Slavery (International Law)

Introduction

Slavery had existed for thousands of years, when, finally, in the 18th century the abolitionist ideal gained momentum. Well before the affirmation of the international protection of human rights, a concept that emerged after the end of the Second World War, the fight against slavery and the slave trade propagated the idea of equal dignity and the intolerability of different statuses or treatments based on law or customs. However, the first international act adopted in this field, namely a Declaration adopted during the Congress of Vienna (1815), condemned only the slave trade. It is with the adoption of the Treaty of St-Germain-en-Laye (1919) that, for the first time, reference is made not only to the suppression of the slave trade, but also to slavery in all its forms. Subsequently, after the First World War, the League of Nations promoted the adoption of the 1926 Slavery Convention, a treaty that contains the first international definition of slavery and the slave trade. In 1956 the United Nations adopted a Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Moreover, he prohibition of slavery is also included in many international human rights instruments. Finally, in the same way as the founding treaty of other international criminal tribunals, the Statute of the International Criminal Court includes enslavement among the acts constituting, under specific circumstances, a crime against humanity. Prohibitions of slavery and the slave trade in times of both peace and war are unanimously considered to be customary rules of international law, and they have attained the level of peremptory norms (jus cogens principles). Moreover, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) considers the prohibition of slavery as an obligation erga omnes. Despite all these achievements, the international law on slavery still faces many challenges, including those related to the interpretation of the definition of slavery included in the 1926 Slavery Convention; the blurred lines between slavery and other exploitative practices, including, servitude and forced labor, and activities as, for instance, trafficking in persons. In this respect, the reorientation of international attention toward contemporary, modern, or modern-day slavery has to a great extent avoided the issue of the definition of slavery today and has made an attempt aimed at dealing with relevant exploitative practices without carefully verifying whether such practices fit the 1926 definition of slavery. Finally, the international law on slavery confronts additional challenges, including the absence of strong monitoring bodies as well as internal inconsistencies and lax implementation of a system characterized by loopholes and lack of clarity.

General Overviews

General overviews on slavery in international law tend to take into consideration treaties adopted since the beginning of the 19th century and they all focus extensively on the 1926 Convention on Slavery and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (Gutteridge 1957, Quirk 2011, Allain 2012 and Saulle 1999). Moreover, Miers 2003 examine the legal abolition of slavery and places it in a historical context, providing a balanced analysis of the issue, covering almost two centuries. Decaux 2009 offers a concise but effective French introduction to the international law on slavery and other severe exploitative practices. Nanda and Bassiouni 1972 compares the international law system in place for the elimination of slavery and the slave trade and the one aimed at the white slave trade or traffic.

Allain, Jean. Slavery in International Law: Of Human Exploitation and Trafficking. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
DOI: 10.1163/9789004235731Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines slavery as well as practices considered as “lesser forms of exploitation.” Then categorizes all these practices as forms of human exploitation, which is the final purpose of human trafficking.
Find this resource:
Decaux, Emmanuel. Les formes contemporaines de l’esclavage. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2009.
DOI: 10.1163/9789047441434Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the historical dimension of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in international law and takes into consideration the definition of slavery, emphasizing the risk of dilution of such a concept, as opposed to the required need for a well-defined and strictly interpreted offense under penal law. It also considers the international instruments in place in combating the white slave traffic, trafficking in persons, and forced labor.
Find this resource:
Gutteridge, Joyce A. C. “Supplementary Slavery Convention, 1956.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 6.3 (1957): 449–471.
DOI: 10.1093/iclqaj/6.3.449Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Considers the treaties against slavery and the slavery trade adopted before the Slavery Conventions. It also takes into consideration the drafting history of the 1956 Supplementary Convention and comments on the 1926 definition of slavery.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The most complete, detailed, and extensive account of the history of international relations and the developments of international law in the field of slavery and the slave trade, beginning with the rise of the antislavery movement in Great Britain in the 18th century and covering up to the end of the 20th century.
Find this resource:
Nanda, Ved P., and M. Cherif Bassiouni. “Slavery and the Slave Trade: Steps towards Eradication.” Santa Clara Lawyer 12 (1972): 424–442.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade in international law starting from the Congress of Vienna (1815). Compares the system aimed at prohibiting slavery and the slave trade with the one dealing with the white slave trade or traffic and concludes that the latter was less effective because the basic values that permit that practice to be tolerated have never changed.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Joel. The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the history of the antislavery movement, starting from legal abolition in the British Empire to the fight against contemporary exploitative practices, and focuses, in particular, on three of them, namely chattel slavery, debt bondage, and trafficking in persons. Makes reference to the slavery conventions and to the UN Trafficking Protocol.
Find this resource:
Saulle, Maria Rita. “La Schiavitù.” In Dalla tutela giuridica all’esercizio dei diritti umani. Edited by Maria Rita Saulle, 15–26. Naples, Italy: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the treaties abolishing the slave trade and slavery adopted since the end of the 18th century, the 1926 and 1956 Slavery Conventions, and universal and regional human rights treaties. Considers the concept of forced labor to be incorporated into that of slavery. In Italian.
Find this resource:
Reference Works

