Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is a continuing crime involving ownership for forced sexual acts.
Sexual slavery occurs when someone holds ownership rights over another person or people, intending to force them into sexual acts. This covers forced labor that leads to sexual activity, forced marriages, and sex trafficking—including the trafficking of children for sex.
Throughout history, sexual slavery has appeared in many forms. In regions like Ghana, Togo, and Benin, it included single-owner bondage and ritual servitude tied to religious practices. It also emerged within systems not primarily meant for sex, such as during the colonization of the Americas, where forced labor for economic gain was accompanied by widespread non-consensual sexual activity. In some cultures, concubinage—for instance, in Islamic societies—was a traditional form of sexual slavery, though concubines there held specific rights and a recognized social status.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action calls for global awareness that sexual slavery violates human rights. UNESCO, with help from international agencies, has studied and tabulated its incidence by country.
The 1988 Rome Statute defines crimes under the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction. It lists “enslavement” and “sexual enslavement” as crimes against humanity when part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians. Sexual enslavement is also a war crime and a breach of the Geneva Conventions during international armed conflict, and indirectly during internal armed conflict—but the court’s war-crime jurisdiction excludes internal disturbances, riots, or isolated violence. The Statute does not explicitly define sexual enslavement but defines enslavement as exercising ownership powers over a person, including through trafficking, especially of women and children.
Legal commentator Mark Klamberg notes that sexual slavery is a specific form of enslavement that restricts autonomy, movement, and sexual decision-making. It includes forced marriages, domestic servitude, or other forced labor that ends in sexual activity. Unlike rape, which is a single act, sexual slavery is a continuing offense. Examples include holding women in “rape camps” or “comfort stations,” forcing temporary “marriages” to soldiers, or treating women as property—all violations of the international ban on slavery.
**Types**
**Commercial sexual exploitation of adults**—often called sex trafficking—involves recruiting, transporting,
- definition
- Exercise of any or all powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person, including trafficking, for forced sexual activity
- legal basis
- Rome Statute (1988) defines sexual enslavement as a crime against humanity and a war crime
- estimated victims (2016)
- 5 million persons in forced labor were victims of sexual exploitation (ILO)
- major destinations (2007)
- Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey, United States
- major sources (2007)
- Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine
Lore & Background
Sexual slavery has taken various forms throughout history, including single-owner bondage and ritual servitude linked to religious practices in regions such as Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Moreover, slavery's reach extends beyond explicit sexual exploitation, as non-consensual sexual activity was interwoven with systems designed for primarily non-sexual purposes, as witnessed in the colonization of the Americas, where forced labor for economic gains was marred by widespread non-consensual sexual activities. In some cultures, concubinage has been a traditional form of sexual slavery, one example being concubinage in Islam, in which concubines had distinct rights and legitimate social status.
Reader's Guide
The Rome Statute defines sexual enslavement as a particular form of enslavement that includes limitations on autonomy, freedom of movement, and power to decide matters relating to one's sexual activity. It is a continuing offence, unlike rape, and includes forced marriages, domestic servitude, or other forced labor that ultimately involves forced sexual activity. The International Labour Organization reported in 2016 that of an estimated 25 million persons in forced labor, 5 million were victims of sexual exploitation. Commercial sexual exploitation of adults, often called sex trafficking, involves recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people by coercive or abusive means for sexual exploitation. Commercial sexual exploitation of children includes child prostitution, child sex tourism, and child pornography. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action calls for international effort to make people aware of sexual slavery as an abuse of human rights. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO with the cooperation of various international agencies.
Did You Know?
- The Rome Statute defines sexual enslavement as a war crime and a breach of the Geneva Conventions when committed during an international armed conflict.
- Child prostitution usually manifests in the form of sex trafficking, in which a child is kidnapped or tricked into becoming involved in the sex trade, or survival sex.
- Thailand's Health System Research Institute reported that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand.
- A CBI statement estimated about 40% of India's prostitutes to be children.
More in Ethics & Morality 25-32
Elsewhere in the Ethics & Morality universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record