Committee: Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) Issue: Finding Alternatives for Debt Repayment to Prevent Occurence of Debt Bondage Student Officer: Hana Sadek & Taliah Salem (CCPCJ President & Chair) I. Introduction Debt bondage is a system in which individuals provide labour in order to pay off debts. It is most common in East Asia, including India and Pakistan. It is considered typically a violation of human rights, due to the nature of debt bondage; the act is mostly unregistered and involves human rights violations in how the labourers are treated. Debt bondage is an extremely prevalent issue globally, which affects a large percentage of Earth’s population. There aren’t specific statistics of how many people are in debt bondage, however the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that, as of 2012, approximately 20.9 million people are a part of forced labour, a large part of which is debt bondage.1 56% of these forced labour acts take place in the Asia-Pacific region, making it the highest absolute number of forced labour victims, followed by Africa and Latin America and the Carebbian respectively.2 India is one of the countries signified as a “debt bondage hotspot,” where there are approximately 343,000 in 16 major areas.3 The United Nations released a report discussing debt bondage in 2016 called the Report on Special Rapporetuer on contemporary froms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, which defines debt bondage and discusses the factors leading up to it and would be very helpful to read before debate. The International Labor Organization (ILO)has created a convention called the Forced Labour Convention in 1930, which was later updated in 1957 by the creation of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention. The topic itself is aiming to find alternatives for debt bondage and therefore debt bondage needs to be eradicated and replaced, which should be kept in mind and balanced during resolution writing and debate. There are many alternatives for debt repayment currently being used, such as debt settlement firms and debt consolidation, that can be reenforced or increased, however other solutions can be brought up such as task forces and promoting micro-financing services. 1 Zeldin, and Wendy. “United Nations: Report on Debt Bondage .” Global Legal Monitor, 26 Sept. 2016, ​ ​ www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/united-nations-report-on-debt-bondage/. ​ 2 Ibid. 3Srivastava, Ravi S. “Bonded Labour in India: Its Incidence and Pattern.” Bonded Labour in India: Its Incidence and ​ Pattern, 6 Jan. 2005, www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/publications/WCMS_081967/lang--en/index.htm ​ ​ 1 of 21 II. Key Vocabulary Debt bondage: a system in which an individuals provide labour in order to pay off debts4; also kown ​ as bonded labour, debt slavery, and debt peonage. Until such individuals work off their debts, they are forced to work under harsh conditions, and are exposed to sexual harassment, abuse, and discrimination. Forced labour: Forced labour is any work or service which people are forced to do against their will, ​ under threat of punishment. Almost all slavery practices contain some element of forced labour.5 III. Focused Overview of the Issue 1) Basics of Debt Bondage Debt bondage is defined as “state of indebtedness to landowners or merchant employers that limits the autonomy of producers (e.g., tenant farmers) and provides the owners of capital with cheap labour.”6 It is also commonly reffered to as debt slavery, debt servitude, or debt peonage. The idea of debt bondage is quite a cyclical process. (see figure 27) It begins with a debt that cannot be paid immediately, then while the individual in debt works to repay their debt, the employer adds on additional expenses. Consequently, the employee only grows his debt while continuing to labor for his debtor, and repayment is impossible.8 Therefore, debt bondage is an issue that needs to be combated by finding other ways for repaying debt, which is exactly what this topic covers. In some cases of debt bondage, the victim’s wage is devoted mainly to repaying their debt, however in others their wage is devoted entirely to repaying the debt, which means there is no income at all.9 Over 50% of forced labor victims are placed in that situation, due to debt repayment10, making it the most 4“Bonded Labour Definition and Meaning.” Collins English Dictionary, ​ ​ ​ www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/bonded-labour. ​ 5“Forced Labour: What Is Forced Labour?” Anti-Slavery International, www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/forced-labour/. ​ ​ ​ ​ 6 Jaynes, Gerald D. “Debt Slavery.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., ​ ​ ​ www.britannica.com/topic/debt-slavery. ​ 7 “We Can End Modern Slavery in Our Generation.” Walk Free | The Minderoo Foundation, www.minderoo.com.au/walk-free/ ​ ​ ​ ​ 8 “Bonded Labor: Debt Bondage or Peonage.” End Slavery Now, www.endslaverynow.org/learn/slavery-today/bonded-labor. ​ ​ ​ ​ 9 “What Is Bonded Labour?” Anti-Slavery International, www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/bonded-labour/. