The SubCommission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights,
Taking note of the report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery on its
twentyfourth session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/17) and in particular the recommendations
contained in chapter VII,
Deeply concerned at the information it contains relating to the traffic in persons, the
exploitation of the prostitution of others, the exploitation of domestic and migrant
workers, slave and child labour, the sexual exploitation of children, the abusive use of
the Internet for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography and the role of corruption in the perpetuation of
slavery and related practices,
Noting that the status of ratification of 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 is still unsatisfactory.
1. Expresses its appreciation to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery for
its valuable work and in particular for its continued attention to the problems submitted
to it;
2. Welcomes the expression of solidarity with the victims of contemporary forms of
slavery by the General Assembly which has proclaimed 2 December as International Day for
the Abolition of Slavery;
I. TRAFFIC IN PERSONS AND EXPLOITATION OF THE
PROSTITUTION OF OTHERS
3. Urges Governments which have not yet done so, to ratify the Convention of 1949 on
the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of
Others;
4. Recommends that the General Assembly declare a United Nations year against
trafficking in persons, allowing sufficient time before the commencement of the year for
the development of national and international plans of action;
5. Urges States to devise and adopt comprehensive national plans of action against
trafficking in persons, particularly for the purposes of prostitution, based on data
collection, research and analysis, and in collaboration with nongovernmental
organizations;
6. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to design guidelines
for the elaboration of such national plans of action and, upon request, to provide
technical assistance to States in the formulation of their national plan;
7. Encourages States to collaborate with nongovernmental organizations which have
expertise in the field to develop national plans of action in accordance with the 1996
Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of
the Prostitution of Others (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/28/Add.1), to ensure the coordination of
laws and implementing agencies relevant to the prevention of trafficking and the
exploitation of prostitution and the empowerment of their victims and survivors, and to
transmit such plans of action to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery for
its consideration;
8. Encourages Governments, in elaborating the draft convention against transnational
organized crime, including a draft protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in
persons, especially women and children, fully to include a human rights perspective and to
take into account work being done in other international forums, particularly the Working
Group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography of the Commission on Human Rights and
the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery;
9. Congratulates the four nongovernmental organizations that organized, immediately
prior to the twentyfourth session of the Working Group, a consultation with the United
Nations and intergovernmental organizations on trafficking in persons, prostitution and
the global sex industry, and for the fruitful dialogue among the various schools of
thought and groups and welcomes the outcome of the consultation and the consensus
recommendations which are attached to the report of the Working Group on its
twentyfourth session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/17, annex II);
10. Invites States, United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental,
regional and nongovernmental organizations to provide information to the Working Group
at its twentyfifth session on aspects of trafficking and the exploitation of the
prostitution of others, as well as the measures taken or necessary to implement the 1996
Programme of Action;
11. Invites the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and
child pornography and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to continue to
address, within their mandates, the problem of trafficking and related practices of
exploitation and to recommend specific measures to strengthen the regime against the
traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others, and also invites
them to participate at the next session of the Working Group;
II. PREVENTION OF THE TRANSBORDER TRAFFIC IN CHILDREN
IN ALL ITS FORMS
12. Invites States to ratify existing international human rights and labour standards,
if they have not already done so, and to ratify in a timely manner the new Convention (No.