Compilations of fundamental treaties and other relevant documents in the field of international slavery law are scarce. A memorandum submitted by the United Nations Secretary-General in 1951 (United Nations Secretary-General 1951) contains the text of the most important international documents adopted in the field since 1814 as well as a background analysis of their relevance. Allain 2008 studies the Travaux Préparatoires of the two Slavery Conventions, which are also included in the book as annexes. Finally, Bassiouni 2008 provides the most comprehensive compilation of treaties belonging to various branches of international law.

Allain, Jean. The Slavery Conventions: The Travaux Préparatoires of the 1926 League of Nations Convention and the 1956 United Nations Convention. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004158610.1-841Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the Travaux Préparatoires of the 1926 Slavery Convention and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, clarifying the intentions of the drafters.
Find this resource:
Bassiouni, M. Cherif. “Enslavement: Slavery, Slave-Related Practices, and Trafficking in Persons for Sexual Purposes.” In International Criminal Law. Edited by M. Cherif Bassiouni, 535–598. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Contains the most comprehensive compilation of relevant treaties adopted, inter alia, in the fields of international slavery, labor, criminal, human rights, and humanitarian law. The author also criticizes the multiple terms existing in the field and their respective regimes, characterized by overlaps and loopholes, for their lack of cohesiveness and coherence.
Find this resource:
United Nations Secretary-General. The Suppression of Slavery: Memorandum Submitted by the Secretary-General. UN Doc. ST/SOA/4 (1951).
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Includes an analysis of the fundamental treaties aimed at the eradication of slavery and the slave trade adopted in the 19th century, beginning with the Peace Treaty of Paris (1814). It contains an article-by article analysis of the 1926 Slavery Convention and a detailed reference to the work of all the specific committees created by the League of Nations for the purpose of eliminating slavery. Report submitted to the Economic and Social Council.
Find this resource:
The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade until the Early 20th Century

General resources on the history of slavery take into consideration the characteristics of the practice in various societies in the past. Hellie 2014 contains a detailed summary and focuses also on the law of slavery in the past. Meltzer 2000 takes into consideration slavery both past and present. More recently, scholarly efforts have been directed at creating bridges between slavery as it existed in the past and contemporary slavery and using the former so as to better understand how to fight against the latter (Quirk 2011, Lawrance and Roberts 2012). Other works focus on important historical events in respect of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade under international law. In this respect it is important to emphasize that the antislavery movement first emerged in the second half of the 18th century; before that period, slavery was hardly challenged or condemned. Fischer 1950 examines conventions adopted for the purpose of fighting against the slave trade in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and in West, East, and Central Africa. Quirk 1954 reinterprets the position of Supúlveda, a major international law scholar, in the Valladolid controversy. Allain 2012 also considers the position of important international law scholars, such as Francisco de Vitoria and Grotius, and Miers 2003 examines the actions taken by Great Britain at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries to combat the slave trade at sea, and discusses the first international condemnation of the slave trade in a declaration adopted during the Congress of Vienna as well as the General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa (1885) and the Brussels Conference Act of 1890. Bethell 1966 describes the efforts by the United Kingdom leading to the creation of mixed commissions aimed at the abolition of the slave trade. Wilson 1950 looks at various methods used by Great Britain for abolishing slavery and comments on the failed attempt to recognize a general rule of international law that would consider the slave trade as constituting—piracy—a delictum iuris gentium. Finally, Scarpa 2013 criticizes the use made in Lawrance and Roberts 2012 of the term trafficking to refer generally to every form of sale, kidnapping, abuse, and exploitation that persisted or developed after the legal abolition of slavery in Africa in the 19th century.

