Poor living conditions Circumstances which can contribute to convictions

In Wipaporn Songmeesap Thailand, 426 the victim was held as a domestic servant. She was tortured and beaten but not provided with access to medical care. The defendant was convicted of restraining an injured minor for the purposes of enslavement and of committing bodily harm and thereby causing the victim grievous bodily harm, whereby she was in severe bodily pain for over twenty days. In Alzanki United States 427 the defendant was convicted of involuntary servitude. On appeal, the court noted as background that the household duties the defendant required of the victim had deliberately risked her health. The defendant required the victim to clean on a “constant basis with caustic and noxious chemicals, without the beneit of respiratory protection, and her requests for rubber gloves were refused”. 428 When the fumes overcame the victim causing her to faint and then fall and injure her ribs, the defendants withheld medical treatment. In addition, he also refused to allow the victim to seek dental treatment for an abscessed tooth. The defendant’s conviction of involuntary servitude was afirmed in this case. In Udeozor United States, 429 the defendants exploited the Nigerian victim as their domes- tic slave. The victim was subjected to physical abuse but never received any medical attention after being beaten. This was mentioned by the court as part of the factual background. The defendants were convicted of involuntary servitude and other charges. Sabhnani United States 430 concerns exploitation of two Indonesian women as domestic servants. The victims were denied medical care even when they were sick or injured. The court noted this fact as background to its afirmation of a conviction on forced labour, peonage and other charges. In Connors United Kingdom, 431 a labour exploitation case, the court noted in the facts that multiple victims were denied access to medical care. One victim fell through the roof of a garage and was denied medical care until he was unable to work. Even at this point, after taking him to the hospital the defendants forced him to leave early and return to work within three days. The court convicted the defendants of holding another person in slavery or servitude or requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

3.2.12 Signs of ownership: objectiication of the victim

Signs of ownership, by which the victim appears to be owned by the defendant, are used to support convictions in cases of traficking and allied crimes, as they attest to an objectiication of the victim, and as such may be seen as a manifestation of his exploitation: in these cases there are clear signs that trafickers treat the victim like a commodity rather than as a fellow human being. Some jurisdictions have legislated ACTS to which ownership is directly relevant. 432 In addi- tion, in cases which revolve around slavery or enslavement and use the deinition which 426 Previously cited. 427 See Index of all cases. 428 See Index of all cases. These facts were offered as background by the court. 429 Previously cited. 430 Previously cited. 431 Previously cited. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.11 of the Case Digest. 432 See, for example, the Egyptian Law No. 64 of 2010 regarding Combating Human Traficking, Article 2 which includes in the ACTS “the sale, offer for sale, purchase or promise thereof ”. See also, the Thai Anti Traf- icking in Persons Act, section 61, in which traficking includes: “Buying, selling, vending”. appears in the 1926 Slavery Convention, signs of ownership are directly relevant, as this convention deines slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised”. In Kunarac International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, 433 one of the defendants sold two of the victims to two soldiers for DM 500 approximately Euros 250. The Trial Chamber found suficient evidence to support that this occurred and used this evidence as a factor in convicting this defendant of enslavement as a crime against humanity. 434 In Alzanki United States, 435 after the victim complained and led to the police, the defendant complained that she should be returned because “she belonged to him” and “he had a contract for her”. 436 This information was provided as background by the appeals court. The defendant’s conviction of involuntary servitude was afirmed in this case. In Urizar Canada, 437 the defendant told the victim that he “had control over her, that she belonged to him and that he could do anything he wanted to her”. 438 The defendant wanted the victim to tattoo “his name on her body because he said that he wanted the other guys in bars to know that she belonged to him”. 439 The court noted this as part of the factual recitation of the victim’s testimony. The defendant was convicted of several charges, including traficking in persons. The use of tattoos to denote ownership in traficking cases has been reported in various countries such as the Netherlands. 440 It also appears in quite a few cases from the United States where there were convictions for sex traficking. Thus, see Cook United States, 441 where the defendant tattooed a bar code on the victim’s neck; a tribal tattoo on her back with the letter “S” to mark her as a slave; and the Chinese symbol for slave on her ankle. This was done to mark his ownership over her. Another such case is Doe United States, 442 in which the defendant forced the victim to have his nickname tattooed on her forearm so that, even if she left, everyone would know she belonged to him. A similar case is Davis United States, 443 where the defendant had the victim tattooed with his pimp moniker “Sir Lewis” on the back of her neck. 433 See Index of all cases. 434 Prosecutor v. Kunarac, Kovac and Vukovic, Cases IT-96-23-T and IT-96-231-T, ICTY Trial Chamber, 22 February 2001, at para. 780-782. 435 See Index of all cases. 436 Ibid., section I of case. 437 See Index of all cases. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.2 of the Case Digest. 438 Ibid., trial court at page 10. 439 Ibid., trial court at page 11, court of appeals decision at page 4. 440 An expert from the Netherlands commented that tattoos are often used in the Netherlands by trafickers in the sex industry to “mark” the prostitutes. The tattoos show the namesymbol of the “owner” of the girl. See http:www.dutchrapporteur.nlreportscase-law. 441 See Index of all cases. 442 See Index of all cases. 443 See Index of all cases. In K.P.405 Serbia, 444 the evidence obtained from wiretapping included conversations dur- ing which the defendants appraised the physical characteristics of the women before the actual exploitation took place, evaluating them on a numerical scale. The defendants in this case were convicted of traficking in human beings. In Wei Tang Australia, 445 a case in which the defendants were convicted of slavery offences, the appeals court noted that the defendant had exercised powers of possession attaching to ownership, such as making women an object of purchase, restricting the women’s movements and using their services without commensurate compensation. In DPP v. Ho and Ho Australia 446 and DPP v. Ho and Leech Australia, 447 wiretapped conversations in which revealed that the defendants had referred to the victims as “stock” were part of the basis for conviction on slavery offences.

