A/HRC/24/43
highlights debt bondage and serfdom as specific forms of slavery. The Convention defines
debt bondage as “the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal
services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those
services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt of the
length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined” (art. 1 (a)).
Serfdom is defined as “the condition or status of a tenant who is by law, custom or
agreement bound to live and labour on land belonging to another person and to render some
determinate service to such other person, whether for reward or not, and is not free to
change his status” (art. 1 (b)).
C.
Servile marriage
29.
The Supplementary Convention also addresses the practice of servile marriage as a
form of slavery, although it does not label it as such. The Convention outlaws practices in
which: a woman is “promised or given in marriage on payment”; “the husband of a woman,
his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person”; and “a woman on the
death of her husband is liable to be inherited” (art. 1 (c)). States Parties to the Convention
are asked to establish suitable minimum ages of marriage. Servile marriage was also
alluded to in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 16 establishes that
“marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending
spouses”.
D.
Child slavery
30.
The Supplementary Convention also alludes to child slavery. The Convention
requires the abolition of “any institution or practice whereby a child or young person under
the age of 18 years, is delivered by either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian to
another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or
young person or his labour” (art. 1 (d)). Article 10, paragraph 3, of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that, “children and young persons
should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work
harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal
development should be punishable by law.” Drawing on this, ILO Convention No. 182
(1999) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour defines and prohibits the worst forms of child labour, including
child slavery (arts. 1 and 3).
E.
Domestic servitude
31.
Domestic servitude can be another contemporary form of slavery, although it has not
garnered as much attention in the international human rights frameworks of the twentieth
century. Domestic servitude is implicitly prohibited in the articles of the Slavery
Convention, the Covenants and Declarations that make up the International Bill of Human
Rights, ILO Convention No. 105 (1959) concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour and the
1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The Convention on
the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention No. 182 both protect children against
conditions akin to domestic servitude. In June 2011, ILO adopted Convention No. 189
concerning decent work for domestic workers, which similarly addresses such issues. The
Convention sets out protections against domestic servitude, outlining specific rights for
domestic workers, including fair terms of employment, decent working and living
conditions, respect for their privacy, and protection against all forms of abuse, harassment,
and violence (arts. 5 and 6).
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