Schemes to help unemployed people get work are not slave labour but clarity needs to be improved, a Judicial review has ruled.
The judgment will mean the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) can continue in its programme to encourage people back to work.
The case came from two claimants who had been placed on two different government schemes. They were granted permission to seek a judicial review and challenge the validity of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 2011.
The two programmes were; the trial Community Action Programme (CAP) providing mandatory community work for the long-term unemployed; and sector-based work academies including work experience and training.
The judgement found that requiring participation in the schemes did not breach human rights, that the regulations were lawful and that the DWP had provided enough guidance about policy intentions.
The Honourable Mr Justice Foskett, said: "It does have to be said that the sector-based work academies scheme, and indeed the CAP, are a very long way removed from the kind of colonial exploitation of labour that led to the formulation of Article 4.
"The Convention is, of course, a living instrument, capable of development to meet modern conditions, and views may reasonably differ about the merits of a scheme that requires individuals to "work for their benefits" as a means of assisting them back into the workplace."
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the DWP was pleased, but not surprised at the judge ruling.
He said: "Comparing our initiatives to slave labour is not only ridiculous but insulting to people around the world facing real oppression.
"Those who oppose this process are actually opposed to hard work and they are harming the life chances of unemployed young people who are trying to get on."
But the Judge said the DWP needed to improve the clarity of the letters that warned claimants of a potential sanction should they fail to participate in the schemes without good reason.
The DWP has revised its standard letters.
