 sustainable development goals provide a comprehensive framework for addressing those issues and setting clear targets and indicators for both developed and developing countries to eliminate labour exploitation and manifestations of contemporary forms of slavery once and for all. 27. It is essential to ensure standardized disaggregated data collection (with due regard to individuals’ rights to privacy and data protection) and the strengthening of national legislative frameworks to ensure that violations of human and labour rights resulting in slavery are effectively monitored and swiftly eradicated through strict legal, judicial and institutional enforcement of measures, with appropriate rehabilitation and remedies. In addition, the early identification and prevention of forced labour through the cooperation of 4 5 6 7 International Labour Organization (ILO), Ending child labour in domestic work and protecting young workers from abusive working conditions (Geneva, 2013). Available from www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/ product/download.do?type=document&id=21515. ILO, Global Estimate of Forced Labour: Results and Methodology (Geneva, 2012). ILO, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour (Geneva, 2014). Ibid. 7