Universal-MigrationHRlaw-PG-no-6-Publications-PractitionersGuide-2014-eng

MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW | 265
to cruel treatment and abuse, control of sexuality and forced
labour”. 1105
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, enslavement,
when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack
directed against any civilian population, constitutes a crime against humanity.
1106
The European Court of Human Rights has recently held that, for slavery
to exist, there must be the exercise of a genuine right to ownership and
a reduction of the status of the individual concerned to an “object”. It
considers that servitude entails a particularly serious form of denial of
freedom, and an obligation, under coercion, to provide one’s services,
and it is linked with the concept of “slavery”. 1107
2. Forced labour
The prohibition of forced labour was also universally internationally
accepted at an early stage, and it has attained jus cogens status. 1108
Within the ILO system, forced labour is prohibited by the ILO Forced
Labour Convention (No. 29) of 1930, and the ILO Abolition of Forced
Labour Convention (No. 105) of 1957. In international human rights
law, its prohibition is enshrined in major international and regional human
rights treaties as a right not subject to derogation. 1109
a) What is forced labour?
The definition of forced and compulsory labour was established by the
ILO in 1930 as “all work or service which is exacted from any person
under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has
1105 Kunarac et al., ICTY, op. cit., fn. 1102, paras. 117 and 119.
1106 Article 7.1(c), Rome Statute.
1107 Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, ECtHR, op. cit., fn. 236, para. 276. See also, Van Droogenbroeck
v. Belgium, ECtHR, Plenary, Application No. 7906/77, Judgment of 24 June 1982, para. 58.
1108 4 th General Survey on Eradication of Forced Labour, ILO Committee of Experts on the Application
of Conventions and Recommendations, 2007, Document No. (ilolex): 252007G03,
para. 10. The European Court held that the prohibition of slavery, servitude and forced
and compulsory labour “enshrines one of the basic values of the democratic societies
making up the Council of Europe”, Siliadin v. France, ECtHR, Application No. 73316/01,
Judgment of 26 July 2005, paras. 82 and 112; Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, ECtHR,
op. cit., fn. 237, para. 283; Zarb Adami v. Malta, ECtHR, Application No. 17209/02, Judgment
of 20 June 2006, para. 43. The African Commission held that “unremunerated work
is tantamount to a violation of the right to respect for the dignity inherent in the human
being”, Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania, ACommHPR, op. cit.,
fn. 1006, 11 May 2000, para. 135.
1109 Article 6.2 ACHR; Article 8.3 ICCPR; Article 11.2, 3 and 4 ICRMW; Article 10.2 ArCHR; Article
4.2-3 ECHR; Article 1.2 ESC(r), according to the interpretation of the European Committee on
Social Rights in International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) v. Greece, ECSR,
Complaint No. 7/2000, Merits, 5 December 2000, paras. 17-18; Article 6 ICESCR (the CESCR
has found that forced labour is a direct violation of Article 6, see, General Comment No. 18,
The Right to Work, CESCR, UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/18, 24 November 2005, para. 32).