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49. The same member called the attention of the Group to the report supplied by OXFAM on child prostitution in Brazil.7/ The report stated that each year some 50,000 young girls were condemned to struggle for survival in the brothels of the northern towns and cities. These brothels were underworlds of extreme exploitation. Money was paid not to the girls but to the madams, who then made deductions at extortionate rates for food, clothing and lodging. The girls were thus kept in a sort of bondage` system, and sometimes physically locked up or forced to become dependent on drugs. The girls entered the brothels as young as 12 or 14; sometimes they were bought from their parents by agents; many drifted to the brothels after having been employed as domestic servants in private households and raped by the men of the family. While prostitution was illegal in Brazil, the law was not readily accessible to the poor, and brothol owners and organisers of prostitution operated mostly outside of the reach of the law.

50. In the view of the same member, this report indicated that often there was a close inter-relationship among various slavery-like practices of concern to the Group, such as the exploitation of prostitution, the sale of children, and debt bondage. He himself, during a recent trip of India, had had occasion to see a study prepared by an Indian medical team working for the Bombay Municipal Corporation on prostitution in Bombay: the report indicated that 25 per cent of prostitutes in the Bombay area were actually slaves, i.e., they were sold by agents to brothels after being lured to the city. The report supplied by INTERPOL 8/ had also detailed instances of women being lured to other countries with the promise of non-existent jobs, and then being held in forms of bondage for purposes of prostitution. He expressed surprise that, given the continuation of such forms of traffic, a large number of countries had still not ratified the relevant Convention, including for example, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In his view, it was the urgent task of the United Nations and the specialized agencies to seek ways to help governments enforce relevant laws and take appropriate measures to eliminate the root causes of these practices.

51. Other participants emphasized the need to give publicity to evidence on such matters, provided by sources whose reliability the public would not doubt, so that a general awareness, particularly among young women, of the existence of such forms of traffic in persons, especially when jobs in foreign countries were involved, might alert them to the possible dangers. With this in mind, the view was expressed that Governments should be invited to publicise the facts and permit the United Nations and INTERPOL to do likewise.

III. RECOMMENDATIONS

52. The Working Group adopted a number of recommendations, which it submits to the Sub-Commission for consideration:

Debt Bondage

(a) The Sub-Commission should bring the present report of the Working Group to the attention of the Government of India for information.

(b) The Secretariat 'should give priority to the study of debt bondage requested in Sub-Commission resolution 6 B (XXXI).

ป E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/27, Annex II.

8/ E/CN.4/Sub.2/419.