The modern world accepts that slavery is a great evil and there are many international documents that denounce it and make it illegal.
The modern world accepts that slavery is a great evil and there are many international documents that denounce it and make it illegal.
The modern world accepts that slavery is a great evil and there are many international documents that denounce it and make it illegal.
Between 1815 and 1957 around 300 international agreements were implemented, with varying degrees of success, to suppress slavery. Many of these agreements lacked adequate institutions and procedures to ensure that they were enforced.
Slavery, slave-related practices, and forced labour are now regarded as:
Some of the key documents against slavery are outlined below.
The first international document against slavery was the 1815 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the Slave Trade.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (Article 1) and that "no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms" (Article 4).
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says in Article 8:
Article 7 of the same document protects all human beings from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, thus outlawing some of the more detestable practices of enslavement.
Article 12 of the same document gives people the rights of liberty of movement and freedom to choose their residence, both of which are incompatible with slavery.
Article 16 states that "Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law." Article 26 similarly says "All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law." These provisions outlaw many of the discriminations faced by slaves and ex-slaves.
The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions Similar to Slavery (1956) goes into considerable detail on institutions that are similar to slavery and should be abolished, such as:
(a) Debt bondage, that is to say, the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;
(b) Serfdom, that is to say, the condition or status of a tenant who is by law, custom or agreement bound to live and labour on land belonging to another person and to render some determinate service to such other person, whether for reward or not, and is not free to change his status;
(c) Any institution or practice whereby:
(i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or
(ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or
(iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person;(d) Any institution or practice whereby a child or young person under the age of 18 years is delivered by either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian to another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or young person or of his labour.
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions Similar to Slavery (1956)
The same convention criminalised 'the act of conveying or attempting to convey slaves from one country to another' and told governments to take all effective measures to prevent ships and aircraft under their flags from conveying slaves, and to stop their ports and airports being used for such a purpose.
At article 4 the convention stated "Any slave who takes refuge on board any vessel of a State Party to this Convention shall ipso facto be free".
At Article 5 the Convention tried to reduce the harm that slavery involved where it still existed when it outlawed "the act of mutilating, branding or otherwise marking a slave or a person of servile status in order to indicate his status, or as a punishment, or for any other reason".
Finally, at Article 6, the Convention said that:
The act of enslaving another person or of inducing another person to give himself or a person dependent upon him into slavery, or of attempting these acts, or being accessory thereto, or being a party to a conspiracy to accomplish any such acts, shall be a criminal offence
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions Similar to Slavery (1956)
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court characterizes 'enslavement' as a crime against humanity falling within the jurisdiction of the Court , and describes 'enslavement' as:
the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
It also categorises "Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity" as crimes against humanity.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children makes it a crime to traffic people "for the purpose of exploitation" and adds:
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
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