3.2.13 Debt bondage

Debt bondage can constitute a crucial circumstance in traficking in persons or allied crimes convictions. In jurisdictions which adopt the Traficking in Persons Protocol’s deinition, it can be used to prove the PURPOSE OF EXPLOITATION, but also one of the MEANS, for example, “coercion”. Furthermore, certain national anti-traficking legislation refers expressly to debt bondage in the deinition of traficking or slavery, such as Australia and Uganda. 448 Sometimes, in addition, debt bondage appears in legislation as a standalone crime. 449 However, whether or not national legislations expressly refer to debt bondage, if it is present in a case it can contribute to a conviction for traficking in persons or an allied crime. Debt bondage is deined in the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery as: “the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and deined.” As such, it may be seen as one of the means by which trafickers control their victims. 450 Debt bondage occurs when a person pledges himself against a loan, but the length and nature of the service are not deined and the labour does not reduce the original debt. Sometimes the debt is passed down to subsequent generations. 451 Sometimes perpetrators create this debt by charging exorbitant prices for minimal goods or services. 444 See Index of all cases. 445 Previously cited. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.3 of the Case Digest. 446 See Index of all cases. 447 See Index of all cases. 448 See section 270.1 of the Criminal Code of Australia, which, besides the main deinition of slavery, which relies on the 1926 Slavery Convention, adds: “including where such a condition results from debt or contract made by the person”. See also section 271.1A where it appears as one of the forms of exploitation in traficking in persons. See also the Prevention of Traficking in Persons Act 2009 of Uganda, section 2d, where debt bondage appears in the deinition of exploitation. 449 See section 271.8 in Australia’s Criminal Code, which has a speciic offence of debt bondage. 450 It is worthy of note that in the deliberations which preceded the adoption of the Traficking in Persons Protocol, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women also suggested that debt bondage be included in the MEANS element of the traficking deinition p. 354 of the Travaux Préparatoires of the negotiations for the elabo- ration of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto Notes by the Secretariat. 451 See Bales, Disposable People University of California Press, 2000, pp. 19-20.