The Notion of Exploitation: Theoretical Foundations of the Human Rights Prohibition of ‘Modern Slavery’

The chapter offers a comprehensive analysis of the concept of exploitation in human rights law. The notion of exploitation is central for the understanding of ‘modern slavery’, but has never been defined in international law and has been neglected in the human rights scholarship. Drawing on the international legal instruments and jurisprudence, and the literature on moral philosophy, the chapter distils and explains the necessary and sufficient conditions for a practice to qualify as exploitation of a sufficient gravity thus engaging the human rights prohibition of ‘modern slavery’. These conditions distinguish exploitation from other wrongs, and connect the diverse practices of ‘modern slavery’ into a coherent concept. This discussion provides a critical contribution to an understanding of the theoretical foundations of the prohibition of slavery and the right not to be trafficked.