Allain, Jean. Slavery in International Law: Of Human Exploitation and Trafficking. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
DOI: 10.1163/9789004235731Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the work of relevant scholars in the field, such as Francisco de Vitoria and Grotius. Considers the Valladolid controversy of 1550–1551 between Juan Ginés de Supúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas in respect of the use of force as a way to treat the American Indians in the Spanish colonies and the Muscat Dhows case between France and Great Britain submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration. See pp. 9–56.
Find this resource:
Bethell, Leslie. “The Mixed Commissions for the Suppression of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century.” Journal of African History 7.1 (1966): 79–93.
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700006095Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the creation of mixed commissions for the adjudication of captured vessels suspected of being involved in the slave trade and their activities in the period 1819–1871, which led to more than six hundred condemnations. Comments on the treaties concluded by the British in this respect and on the right of visit and search on the high seas.
Find this resource:
Fischer, Hugo. “The Suppression of Slavery in International Law.” International Law Quarterly 3 (1950): 28–51.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the conventions adopted for the purpose of fighting against the slave trade in the Mediterranean and Black Seas and in West, East, and Central Africa. Also examines the Brussels Conference Act of 1890.
Find this resource:
Hellie, Richard. “Slavery.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Clarifies that all the slave societies of the past were based on two basic types of slavery, namely domestic and productive slavery. Contains sections dedicated to the law of slavery in the past and the laws of manumission.
Find this resource:
Lawrance, Benjamin N., and Richard L. Roberts, eds. Trafficking in Slavery’s Wake: Law and Experience of Women and Children in Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Aims at understanding the link between slavery in the past and contemporary exploitative practices in Africa, thus contesting the belief that they are unconnected phenomena. However, the term trafficking is used in an a-historical way to refer to every form of sale, kidnapping, abuse, and exploitation that persisted or developed after the legal abolition of slavery in Africa in the 19th century.
Find this resource:
Meltzer, Milton. Slavery: A World History. New York: DaCapo, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An easy-to-read and concise introduction to the history of slavery from its origins to contemporary manifestations. Good resource for undergraduate students.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. “Forging a Treaty Network against the Slave Trade.” In Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. By Suzanne Miers, 14–28. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the fundamental role played by Great Britain in the antislavery movement developed at the beginning of the 19thcentury and examines the most important achievements, including the 1815 Vienna Declaration, the General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa (1885), and the Brussels Conference Act of 1890.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Robert E. “Some Notes on a Controversial Controversy: Juan Ginés de Supúlveda and Natural Servitude.” Hispanic American Historical Review 34.3 (1954): 357–364.
DOI: 10.2307/2508897Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Proposes a reinterpretation of the Valladolid controversy, claiming that Sepúlveda’s use of the term servus was misinterpreted and that he did not intend to recommend the enslavement and destruction of the Indians in the colonies but rather their inclusion in a feudal society similar to the ones existing in medieval Europe.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Joel. The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the history of the antislavery movement starting from legal abolition in the British Empire to the fight against contemporary exploitative practices, focusing, in particular, on three of them, namely chattel slavery, debt bondage, and trafficking in persons. Makes reference to the Slavery Conventions and to the UN Trafficking Protocol.
Find this resource:
Scarpa, Silvia. “Trafficking in Slavery’s Wake: Law and Experience of Women and Children in Africa.” Edited by Benjamin N. Lawrance, and Richard L. Roberts. Enterprise & Society 14.4 (2013): 866–868.
DOI: 10.1093/es/kht066Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Considers that in international treaty law, the term trafficking was defined for the first time in 2000 in the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. In contrast to this definition, Lawrance and Roberts use the term in an ahistorical way to refer to practices such as sale, kidnapping, abuse, and exploitation that persisted or developed after the legal abolition of slavery in Africa in the 19th century.
Find this resource:
Wilson, Howard Hazen. “Some Principal Aspects of British Efforts to Crush the African Slave Trade, 1807–1929.” American Journal of International Law 44.3 (1950): 505–526.
DOI: 10.2307/2194027Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration British efforts to abolish the slave trade in the period 1807–1929 and examines both the transatlantic and Arab slave trades. Looks at the various methods used by Great Britain to promote the abolition of the slave trade, including the failed attempt aimed at pushing for a general international recognition of the slave trade as piracy jure gentium.
Find this resource:
Slavery and the League of Nations

