“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 4.

According to Anti-Slavery International, 27 million people are victims of slavery and slave trade today. Human trafficking in Africa was officially banned in the 1880s, but forced labour is still endemic in the western and central areas of the continent. Each year, more than 200’000 children, as young as five years old, are sold into slavery in Central Africa alone.

In the Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Niger or Mali, human trafficking is also a common and alarming phenomenon. Slaves are held in physical bondage and traded for as little as US $15. The practice is still a part of allowed customs. In Sudan, Arab militias consider it a traditional right to own chattel slaves (persons owned as personal property).

In the draft outcome document of the Durban Review Conference A/CONF.211/PC/WG.2/CRP.2, the existence of hundreds of thousands of modern-day slaves across Africa and the Arab world is totally ignored. The paragraphs of the CERD on the issue note that chattel slavery was a historical crime against humanity which must be remembered. However, the modern-world slavery, which has taken different forms, such as bonded labour and trafficking in women and children, remains dramatically absent from the draft. We believe that it is vital that the DRC outcome document refers explicitly to contemporary slavery in Africa and the Arab world, and that it urges states to take active steps to work towards its total elimination.

A paragraph to his effect could be included within section 1 of the document covering Slave trade, traditional forms of slavery, colonialism, historic injustices, remembering past tragedies, apologies.

May we respectfully suggest that the following wording might be appropriate:

Recalling the article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon all States where human trafficking and slave trade still exist, especially in Africa and in the Arab world, to introduce legislation to outlaw this practice and to undertake national and local programs aimed at the elimination of modern-day slavery.

For further information on this issue, please contact:
Roy W Brown, IHEU Main Representative, UN Geneva.
Xavier Cornut, IHEU Representative, UN Geneva