What we know

The definition of slavery that every later instrument still uses.

Article 1(1) defines 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. It is a test of a status, not of how badly someone was treated, which is why cruelty alone is not slavery, and why slavery can exist without it.

Source: Slavery Convention, Genève 25 september 1926, i kraft 9 mars 1927, ändrad genom protokoll 7 december 1953. UNTS vol. 212, nr I-2861.

Swedish law since 2020, not merely a commitment Sweden has made.

Article 34 obliges states to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, and Article 35 to prevent the abduction, sale of and traffic in children. Sweden incorporated the Convention through lag (2018:1197), in force 1 January 2020, so these articles are directly applicable Swedish law.

Source: FN:s konvention om barnets rättigheter, generalförsamlingens resolution 44/25 av 20 november 1989. Svensk inkorporering: lag (2018:1197) om Förenta nationernas konvention om barnets rättigheter.

Names sexual slavery as a crime against humanity and a war crime.

Sexual slavery appears in Article 7(1)(g), Article 8(2)(b)(xxii) and Article 8(2)(e)(vi), but the Statute never defines it. The two-element test lives in the Elements of Crimes: the perpetrator exercised powers attaching to the right of ownership, and caused the person to engage in acts of a sexual nature. The first element is lifted unchanged from 1926.

Source: Romstadgan för Internationella brottmålsdomstolen, 17 juli 1998. Definitionen: ICC Elements of Crimes, ICC-ASP/1/3 del II-B s. 120, antagna 3–10 september 2002.

Requires states to criminalise the sale of children and child sexual exploitation.

Article 3 requires each state to criminalise the sale of children, the use of a child in what the Protocol still calls child prostitution, and child sexual abuse material, whether committed domestically or transnationally, and whether by an individual or an organisation. The terminology of the 2000 text has since been superseded; the obligations have not.

Source: Fakultativt protokoll till barnkonventionen om försäljning av barn, barnprostitution och barnpornografi, generalförsamlingens resolution 54/263 av 25 maj 2000, i kraft 18 januari 2002.

The global definition of trafficking: three elements, and only two for a child.

Article 3(a) requires an act, a means and a purpose of exploitation. Article 3(c) removes the means element entirely where the victim is under eighteen: recruitment or receipt of a child for exploitation is trafficking even with no force, deception or coercion at all. Trafficking is a process and is complete before any exploitation occurs; sexual slavery is a condition and requires that ownership was actually exercised.

Source: Protokollet om förebyggande, bekämpande och bestraffande av handel med människor, särskilt kvinnor och barn, generalförsamlingens resolution 55/25 av 15 november 2000, i kraft 25 december 2003.

Europe's dedicated instrument on child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The first treaty to criminalise child sexual abuse wherever it occurs, including within the family. It covers grooming, sex tourism and abuse material, and requires states to run prevention, helplines and offender programmes rather than only prosecutions. It contains no occurrence of the words born, pregnant or offspring. Its subject is the child as a direct victim.

Source: Europarådets konvention om skydd för barn mot sexuell exploatering och sexuella övergrepp, CETS nr 201, Lanzarote 25 oktober 2007, i kraft 1 juli 2010.

Binds every member state to a minimum standard, Sweden included.

Sets minimum penalties, requires that victims are not punished for offences they were compelled to commit, and obliges states to assist victims unconditionally: support may not be made to depend on willingness to testify. Pregnancy appears only as a factor when assessing a victim's vulnerability. The directive says nothing about children born to a victim.

Source: Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv 2011/36/EU av 5 april 2011 om förebyggande och bekämpande av människohandel, om skydd av dess offer.

Minimum penalties across the union for abuse, exploitation and abuse material.

Requires member states to criminalise some twenty distinct offences with stated minimum maximum penalties, to bar convicted offenders from professional activity involving children, and to remove or block abuse material hosted in their territory. It is the instrument behind much of what Swedish law now looks like in this area.

Source: Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv 2011/93/EU av 13 december 2011 om bekämpande av sexuella övergrepp mot barn, sexuell exploatering av barn och barnpornografi.

The only place in international law that mentions the children of victims at all.

Article 1(13) replaces Article 14(1) of the 2011 directive and requires member states to provide access to education for child victims and the children of victims who receive assistance. It is a derived right, conditional on the mother being supported and qualified by national law. It does not make the child a victim in their own right. The phrase children of victims occurs once in the whole instrument and is never explained. Transposition deadline: 15 July 2026.

Source: Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv (EU) 2024/1712 av 13 juni 2024 om ändring av direktiv 2011/36/EU, i kraft 14 juli 2024.