United Nations Economic and Social Council
Commission on Human Rights
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and protection of Minorities
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
22nd Session
Geneva, June 1997
Enslaved Peoples in the 1990s
Since 1909 Anti-Slavery International has carried a mandate to work for the rights of indigenous peoples. We have often raised issues of concern at meetings of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. We wish however to bring to the attention of this Working Group on Slavery the results of new research carried out over a period of three years about the enslavement of indigenous peoples which has direct relevance here.

The history of the struggle of indigenous peoples for the recognition of their rights has been intimately connected to the phenomenon of slavery. Throughout the world, indigenous peoples are still subjected to a variety of forms of slavery, and a new report by Anti-Slavery International entitled "Enslaved Peoples in the 1990s" brings together information collected in eight different countries: the Philippines, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The report charts a cross-section of terrible experiences of slavery ranging from the sexual exploitation of women and children in East Asia to debt bondage and serfdom in the Amazon.

Slavery is a form of exploitation which has a terrible effect on all its victims, but its repercussions on indigenous peoples are particularly severe. The distinct holistic interconnections between different aspects of indigenous peoples' lives mean that slavery has an impact on an entire people's culture and social structure.

In terms of sheer numbers of individuals affected and the nature of the abuse, the on-going enslavement of indigenous peoples should rate as one of the most important human rights issues of the day. Instead it is pushed to the margins of international debate. Governments continue to make decisions that directly affect indigenous peoples or even purport to help them, often in ignorance of the realities on the ground. The fact that the enslavement of indigenous peoples remains an "invisible" issue to the development experts, economists and planners who take decisions, is a result of the physical isolation of the groups concerned as well as of their political isolation.

Indigenous peoples are constantly facing land invasion and the plundering of their resources. The result is that they are no longer able to survive using their traditional methods. Governments often talk about 'integration' of indigenous peoples into the wider society as the only long-term solution, but inevitably this means integration on the terms of those who exploit them, not on their own terms. Indigenous peoples' highly developed skills are rendered useless in their changed environment, and they are forced to enter the majority society already the subject of prejudice and at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Their collective identity as peoples, on which indigenous cultural and political institutions are based, collapses and, without resources or political representation, they are exposed to exploitation. It is under these circumstances that their labour can be exploited for next to nothing.

The most common form of slavery reported in the eight case studies is 'debt bondage' (also known in Asia as 'bonded labour'), which has been banned by the United Nations as a form of slavery. This comes about when the victims accept payments of money or goods in advance from a trader or employer in exchange for working subsequently. The particular characteristic of debt bondage, unlike other forms of debt, is that terms of the advance or loan are not specified and the victims may remain 'bonded' indefinitely.

The circumstances of the debt vary. In some cases such as in Peru, people are caught in debt through a desire to take advantage of new technology and are exploited by landowners into working for limitless periods to pay off the unpayable loans. Other studies, such as in India and Nepal, describe the situation of indigenous people who have become completely landless and have no other source of food or survival than to become tied to a non-indigenous landowner. In Bolivia and Paraguay, the shortage of land means that it is impossible to subsist, and indigenous people are forced to seek work from the ranches or plantations where they quickly find themselves in situations of spiralling debt.

The slavery problems for the indigenous peoples of the Philippines and East Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia arise from logging. As the forests are destroyed, the people have no means of survival and are forced to rely on the cash economy. Rather than being self-sufficient as they once were, they become tied to external employers and are exploited for their labour. In Taiwan, indigenous peoples' traditional way of life is breaking down under pressure on land and resources by the dominant Han Chinese society. There is consequently an alarmingly high proportion of girls and women from indigenous groups working in Taipei's thriving sex industry. Many of them have been recruited in mountain areas, and in many cases the girls' parents are given money as a payment or loan.

While the case studies included in this report chart a depressing decline into slavery they also point to possible ways in which an enlightened partnership between development agencies, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local organisations representing indigenous groups can act to remedy the situation. The process of emancipation however is not just a question of releasing the affected groups from bondage, but of ensuring that the conditions which caused the bondage in the first place are eradicated.

All the studies in the report emphasize the need for the recognition of indigenous land rights by the authorities concerned as being the key to emancipation. However, in all but a few of the countries studied, there is not yet even an acknowledgement on the part of the government that there is a problem, let alone a desire to take action.

Any strategy for the emancipation of indigenous peoples must therefore concentrate first on strengthening the grass roots organisations and building a movement for change. It is encouraging that in every country mentioned in the report indigenous organisations are actively working on slavery issues and several played a major part in compiling this report. In Nepal and the Philippines strong national level organisations have grown up out of small scale community-based initiatives to organise the local indigenous people.

Conclusions and Recommendations

1) Increased awareness of slavery issues in development projects
As the different case studies show, the enslavement of indigenous peoples is too easily explained away as 'local tradition' or a 'cultural practice', and sometimes slavery is not even recognised as such by the indigenous groups themselves who have never experienced a different way of life. The problems thus remain 'invisible' to superficial inspection. Planners also fall into the classical trap of associating slavery and debt bondage purely with poverty, and drawing the simplistic and flawed conclusion that any projects that help to generate wealth in the local area will also help the affected groups. Often the reverse is true. One of the key aims of this report, therefore, is to encourage those involved in planning development projects in areas where indigenous peoples are found, to examine the labour relationships between indigenous workers and their employers or trading partners carefully in order to assess whether debt bondage or another form of slavery is occurring.

2) Support for community-based indigenous organisations
In Nepal and Peru programmes were introduced to support local indigenous NGOs and organise the affected groups. In both cases the development agency concerned, DANIDA, supplied sustained institutional support to build up grass roots organisations. The process has helped revive pride in indigenous organisations and restore their identity as peoples. This provides an essential foundation for a real solution to the problem.

3) Strengthening indigenous political institutions
Partnerships with international NGOs have allowed grass roots organisations to develop strong national advocacy programmes, and to use the United Nations human rights system and the International Labour Organisation to advance their cause. This has given them access to a political forum which is largely absent in their own countries, where they can begin to assert their rights as peoples and speak to their governments directly from a position of strength. It may also encourage indigenous groups to take part in political processes at national level.

4) Supporting the UN draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The report identifies three factors behind the exploitation of indigenous peoples: the loss of land and resources, the loss of indigenous culture and identity as peoples, and the lack of recognition of customary legal systems and political institutions. These in turn give rise to the main demands of indigenous peoples and can all be summed up within the concept of 'self-determination'. This is a concept widely misunderstood by governments. The United Nations draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (already approved by the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities) is so far the only UN instrument that embraces this concept. Strong support for the adoption of the draft declaration as it stands will be crucial if it is not to be watered down by governments during its passage through the UN Commission on Human Rights and General Assembly. A common understanding and support for the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination will be a major step forward in the fight against slavery.