Report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

1993/27. Report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

1. Expresses its appreciation to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities for its valuable work, in particular the progress made at its seventeenth session in implementing its programme of work, and for its continued broad approach and flexible methods of work;

2. Expresses its grave concern at manifestations of contemporary forms of slavery as reported to the Working Group;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to invite States parties to 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 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others of 1949 to submit to the Sub-Commission regular reports on the situation in their countries, as provided for under the Conventions and in Economic and Social council decision 16 (LVI) of 17 May 1974, which contains the mandate of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery;

4. Invites those eligible States that have not ratified or acceded to the relevant Conventions to consider doing so as soon as possible, or to explain in writing, if they so wish, why they feel unable to do so, and invites them to consider providing information regarding their national legislation and practices in this field;

5. Invites intergovernmental organizations, relevant organizations of the United Nations system, including the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations University, the International Labour Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Tourism Organization, as well as the International Criminal Police Organization and non-governmental organizations concerned, to continue to supply relevant information to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery;

6. Appeals to all Governments to send representatives to the meetings of the Working Group;

7. Encourages the Sub-Commission, including its Working Group, to continue to elaborate recommendations on the ways and means of establishing an effective mechanism for the implementation of the Conventions on slavery on the basis of the study prepared by the Secretary-General on this issue (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1989/37);

8. Recalls once again its request to the Secretary-General to designate the Centre for Human Rights as the focal point for the coordination of activities in the United Nations for the suppression of contemporary forms of slavery, and requests the Secretary-General to report on the measures taken for this purpose to the Working Group at its eighteenth session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fiftieth session;

9. Again requests the Secretary-General to reassign to the Working Group a full-time Professional staff member of the Centre for Human Rights, as was the case in the past, under the post which has been included in the budget of the Centre for questions relating to slavery, to work on a permanent basis to ensure continuity and close coordination within and outside the Centre on issues relating to contemporary forms of slavery, and to report on the measures taken for this purpose to the Working Group at its eighteenth session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fiftieth session;

10. Calls upon all relevant non-governmental organizations, including those interested in the rights of children and women, to attend the sessions of the Working Group;

11. Endorses the recommendation of the Sub-Commission in its resolution 1992/2 of 14 August 1992 that arrangements regarding the organization of the sessions of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, as contained in Commission decision 1992/115 of 3 March 1992, be repeated in subsequent years;

12. Recommends that Governments avail themselves of the possibility of requesting assistance under the United Nations programme of advisory services in the field of human rights and of the technical assistance programmes of the specialized agencies, in particular that of the International Labour Office;

13. Also recommends that the supervisory bodies of the International Labour Organisation give particular attention in their work to the implementation of provisions and standards designed to ensure the protection of children and other persons exposed to contemporary forms of slavery;

14. Further recommends that the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, when examining periodic reports of the States parties, give particular attention to the implementation of articles 8 and 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, articles 10, 12 and 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, article 6 of the Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and articles 32, 34, 35, 36 and 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and that these Committees include specific questions in their guidelines for reporting with a view to preventing and combating contemporary forms of slavery;

15. Invites once again the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children to examine ways and means of further cooperating with the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery;

16. Recalls that the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1992/10 requested the Secretary-General to submit a further report to the Council on the steps taken by Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and intergovernmental organizations to implement the recommendations contained in Council resolution 1983/30, and invites the Working Group to take these reports into account, inter alia when identifying lacunae and policy options;

17. Invites all Member States to consider the possibility of taking appropriate action for the protection of particularly vulnerable groups, such as children and migrant women, against exploitation by prostitution and other slavery-like practices, including the possibility of establishing national bodies to achieve these objectives;

18. Requests Governments to pursue a policy of information, prevention and rehabilitation of children and women victims of the exploitation of prostitution and to take the appropriate economic and social measures deemed necessary to that effect;

19. Recommends that these concerns be fully considered by the Working Group at its eighteenth session.