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.
The following cases are examples of cases in which debt bondage appears:
In the case of Farrell United States,
452
the workers’ debts increased progressively. First the employers charged each worker an excessive sum of 1,200 as the purported cost of a
processing fee, although this was the sum they had paid for all the workers together. They also charged workers for transportation to and from the Philippines and subsequently began
to charge them for transportation to and from work and for personal items that they supplied, but that the workers neither requested nor desired. All this transpired along with a drastic
reduction of the salary workers had been promised, so that they were required to obtain outside employment in order to repay the debt. In addition, even though the employers paid
only a sum of 375 per month for renting premises which housed the workers, they charged the seven workers who resided there 150 each, thus reaching a total of 1,050 per month.
The defendants were convicted of peonage and other charges.
In Ho and Anor Australia,
453
in convicting the defendants of slavery offences, the court stressed that they had contracted with the victims by means of “highly exploitative debt
arrangements”. This pattern recurs in Wei Tang Australia,
454
where the defendants were convicted of slavery offences. Here the victims signed a contract with the defendants promising
to work as prostitutes in Australia. The contracts stated that each of the victims would owe a debt of between 40,000–45,000 to the defendant. The victims were required to work six
days a week, receiving no money for their services as this was seen as payment for their debts; only on the seventh day of each week were they permitted to receive payment for
services. A similar case from Australia is Seiders Australia,
455
where the defendants were convicted of servitude charges.
In Ministerio Publico Federal v. Gilberto Andrade Brazil,
456
19 workers were exploited and housed in slave-like conditions at the defendant’s farm. All the workers incurred an initial
debt that was impossible to repay. This was because the defendant artiicially maintained the debt, including through charging excessive prices for clothes, food, medicines and even
working tools. The defendant was convicted of charges including slave labour and fraudulent recruitment.
In Ibarra Argentina,
457
the court noted that the defendants created a situation of debt bondage for the victims. They did not pay the victims and they charged them for food, clothes
and other necessities. In addition, the victims were ined as punishment for bad behaviour. The defendants were convicted of aggravated human traficking and economic exploitation
of the prostitution of others through the use of coercion and intimidation.
In ECLI:NL:RBGRO:2000:AA8975 Netherlands,
458
a Nigerian victim was told that she could work as a hairdresser in the Netherlands. The victim was told she had a debt of 35,000
and threatened by means of “juju” that if she did not pay, horrible things would happen to
452
See Index of all cases. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.4 of the Case Digest.
453
See Index of all cases.
454
R. v. Wei Tang, 2009 23 VR 332; 2009 233 FLR 399; [2009] VSCA 182 17 August 2009. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.3 of the Case Digest.
455
Sieders v. R.; Somsri v. R. [2008], NSWCCA 187, 13 August 2008, Court of Criminal Appeal, Australia. The case is available in the UNODC Human Traficking Case Law Database UNODC Case No. AUS005.
456
See Index of all cases.
457
Ibarra, Defeis, Sosa, y Córdoba, Expte. 1811, No. 2 Oral Criminal Federal Court of Rosario, 2012-06-29, Argentina. The case is available in the UNODC Human Traficking Case Law Database UNODC Case. No. ARG058.
458
Groningen District Court, 12 December 2000, ECLI:NL:RBGRO:2000:AA8975, Netherlands. Information on this case was supplied by an expert from the Netherlands.
