Rights Against Slavery

and Forced Labor

1926 Slavery Convention
an international treaty created under the
auspices of the League of Nations and first
signed on 25 September 1926.
objective of the Convention was to confirm
and advance the suppression of slavery and
the slave trade.
established concrete rules and articles to
advance the suppression of slavery and the
slave trade.
Article 2
The High Contracting Parties undertake, each in
respect of the territories placed under its
sovereignty, jurisdiction, protection, suzerainty
or tutelage, so far as they have not already
taken the necessary steps:
( a ) To prevent and suppress the slave trade;
( b ) To bring about, progressively and as soon as
possible, the complete abolition of slavery in all its
forms.

Article 5
The High Contracting Parties recognise that
recourse to compulsory or forced labour may
have grave consequences and undertake, each
in respect of the territories placed under its
sovereignty, jurisdiction, protection, suzerainty
or tutelage, to take all necessary measures to
prevent compulsory or forced labour from
developing into conditions analogous to slavery.

It is agreed that:
(1) Subject to the transitional provisions laid down in paragraph
(2) below, compulsory or forced labour may only be exacted for
public purposes.
(2) In territories in which compulsory or forced labour for other
than public purposes still survives, the High Contracting Parties
shall endeavour progressively and as soon as possible to put
an end to the practice. So long as such forced or compulsory
labour exists, this labour shall invariably be of an exceptional
character, shall always receive adequate remuneration, and
shall not involve the removal of the labourers from their usual
place of residence.
(3) In all cases, the responsibility for any recourse to
compulsory or forced labour shall rest with the competent
central authorities of the territory concerned.

The state parties
As of 2013, 99 countries have signed,
acceded to, ratified, succeeded to or
otherwise committed to participation in the
Convention (as amended) and its
subsequent Protocol
Afghanistan (1954), Albania (1957), Algeria (1963), Australia (1953), Austria
(1954), Azerbaijan (1996), Bahamas (1976), Bahrain (1990), Bangladesh (1985),
Barbados (1976), Belarus (1956, as the Byelorussian SSR), Belgium (1962),
Bolivia (1983), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1993), Brazil (1966), Cameroon (1984),
Canada (1953), Chile (1995), Croatia (1992), Cuba (1954), Cyprus (1986),
Denmark (1954), Dominica (1994), Ecuador (1955), Egypt (1954), Ethiopia
(1969), Fiji (1972), Finland (1954), France (1963), Germany (1973), Greece
(1955), Guatemala (1983), Guinea (1963), Hungary (1958), India (1954), Iraq
(1955), Ireland (1961), Israel (1955), Italy (1954), J amaica (1964), J ordan (1959),
Kazakhstan (2008), Kuwait (1963), Kyrgyzstan (1997), Lesotho (1974), Liberia
(1953), Libya (1957), Madagascar (1964), Malawi (1965), Mali (1973), Malta
(1966), Mauritania (1986), Mauritius (1969), Mexico (1954), Monaco (1954),
Mongolia (1968), Montenegro (2006), Morocco (1959), Myanmar (1957), Nepal
(1963), Netherlands (1955), New Zealand (1953), Nicaragua (1986), Niger (1964),
Nigeria (1961), Norway (1957), Pakistan (1955), Paraguay (2007), Papua New
Guinea (1982), Philippines (1955), Romania (1957), Russia (1956, as the Soviet
Union), St Lucia (1990), St Vincent and the Grenadines (1981), Saudi Arabia
(1973), Serbia (2001, as Serbia and Montenegro), Sierra Leone (1962), Solomon
Islands (1981), South Africa (1953), Spain (1927), Sri Lanka (1958), Sudan
(1957), Sweden (1954), Switzerland (1953), Syria(1954), Republic of China
(1955), Trinidad and Tobago (1966), Tunisia (1966), Turkey (1955),
Turkmenistan (1997), Uganda (1964), Ukraine (1959, as the Ukrainian SSR),
United Kingdom (1953), Tanzania (1962), United States (1956), Uruguay (2001),
Viet Nam (1956), Yemen (1987), Zambia (1973)
Former state parties: East Germany, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia.

The 1926 Convention's definition of slavery
was broadened to include forced or
compulsory labor in 1930 in the ILO
Convention (No. 29) concerning Forced or
Compulsory Labour (article 2.1)
Slavery was defined (Art.1) as:
-"the status or condition of a person over
whom any or all of the powers attaching to
the right of ownership are exercised"
Forced labor was defined as :
-all work or service which is exacted
from any person under the menace of any
penalty and for which the said person has
not offered himself voluntarily. (ILO)

slave trade was defined as including:
"all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or
disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to
slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a
slave with a view to selling or exchanging him;
all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a
slave acquired with a view to being sold or
exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade
or transport in slaves."

The International Labour Organization (ILO)
estimates that there are at least 20.9 million
people in forced labour worldwide. The
figure means that, at any given point in time,
around three out of every 1,000 persons
worldwide are suffering in forced labour.
Forced Labour Convention
commits parties to prohibit the use of forced
labour, admitting only five exceptions to it
Its object and purpose is to suppress the
use of forced labour in all its forms
irrespective of the nature of the work or the
sector of activity in which it may be
performed
The Convention excepts from the term "forced or compulsory labour"
the following:
any work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military
service laws for work of a purely military character;
any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations
of the citizens of a fully self-governing country;
any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of
a conviction in a court of law, provided that the said work or service
is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority
and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of
private individuals, companies or associations

any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say,
in the event of war, of a calamity or threatened calamity, such
as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epizootic
diseases, invasion by: animal, insect or vegetable pests, and in
general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the
well-being of the whole or part of the population;
minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the
members of the community in the direct interest of the said
community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations
incumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the
members of the community or their direct representatives shall
have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such
services.