The Covenant of the League of Nations does not include a reference to slavery; however, under the mandate system, which granted the administration of non-self-governing territories in Central Africa to mandatory powers, these powers had to secure, inter alia, the prohibition of the slave trade and the just treatment of the African inhabitants (art. 22 and 23.b). In 1922 and 1923 the League of Nations asked the member states to provide information on slavery, but the lack of response led the Council of the League to appoint a Temporary Slavery Commission (TSC) in 1924. Miers 2003 comments on the examination by the commission of the issue of “slavery in all its forms” and the fact that, in its report, the commission raised issues at the international level that were not previously identified as slavery, such as practices of servile labor affecting children, debt bondage, and forced labor. The TSC also recommended that the League promote the drafting of a treaty against slavery, which led to the adoption of the 1926 Slavery Convention. See also Fischer 1950.

Fischer, Hugo. “The Suppression of Slavery in International Law-II.” International Law Quarterly 3 (1950): 503–522.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the action by the League of Nations, including reference to the mandate system, the Temporary Slavery Commission, the Convention on Slavery, and the Advisory Committee on Experts on Slavery.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. “The Temporary Slavery Commission and the Expanding Definition of Slavery.” In Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. By Suzanne Miers, 100–120. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the events that led to the creation of the Temporary Slavery Commission (TSC), comments on its mandate related to “slavery in all its forms” and evaluates the conclusions reached by it.
Find this resource:
Slavery and the United Nations

While the UN Charter makes only programmatic references to human rights, slavery is not mentioned in it. Notwithstanding that fact, the first ad hoc Committee on Slavery was appointed in 1949 and worked in the following years to complete a survey on slavery and other institutions and practices resembling it. The members of the committee recommended that the UN take over the 1926 Slavery Convention through issuance of a protocol, which was adopted in 1953, and that it was necessary to adopt a supplementary convention banning debt bondage, serfdom, forced marriages, and transfers of children with a view to exploit them. The Supplementary Convention was adopted in 1956; Gutteridge 1957 evaluates the convention, asserting that the final text achieved less than what had been hoped for by the United Kingdom, although the document did succeed in filling in some of the gaps of the 1926 Convention. In 1964, Mohamed Awad was appointed Special Rapporteur on Slavery. He recommended the creation of a working group on slavery. But it was only in 1974 that such a body was created, named the Working Group of Experts on Slavery, while its members were nominated a year later. The Working Group held its last session in 2006. It was subsequently replaced by the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Quirk 2011 criticizes the work of the United Nations in the field of slavery on the grounds that the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery associated practices such as genital mutilation, incest, honor killings, and the sale of organs with slavery. However, Scarpa 2012 notes the different approach evident since the adoption of the report prepared by David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International. See also Miers 2003.

