A/HRC/36/43
I. Introduction and summary of recent activities
A.
Participation in consultations and conferences
1.
Since she presented her previous report to the Human Rights Council
(A/HRC/33/46), the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its
causes and consequences has participated in a wide range of international conferences and
initiatives relating to the contemporary forms of slavery. In September 2016, the she
attended a meeting convened by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland and attended by other heads of State, United Nations agencies and
civil society experts in the margins of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly.
2.
In December 2016, the Special Rapporteur participated in a panel discussion on
child slavery with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other
stakeholders, convened by the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary
Forms of Slavery. The Fund assists individuals, whose human rights have been severely
violated as a result of contemporary forms of slavery. It provides vital direct humanitarian,
legal and financial assistance to victims through grants awarded to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). Throughout the implementation of her mandate over the past year,
the Special Rapporteur has worked in collaboration with the Fund. She thanks its members
for their ongoing support to all elements of her work and encourages Member States to
support their work.
3.
In March 2017, the Special Rapporteur gave a presentation at the Security Council
ministerial open debate on trafficking in persons in conflict situations, including forced
labour, slavery and other similar practices. In her statement, she called for greater
coordination and leadership on slavery and related phenomena and for States members of
the Security Council to ratify and implement international standards.
4.
In the past year, the Special Rapporteur has engaged with “SDG Alliance 8.7”, a
multi-stakeholder coalition committed to accelerating and intensifying actions to achieve
target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals. As such, she attended the high-level
launch of the initiative in New York in September 2016 and a consultation on child labour
and forced labour in Addis Ababa in June 2017.
B.
Country and follow-up visits
5.
Since her presentation to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-third session, the
Special Rapporteur conducted a country visit to Paraguay from 17 to 24 July 2017. The
purpose of the visit was to address the causes and consequences of contemporary forms of
slavery in the country, identify good practices undertaken by the Government, investigate
the challenges and develop recommendations for how efforts to eradicate slavery could be
accelerated. A report summarizing the visit will be available as an addendum to the Special
Rapporteur’s report to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session.
6.
In addition to the above-mentioned fact-finding visit, the Special Rapporteur
conducted visits to Mauritania and the Niger in April and August 2017, respectively, in
order to conduct workshops to assess the implementation of the mandate’s previous
recommendations.
II. Legal elements of the right to have access to justice and
remedy
7.
The term “contemporary forms of slavery” covers the practices prohibited by the
Slavery Convention of 1926, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery,
the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956 and the
International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).
Considering the practices covered by the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and the legal
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