182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labour of the International Labour Organization;
13. Calls upon States to set action against trafficking within a human rights
framework, so that the victims of child trafficking are fully protected and not treated as
illegal immigrants;
14. Encourages cooperation among concerned States, as well as with international
agencies, international and national nongovernmental organizations, in research and data
collection on child trafficking and in the design and implementation of programmes of
action to eliminate the practice of child trafficking;
15. Also encourages strengthened cooperation between national and international law
enforcement agencies, in particular the International Criminal Police Organization
(INTERPOL), responsible for detecting and intercepting child traffickers, as well as
tracing the families of the trafficked children;
III. THE ROLE OF CORRUPTION IN THE PERPETUATION OF
SLAVERY AND SLAVERYLIKE PRACTICES
16. Urges all States to take adequate steps to monitor and enforce laws, particularly
as they relate to slavery, slaverylike practices and corruption, including trafficking
in women and children;
17. Also urges States to examine and analyse the causes and the consequences of
corruption and to take steps to eradicate the root causes;
18. Encourages existing international arrangements which aim to improve the training
and professionalism of law enforcement personnel as well as their respect for human
rights;
19. Decides to consider further and in depth the extent and severity of corruption and
the relationship of corruption to slavery and slaverylike practices, as well as the role
of international debt in the perpetuation of slavery;
IV. MISUSE OF THE INTERNET FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION
20. Recommends that Governments, as a matter of priority, review, amend and enforce
existing laws, or enact new laws, to prevent the misuse of the Internet for trafficking,
prostitution and the sexual exploitation of women and children;
21. Also recommends that Governments and nongovernmental organizations undertake
further investigation of the misuse of the Internet for the purpose of promoting and/or
carrying out trafficking, prostitution and the sexual exploitation of women and children;
22. Urges Governments to act more forcefully to eliminate the traffic in persons, the
exploitation of the prostitution of others and sexual exploitation on the Internet;
23. Recommends that Governments and nongovernmental organizations develop and
implement educational programmes on the harm caused by trafficking, prostitution and
sexual exploitation on the mental and physical wellbeing of women and children;
24. Requests that Governments investigate and use as evidence of crimes and acts of
discrimination advertising, correspondence and other communications over the Internet to
promote sex trafficking, the exploitation of prostitution, sex tourism, bride trafficking
and rape;
25. Calls for new levels of cooperation among Governments and national and regional law
enforcement bodies in order to combat the escalating trafficking and prostitution of women
and children, the globalization of this industry, and the misuse of the Internet to
promote and carry out acts of sex trafficking, sex tourism, sexual violence and sexual
exploitation;
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTIONS ON SLAVERY
26. Expresses its appreciation to Mr. David Weissbrodt and AntiSlavery International
for their working paper containing a consolidation and review of the conventions on
slavery and for the executive summary of that paper (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/1999/6);
27. Recommends that all States which are not 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 the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others of 1949; the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights be called upon to become parties as soon as
possible and to enact any legislation necessary to ensure that their laws conform to the
terms of those treaties;
28. Requests the Working Group to focus each of its annual sessions on a particular
issue of great importance for the abolition of slavery and to designate that issue two
years prior to the annual session;
29. Expresses the hope that the Working Group will benefit from the cooperation of all
States, particularly the most interested States, with regard to the particular issue
selected;
30. Decides to invite concerned nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations
to provide information and testimonies with regard to the particular issue selected for
consideration at the annual session of the Working Group;
31. Also decides that if other issues arise within its agenda which the Working Group
might consider to be urgent, these issues will be allotted time and receive consideration
during each session;
32. Invites the authors of the review of international standards to update the review
and submit it to the SubCommission for its consideration and eventual transmission to
the Commission;
VI. MIGRANT WORKERS
33. Urges States to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;
34. Also urges States to take necessary measures to prohibit and sanction the
confiscation of passports belonging to migrant workers, in particular, migrant domestic
workers;
35. Recommends that nongovernmental organizations pay attention to the grave problems
affecting migrant workers and provide the Working Group with information in this regard;
36. Decides to continue consideration of this issue at its next session;
VII. CHILD DOMESTIC WORKERS
37. Recommends that the International Labour Organization give more emphasis to the
issue of child domestic workers, in particular girl children;
38. Also recommends that the International Labour Organization establish additional
country programmes for these children within its International Programme on the
Elimination of Child Labour;
VIII. CHILD LABOUR A GENDER PERSPECTIVE
39. Welcomes the new International Labour Convention (No. 182) on the Worst Forms of
Child Labour, 1999;
40. Notes the special mention to the situation of girls in article 7, paragraph 2 (e),
of the new Convention;
41. Calls upon States to eliminate all discrimination against girls in education,
skills development and training and to enforce laws and regulations which ensure that no
girl of primaryschool age is employed as a domestic;
