A/72/139 I. Introduction and summary of recent activities 1. The present report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Urmila Bhoola, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 33/1. It is her first report to the General Assembly following the renewal of her mandate in September 2016, at the thirty -third session of the Human Rights Council. A. Participation in consultations and conferences 2. Since the thirty-third session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur has participated in a wide range of international conferences and initiatives relating to the prevention and eradication of all contemporary forms of slavery. In September 2016, She attended a meeting on cooperation against contemporary forms of slavery convened by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and attended by other Heads of State, United Nations agencies and civil society experts on the margins of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly. During the meeting, the Special Rapporteur stressed the need for robust legal and institutional frameworks and coherence among legal and policy instruments. In addition, she discussed the importance of involving the business sector and the need to integrate the voice of victims into all slavery eradication efforts. 3. In December 2016, the Special Rapporteur participated in a panel at an event on child slavery with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, and other stakeholders, convened by the United Nations voluntary trust fund on contemporary forms of slavery. The fund assists individuals whose human rights have been severely violated as a result of contemporary forms of slavery. It provides vital direct humanitarian, legal and financial assistance to victims through grants awarded to non-governmental organizations. Throughout the implementation of her mandate over the past year, the Special Rapporteur has worked in collaboration with the trust fund. She thanks the fund for its ongoing support for her work and encourages Member States to support its work. 4. In March 2017, the Special Rapporteur gave a presentation at the Security Council ministerial open debate on trafficking in persons in conflict situations, forced labour, slavery and other similar practices. She called for greater coordination and leadership against slavery and related phenomena and for Council members to ratify and implement international standards, as well as discussing the need to strengthen humanitarian responses to conflict situations and to increase national and international accountability for slavery-related human rights abuses in conflict. 5. During the past year, the Special Rapporteur has engaged with Alliance 8 .7, a multi-stakeholder coalition committed to accelerating and intensifying action to achieve target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, attending both the high level launch, held in New York in September 2016, and a consultation on child labour and forced labour, held in Addis Ababa in June 2017. 6. The Special Rapporteur will present a thematic report on access to justice and remedy for victims of contemporary slavery at the thirty -sixth session of the Human Rights Council, in September 2017. 1 __________________ 1 17-11988 See A/HRC/36/43. 3/21