last updated June 2014
The United Nations Human Rights Council (“HRC”) appointed the first Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Slavery in 2007, pursuant to resolution 6/14.[1] The HRC renewed the Special Rapporteur’s mandate in 2010 and again in 2013.[2] The Special Rapporteur’s mandate on contemporary forms of slavery includes, but is not limited to:
§ Debt bondage
§ Forced labor
§ Child slavery
§ Sexual slavery
§ Forced or early marriages
§ The sale of wives[3]
The mandate further instructs the Special Rapporteur to coordinate efforts with the existing human rights mechanisms and treaty bodies, specifically the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography; the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; and the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children.[4]
In May 2014, the Human Rights Council confirmed the appointment of a new Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Ms. Urmila Bhoola.[5] Ms. Bhoola replaced Ms. Gulnara Shahinian, who served as the first Special Rapporteur from 2008 to 2014.[6]
[1] UN General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Sixth Session, Resolution 6/14, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, September 28, 2007.
[2] UN General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Twenty-fourth Session, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, A/HRC/24/L.3, September 20, 2014.
[3] Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of slavery, “Introduction,” http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/slavery/srslavery/pages/srslaveryindex.aspx (accessed June 25, 2014).
[4] Ibid., “Overview of mandate,” http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Slavery/SRSlavery/Pages/OverviewMandate.aspx (accessed June 25, 2014).
[5] “Introduction,” supra n. 2.
[6] Ibid.