Gutteridge, Joyce A. C. “Supplementary Slavery Convention, 1956.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 6.3 (1957): 449–471.
DOI: 10.1093/iclqaj/6.3.449Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the drafting history of the 1956 Supplementary Convention, and also comments on the 1926 definition of slavery. Gutteridge also evaluates the progress made and the shortcomings that remain in the system in place in light of the international treaties previously adopted for eliminating slavery and the slave trade.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Dedicates six chapters to the actions of the United Nations in the field of slavery since its birth in 1945. Special attention is devoted to the 1956 Supplementary Convention and the work of the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Joel. “Contemporary Slavery in the Shadow of History.” In The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking. By Joel Quirk, 241–252. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the history of the antislavery movement starting from legal abolition in the British Empire to the fight against contemporary exploitative practices, focusing, in particular, on three of them, namely chattel slavery, debt bondage, and trafficking in persons. Makes reference to the Slavery Conventions and to the UN Trafficking Protocol.
Find this resource:
Scarpa, Silvia. “Book Review: Joel Quirk. The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking.” Leiden Journal of International Law 25.4 (2012): 1036–1039.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Criticizes Quirk’s statement that the United Nations recently tried to associate various practices with slavery. In this respect, takes into consideration the adoption in 2002 of the report drafted by David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International at the request of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and their conclusions on this issue (see Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 2002, cited under the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery).
Find this resource:
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

The mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery was created in 2007 by the Human Rights Council for the purpose of replacing the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. The first Special Rapporteur—Gulnara Shahinian from Armenia—was elected in 2008. The Special Rapporteur submits annual reports to the Human Rights Council as well as reports on country visits. Recent reports of the Special Rapporteur deal with the challenges and lessons learnt in the fight against slavery (Shahinian 2013), servile marriages (Shahinian 2012), and domestic servitude (Shahinian 2010). The Special Rapporteur can also act upon receipt of reliable information on a human rights violation that falls within the sphere of her mandate.

Shahinian, Gulnara. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Its Causes and Consequences, Gulnara Shahinian. UN Doc. A/HRC/15/20 (2010).
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses domestic slavery and, in so doing, it takes into consideration the 1926 definition of slavery and clarifies its boundaries in respect of the practice of servitude.
Find this resource:
Shahinian, Gulnara. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Its Causes and Consequences, Gulnara Shahinian: Thematic Report on Servile Marriage. UN Doc. A/HRC/21/41 (2012).
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the various forms of servile marriages as outlined in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery and comments on the fragmented nature of international legal standards in the field. Finally, it claims that servile marriages are to be considered as forms of slavery.
Find this resource:
Shahinian, Gulnara. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Its Causes and Consequences, Gulnara Shahinian: Thematic Report on Challenges and Lessons in Combating Contemporary Forms of Slavery. UN Doc. A/HRC/24/43 (2013).
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Refers to the many legal, policy, institutional, and implementation challenges faced in the fight against contemporary slavery. In the field of legal challenges, emphasis is placed on the failure of some states to ratify the 1956 Supplementary Convention and on the lack of legislation, the fact of incomplete legislation, or the scarce implementation of the relevant measures existing in some of the countries that have ratified it.
Find this resource:
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur includes consideration of contemporary forms of slavery and it encompasses, at a minimum: debt bondage, serfdom, forced labor, child slavery, sexual slavery, forced or early marriages, and the sale of wives. Most of the documents are available in the six official languages of the United Nations (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian).
Find this resource:
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

The Working Group on Slavery was established in 1974 by the Economic and Social Council and held its first meeting in 1975. It included five independent experts of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (later renamed the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights). The mandate of the Working Group originally encompassed slavery and the slave trade “in all their practices and manifestations,” including apartheid and colonialism, and the traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others. However, it was renamed the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery in 1988 in acknowledgment of its interest in exploitative practices that were considered as “new forms of slavery.” The powers and the mandate attributed to the Working Group were limited and this fact has had a great impact on the results that this body has been able to achieve (Miers 2003 and Zoglin 1986). In this respect, the activities of the Working Group are analyzed and recommendations are formulated in Lassen 1988 and Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 2002.

