Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 7(1)(c)

Article 7(1)(c). Enslavement as a crime against humanity. This provision is significant in identifying human trafficking as a crime against humanity. For the ICC to have jurisdiction, the perpetrator must exercise powers demonstrating ownership, such as purchasing, selling, lending, or bartering. The definition also requires the imposition of “a deprivation of liberty,” which may refer to forced domestic labour or the reducing of a woman to a servile status. To amount to a crime against humanity, it must be committed “as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.” Hence, this provision also enables the prosecution of organizers of human trafficking. For example, the Prosecutor is considering an investigation in Libya and is urging States to prosecute perpetrators. The Prosecutor is particularly concerned about migrants, in particular women and children, that are held in detention centres in Libya, where there are allegations of sexual violence, forced labour, human trafficking, and of migrants being sold in a slave market.