FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 34 These are the norms accepted and recognized by the international community as a whole. Jus Cogens has some analogy with the principles of public policy as used in Municipal Laws. The rules of jus cogens include the fundamental rules concerning safeguarding of peace, fundamental UDHR rules of a humanitarian nature, like prohibition of genocide, slavery and • All human beings are born free racial discrimination75 and hence no and equal in dignity and rights (Article 1). derogation is possible and can only be modified by a subsequent norm • Everyone has the right to life, of general international law having liberty and security of person the same character. (Article 3). Trafficking which is nothing but modern day slavery is against the rules of jus cogens and hence a violation of international human rights laws.76 B. International Instruments There are a variety of sources of State obligation in international human rights law that potentially addresses the numerous human rights violations that accompany trafficking in persons. The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, 1949; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 and the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in • No person shall be held in slavery or servitude (Article 4). • No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (Article 5). • All are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection without any discrimination. (Article 7). • Everyone has the right to freedom of movement (Article 13). • Everyone has the right to a nationality (Article 15). • Everyone has the right to asylum from persecution (Article 14). • Every person has a right to marry and find a family (Article 16). • Everyone has the right to work; free choice of employment and without discrimination is entitled to equal pay for equal work (Article 23). 75 J.G. Starke, Introduction to International law, Butterworths & Co., Delhi, 1989, p.56. 76 On the prohibition of slavery as a norm of jus cogens see the judgement of International Court of Justice in the Barcelona Traction Case of 5 February, 1970 ICJ 3 at 32.