Lassen, Nina. “Slavery and Slavery-Like Practices: United Nations Standards and Implementation.” Nordic Journal of International Law 57 (1988): 197–227.
DOI: 10.1163/157181088X00092Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the work of the Working Group in the period from 1975 to 1988 and while acknowledging the results achieved by this body, it also includes recommendations for improving the system with the goal to eliminate slavery and practices similar to it.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Miers notes that unfortunately the United Nations Working Group “had been designed to be toothless” and this has had an impact on the activities that this body has been able to carry out.
Find this resource:
Weissbrodt, David, and Anti-Slavery International. Abolishing Slavery and Its Contemporary Forms. New York: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines all the contemporary exploitative practices taken into consideration by the UN Working Group in its thirty years of activity and concludes that some of them, while constituting serious violations of human rights (such as apartheid, colonialism, and incest), should not be included in the sphere of implementation of the slavery conventions.
Find this resource:
Zoglin, Kathryn. “United Nations Action against Slavery: A Critical Evaluation.” Human Rights Quarterly 8 (1986): 306–339.
DOI: 10.2307/762287Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Focuses on the work of the UN Working Group on Slavery; discusses its mandate and how this body has stretched the boundaries of its mandate and the criticism to which it has been subjected for doing so. Comments on the fact that in the period of the Cold War it acted in a positive way as a forum in which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were able to express their concerns on various issues. Includes information on the fact-finding mission to Mauritania.
Find this resource:
The Interpretation of the 1926 Definition

A controversial international law issue with reference to slavery concerns the way in which the 1926 definition is to be interpreted. Therefore, most of the contributions in this field take a position on this issue. Agreement is largely general that the definition of slavery included in Article 1(1) of the 1926 Slavery Convention, which reads “Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised” applies not only to de jure slavery but also to de facto slavery. However, scholars disagree whether slavery as defined by the 1926 Slavery Convention might cover all the contemporary exploitative practices existing in the world today. In this respect, Lenzerini 2000 makes reference to the Code Napoléon, the legal basis of many modern civil codes, to interpret the concept of property that serves as the basis of the 1926 definition of slavery. Other writers refer to both the 1953 Memorandum on Slavery of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Roman law concept of dominica potestas (Lassen 1988, Allain 2009, and Allain 2012). Rassam 1999 focuses on the customary nature of the prohibition of slavery to claim that certain contemporary practices do not fit within those parameters; however, it is affirmed that a progressive interpretation should be attempted for reasons of gender equality and inclusiveness toward the oppressed and excluded. Other scholars propose an interpretation focused on three criteria, namely control, ownership, and the threat of violence, that would permit many contemporary practices to fall within the purview of the 1926 definition of slavery (Weissbrodt 2007, Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 2002).

Allain, Jean. “The Definition of Slavery in International Law.” Howard Law Journal 52 (2009): 239–275.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
States that the 1926 definition applies to both de jure and de facto slavery and that, making reference to the 1953 Memorandum on Slavery of the UN Secretary-General, attention should be made to the interpretation of the phrase “any or all the powers attaching to the right of ownership” as including various characteristics based on the dominica potestas according to Roman law.
Find this resource:
Allain, Jean, ed. The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660469.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Collection of essays written by seventeen renowned scholars that seeks to reduce the gap between the sociological definitions of slavery provided by some experts, including Bales, Patterson, Drescher, and others, and the international legal definition included in the 1926 Slavery Convention. It contains the Bellagio-Harvard Guidelines on the Legal Parameters of Slavery, which aims to help judges in interpreting the 1926 definition of slavery.
Find this resource:
Lassen, Nina. “Slavery and Slavery-Like Practices: United Nations Standards and Implementation.” Nordic Journal of International Law 57 (1988): 197–227.
DOI: 10.1163/157181088X00092Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the 1926 definition of slavery, in light of the 1953 report of the UN Secretary-General. The latter concludes that reference can be made to the dominica potestas, that is the authority of the slave-owner over the slave in Roman law. In this respect, there are six powers that are associated with the “powers attached to the right of ownership.”
Find this resource:
Lenzerini, Federico. “Suppressing Slavery under Customary International Law.” Italian Yearbook of International Law 10 (2000): 145–180.
DOI: 10.1163/221161300X00068Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the definition of slavery, focusing on its fundamental element, namely “the powers attached to the right of ownership” exercised over a person. Clarifies that slavery implies two powers, the one to dispose and to alienate and/or the one to enjoy and exclude others from such an enjoyment. Concludes that the definition of slavery covers not only chattel slavery, but also its contemporary forms.
Find this resource:
Rassam, Yasmine A. “Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the Evolution of the Prohibition of Slavery and the Slave Trade under Customary International Law.” Virginia Journal of International Law Association 39 (1999): 303–352.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Thought-provoking article that takes into consideration states’ practice and the relevant opinio iuris and concludes that forced labor, sex trafficking, forced prostitution, and the exploitation of immigrant domestic workers do not unambiguously fall under the prohibition of slavery under customary international law. An evolving interpretation based on the promotion of gender equality and inclusiveness toward those who are excluded by these international legal standards is proposed.
Find this resource:
Weissbrodt, David. “Slavery.” Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Adopts a broad interpretation of the definition of slavery as being founded on the elements of control and ownership, plus at times the threat of violence. In this way, according to Weissbrodt, the 1926 definition of slavery covers debt bondage, serfdom, forced marriage, forced prostitution, and trafficking in persons, especially in women and children. Available online by subscription.
Find this resource:
Weissbrodt, David, and Anti-Slavery International. Abolishing Slavery and Its Contemporary Forms. New York: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Written by request of the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Slavery, the authors review treaty and customary law to assess whether the exploitative practices taken into consideration by this body in its thirty years of activity would amount to slavery. Three criteria are identified to assess whether a practice reaches the threshold of slavery.
Find this resource:
Supranational Courts

