CYIL 2012

MODERN SLAVERY AND CURRENT INTERNATIONAL LAW slavery, then it is not human trafficking. The term “human trafficking” often has a specific legal definition based on the laws of countries or states or the conventions of international organizations, and those official definitions differ slightly from place to place. On the other hand with the exception of definitions of slavery adopted by international standards, the specific legal definition within the jurisdiction of Over the past 15 years, “trafficking in persons” and “human trafficking” have been used as umbrella terms for activities involved when someone obtains or holds a person in compelled service. Today the term of modern slavery consists of the situations when individuals may be trafficking victims 6 regardless of whether they once consented, participated in a crime as a direct result of being trafficked, were transported into the exploitative situation, or were simply born into a state of servitude. 7 Although the term seems to connote movement, at the heart of the phenomenon of trafficking in persons are the many forms of enslavement, not the activities involved in international transportation. 8 Although the particular forms of slavery may cover or complement each other we can mainly identify these categories of modern slavery: 3.1 Forced Labour It is any kind of labour when people are forced to work under the threat of violence or under another form of punishment and they would never choose such a kind of work voluntarily. This kind of slavery is also known as involuntary servitude. Forced labour may result when unscrupulous employers exploit workers made more vulnerable by high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, or even cultural acceptance of the practice. The most common group of people who become the victims are immigrants. Immigrants, with the regards to their social status in a foreign country, are particularly vulnerable, but individuals also may be forced into labour in their own countries. a) Involuntary domestic servitude A unique form of forced labour is the involuntary servitude of domestic workers whose workplace is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. Such an environment, which often socially isolates domestic workers, is conducive to non-consensual exploitation since authorities 6 John Newton : A slave set free , I. Howat; Christian Focus Publications, 2003; p. 26. 7 see: the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol); 2000. 8 There are slaves in almost every country. The majority of the world’s slaves are in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal). Many are held in debt bondage slavery. Africa and South America both have large numbers of slaves in some areas, and the recent increase in human trafficking is bringing thousands of slaves to many countries in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. individual states is still missing. 3. Forms of modern slavery

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