Forced Labour

Question

Asked by

Lord Hylton
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will propose the appointment of a special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for slavery and forced labour. [HL186]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown)
The Government do not intend to propose the appointment of a Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for slavery and forced labour. We believe that the issues are well covered through an initiative we launched in 2007 to establish a new UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery at the fifth session of the Human Rights Council in September 2007. Ms Gulnara Shahinian was appointed to act as Special Rapporteur for a three-year period to focus on contemporary forms of slavery including forced labour and child labour for economic exploitation. Ms. Shahinian took up her mandate on 1 May 2008.