Reviews the literature available on child marriage to show that a potentially high proportion of children in marriage are in slavery. Deploys a wealth of material already available on the subject of child marriage to present how many of these real-life incidences in fact amount to slavery and slavery-like practices under international law, based on a thorough analysis of the most relevant UN and ILO standards.
Exposes the vulnerability of North Korean women who flee to China to trafficking. A wide range of case studies documents trafficking into sexual exploitation and forced and ‘arranged’ marriages. It makes a case for North Koreans in China to be considered refugees and concludes with recommendations of what action needs to be taken.
Focuses on the ‘wahaya’ practice in Niger, whereby girls and women of ‘slave caste’ are bought and sold as unofficial wives. They are referred to as ‘fifth wives’, as they are additional to the four wives permitted to Niger, but they are not officially married to their master and therefore have none of the legal rights and protection to which legal wives would have recourse. ‘Wahaya’ are essentially slaves used for domestic labour and sexual gratification. The report presents testimonies from individual wahaya to expose the shocking realities of the practice and calls for efforts to end these forced unions.