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 10 “25 Million in Forced Labor Globally in 2016.” Solidarity Center, 21 Sept. 2017, ​ ​ ​ www.solidaritycenter.org/25-million-forced-labor-globally-2016/. ​ 2 of 21 prevalent form of forced labor worldwide. However surprisingly, debt bondage is banned in international law and most domestic jurisdictions.11 Currently, there is no authoritative estimate of the number of people enslaved in debt bondage globally. However, United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila Bhoola, pointed out an estimate of 21 million in forced labour, according to the International Labour Organization: “This figure provides an indication of the extent of bonded labour...affecting victims of multiple forms of discrimination.”12 The type of labor used to repay debt includes a range of different occupations, almost all of which being manual labor, such as working in agriculture, brick kilns, mills, mines and factories. Some of the factors pushing people and families into this form of slavery include structural and systemic inequality, poverty, discrimination, and precarious labour migration. Weak or non-existent financial and other regulatory frameworks, lack of access to justice, lack of law enforcement and governance as well as corruption are some of the factors that prevent release from bonded labour and rehabilitation of individuals and families trapped in this intergenerational cycle of poverty. Debt bondage is the more modern form of chattel slavery. A chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned forever and whose children and children's children are automatically enslaved.13 Since it is extremely difficult for debt slaves to repay their debt, it is commonly passed down to their children, similar to chattel slaves or traditional slaves- although both were abolished in the mid-19th century.14 2) Nature of Debt bondage It is very rare that debt bondage cases are legally registered and organized. Typically, there is no proof or valid record of the original debt or the payments made during their time of labour, which leads to the extended amount of time spent laboring, which is then later moved from generation to generation. In most cases, there isn’t any written contract to begin with, which leads to miscommunication in terms of the basics of the arraignment. One of the factors leading to debt bondage is illiteracy, so not having a written contract only aggravates the issue more. Violence or threats of violence are common to enforce the bond and ensure the labour gets done, unlike any other common labour agreement. Some employers also use other strategies, such as exclusion from future employment or limiting basic needs like food and water. As for children, they can either be bonded independently of their families, or later inherit their parents’ debt. In West Bengal, India, a man took a loan of $110 from a local landowner and twenty years later he and his entire family are still in debt and working to pay them off.15 He says, “My entire family is still in debt to the landowner. Sarika and I work in the fields, my sons and their wives work 11“Debt Bondage Remains the Most Prevalent Form of Forced Labour Worldwide.” OHCHR, ​ ​ www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20504&LangID=E. ​ 12 Ibid. 13“What Is Slavery?” The Abolition of Slavery Project, www.abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_40.html. ​ ​ ​ ​ 14 Editors, History.com. “Slavery in America.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 12 Nov. 2009, ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery. ​ 15 Kara, Siddharth. “A $110 Loan, Then 20 Years of Debt Bondage.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2 June 2011, ​ ​ thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/02/a-110-loan-then-20-years-of-debt-bondage/. ​ 3 of 21 at the brick kilns. One day my grandchildren will work for the landowner. There is no way to repay these debts. We will only be free when we die.”16 In order to remain living while working off the bond, he had to take out more loans from the same landowner to pay for basic sustenance, which leads to his debt increasing more and more as time goes on. Besides that, he was charged interest every year that exceeded 100%. His family worked 14+ hours-a-day everyday to pay off the bond.17 This is just one case, but it is very similar to what is expected during cases of debt bondage, all of which in similar circumstances. 3) Common alternatives for debt repayment Debt is quite a common issue globally and therefore many different solutions are implemented in order to tackle it. A very popular one would be micro-financing or microcredit services. Microfinance, also called microcredit, is a type of banking service provided to unemployed or low-income individuals or groups who otherwise would have no other access to financial services.18 This can include large sums of money as investments or minimal amounts for other purposes.