Module: Human Rights Modern Slavery and Human Rights

Lecture overview General Introduction Normative and Descriptive Approaches Three Contemporary Examples: Child Soldiers Human Trafficking Debt Bondage 2

Modern Slavery and Human Rights General Introduction

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. 4

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. 5

Freedom Equality Liberty Democracy Values and Principles John Locke (1632 – 1704) Father of Liberalism 6

Freedom in the World - Democracy    Partly Free    Not Free (Source: Freedom House 2012. http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world) 7

Human Rights and Freedom: Universalism Vs. Relativism The relationship between Freedom, Slavery and Human Rights: a. What does it mean to be human? b. Are rights given by nature or socially constructed? c. How can we decide whether or not a practice violates human rights without reference to our own cultural values? (O'Connell 2011) 8

Modern Slavery and Human Rights Normative and Descriptive Approaches

Normative and Descriptive approaches to Modern Slavery a) Normative Approaches to understanding Modern Slavery: Values and Principles b) Descriptive Approaches to understanding Modern Slavery: Facts 10

Normative Approaches: Modern Slavery Classical Sociology a.) Centrally concerned with the newness of Modernity. b.) Focus on work organisation and employment relations in large scale industrial manufacturing. c.) Concerned with formally free wage labour – slavery and unfree labour relics of a bygone age. Key Issue: modern society based on contract not status, all individuals born free and constructed as civic equals. 11

Normative Approaches: Modern Slavery History as Linear Evolution Premodern world - status relations; unfreedom; tradition; hierarchy etc. Tyranny – Slavery – Exploitation Modern world – contract, freedom, civic equality. Consent - Freedom - Mutuality 12

Normative Approaches: Modern Slavery Slavery as Social Death a.) The slave was a slave not because he was the object of property but because he could not be the subject of property b.) Therefore a person without power c.) The slave is a person without natality d.)The slave is a person without honour (Patterson 2010) 13

Normative Approaches: Modern Slavery The exercise of personalistic power a.) Issues around class, community belonging, gender, race, and age b.) Not all hierarchical, unequal power relations are perceived or socially represented as domination. Personalistic power is also humanised and justified as natural, and/or a form of care. (O'Connell 2011) c.) Ownership and Power 14

Normative Approaches: Modern Slavery To Sum Up: a.) Modern Slavery as a cultural practice (Baddo 2010) b.) Modern Slavery is predicated upon the existence of a very particular set of social relations defined by cultural contexts (Beck 2009) c.) Modern slavery as a social practice is embedded in a particular set of social relations which produce a series of variable and interlocking constraints upon action (Paterson 2010). d.) Labour Exploitation or Modern Slavery? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves 15

Descriptive Approaches: Modern Slavery Facts 16

Descriptive Approaches: Modern Slavery Facts 17

Descriptive Approaches: Modern Slavery Facts 18

Descriptive Approaches: Modern Slavery Facts 19

Descriptive Approaches: Modern Slavery Facts 20

Modern Slavery and Human Rights Contemporary Examples

Contemporary Examples of Modern Slavery Child Soldiers “A child associated with an armed force or armed group refers to any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking, or has taken, a direct part in hostilities”. (Source: Paris Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups, UNICEF, February 2007.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6IMjnwztTo (9:10 minutes) http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2013/oct/28/british-army-young-recruit-video 22

Contemporary Examples of Modern Slavery Human beings are recruited, using violence, deception or coercion, for the purposes of economic or sexual exploitation. The trafficker exercises control and ownership by: - Forcing victims to work against their will - Controlling their freedom of movement, such as by confiscating their passports and withholding wages (if any) - Setting the location and hours of work and the level of pay (if any) - Using practices such as voodoo rituals, imposing oaths of silence, beatings and rape. (Source: The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. July 2005.) Human Trafficking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5u2IUF8JUw (5:34 minutes) 23

Contemporary Examples of Modern Slavery Debt Bondage “This is one of the most widespread ways of enslaving people, whereby a person is held as collateral against a loan. The work of the bonded labourer is the means of repaying the loan. Since such labourers receive little or no pay, loan repayment is impossible, with the result that the debt might even be inherited by the next generation”. (Source: The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. July 2005.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sdTDZNhimY(2:22 minutes) http://www.ghosts.uk.com/trust.html (4:33 minutes) 24

Other Examples of Modern Slavery Serfdom Forced Labour Child labour and Child Servitude Sexual Slavery Forced Marriage and the Sale of Wives Domestic Servitude (http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/life-in-slavery/ 5:00 minutes) 25

Module: Human Rights Modern Slavery and Human Rights