IX. ERADICATION OF BONDED LABOUR AND ELIMINATION OF CHILD
LABOUR
42. Urges States that have not yet done so to ratify the relevant International Labour
Organization conventions, in particular the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), the
Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and the new Convention on the Worst Forms of Child
Labour, 1999 (No. 182);
43. Requests the SecretaryGeneral to invite all States to inform the Working Group of
measures adopted to implement the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the
Exploitation of Child Labour to report thereon to the SubCommission and the Commission
on Human Rights at their next sessions;
44. Urges States to enact specific legislation to define the offence of debt bondage
and to provide for the punishment of those responsible, and to ensure the rehabilitation
of the victims of debt bondage through economic, social and educational programmes;
45. Recommends that the countries in which debt bondage occurs be invited to attend the
Working Group in order to facilitate dialogue and the consideration of best practice;
46. Invites the International Labour Organization, the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and other international bodies to consider
debt bondage when they establish their policies;
47. Recommends once again that Governments cooperate with trade unions and employers'
organizations at the national level to address the problem of bonded labour and that trade
unions and employers' organizations at the local, national and international levels
utilize the existing structures of the International Labour Organization dealing with
violations of the relevant conventions concerning forced labour, and encourages concerned
nongovernmental organizations to strengthen their activities for disseminating
information and advising trade unions in this regard;
48. Invites international financial institutions to encourage microcredit as a
mechanism for the eradication of debt bondage;
49. Welcomes the decision of the Working Group that bonded labour and debt bondage will
be its primary focus at its twentyfifth session in 2000;
X. SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION AND CHILD
PORNOGRAPHY
50. Requests the SecretaryGeneral to invite all States to continue to inform the
Working Group of measures adopted to implement the Programme of Action for the Prevention
of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography;
51. Requests the Special Rapporteur, within the framework of her mandate, to continue
to pay attention to issues relating to the traffic in children, such as organ
transplantation, disappearances, the purchase and sale of children, adoption for
commercial purposes or exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography;
52. Strongly encourages the Special Rapporteur to participate in the twentyfifth
session of the Working Group, in view of the importance of her contribution to its
deliberations;
XI. MISCELLANEOUS
53. Urges States to take adequate steps better to regulate and monitor intercountry
adoptions, in particular by ratifying the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and
Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption of 1993 and by enacting appropriate laws
to enforce its provisions;
54. Requests the SecretaryGeneral to seek the views and suggestions of Member States
and of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations on proposals for future
action of the Working Group with a view to their replies being considered at forthcoming
sessions of the Working Group;
55. Appeals to all Governments to send observers to the meetings of the Working Group;
56. Encourages youth organizations and young persons from various nongovernmental
organizations to participate in the meetings of the Working Group;
57. 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 the periodic reports of States
parties, give particular attention to the implementation of, respectively, 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 and 36 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to include in their
guidelines an item concerning contemporary forms of slavery;
58. Recommends that the supervisory bodies of the International Labour Organization and
the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization give particular attention in their work to the
implementation of provisions and standards designed to ensure protection of children and
other persons exposed to contemporary forms of slavery, such as the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography, the exploitation of child labour, bonded labour
and the traffic in persons;
59. Requests the SecretaryGeneral to transmit to the committees mentioned above, the
special rapporteurs concerned and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances the recommendations of relevance to them and the report of the Working
Group;
60. Again welcomes the adoption by the Commission on Human Rights of resolutions
1996/61 of 23 April 1996 and 1999/46 of 27 April 1999, in which the Commission requested
the SecretaryGeneral to give effect to his decision to reassign to the Working Group a
Professional staff member of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as was
the case in the past, to work on a permanent basis to ensure continuity and close
coordination within and outside the Office on issues relating to contemporary forms of
slavery;
61. Again requests the SecretaryGeneral to designate the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights as the focal point for the coordination of activities and
the dissemination of information within the United Nations system on the suppression of
contemporary forms of slavery;
62. Recalls that the Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1993/48 of 28 July
1993, approved the endorsement by the Commission on Human Rights of the recommendation
made by the SubCommission, in its resolution 1992/2 of 14 August 1992, that the
arrangements regarding the organization of the sessions of the Working Group, as contained
in Commission decision 1992/115 of 3 March 1992, be repeated in subsequent years;
63. Decides to make provision in its agenda for adequate discussion near the
commencement of each session of the reports of the Working Group, thereby strengthening
its involvement in the activities of the Working Group.
33rd meeting
26 August 1999
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. VIII.]