In the 20th century, except for the cases arising from the exploitation of workers perpetrated by the Nazi during the Second World War, which, however, fall into the war crime of slave labor, and from the exploitation of comfort women by the Japanese army, which involves the issue of sexual slavery, international courts did not, to a large extent, deal with the international prohibition of slavery. This trend has been reversed in the last decade, in conjunction with the increased attention paid by sociologists, anthropologists, and international law scholars to the study of contemporary, modern, or modern-day slavery. The first fundamental analysis of the 1926 definition of slavery was conducted in 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Kuranac case. Subsequently, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has followed the ICTY path (see Duffy 2009). In this respect, the main voice that has emerged has been the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which, in its judgment Siliadin v. France of 2005, interprets restrictively the concept of slavery, making reference to legal ownership. However, in 2012 the court revisited its approach in M. and Others v. Italy and Bulgaria: see European Court of Human Rights 2012.

Duffy, Helen. “Hadijatou Mani Koroua v. Niger: Slavery Unveiled by the ECOWAS Court.” Human Rights Review 9.1 (2009): 151–170.
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngn041Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Summarizes the facts of the application and positively values the reference, by the ECOWAS Court, to the Kunarac case for the purpose of interpreting the concept of slavery.
Find this resource:
European Court of Human Rights. Key Case-Law Issues: Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour, Article 4 of the Convention. Strasbourg, France: European Court of Human Rights, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the key case law of the European Court of Human Rights on Article 4, which prohibits slavery, servitude, and forced labor. Takes into consideration, inter alia, Siliadin v. France and M. and Others v. Italy and Bulgaria. Good resource for undergraduates.
Find this resource:
National Courts

While the issue of slavery has generated little case law, some national courts have interpreted the definition of slavery in light of the 1926 Slavery Convention. Three examples are taken into consideration here: the jurisprudence of Italian courts described in Lenzerini 2000; the conclusions of the High Court of Australia in its first case on slavery, as examined in Tully 2010; and the criticism, in the United States, in Knott 2011 of the Ninth Circuit Court’s conclusions on slavery and forced labor reached in Doe v. Unocal.

Knott, Lukas. “UNOCAL Revisited: On the Difference between Slavery and Forced Labor in International Law.” Wisconsin International Law Journal 28.2 (2011): 201–233.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Criticizes the conclusion of the Appellate Court in the Unocal case that forced labor is identical to slavery and it is, therefore, prohibited by jus cogens. The parties agreed on an extrajudicial settlement of the case.
Find this resource:
Lenzerini, Federico. “Italian Practice on Slavery: The International Application of Obligations Prohibiting Slavery by Italian Courts.” Italian Yearbook of International Law 10 (2000): 273–280.
DOI: 10.1163/221161300X00121Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses Italian jurisprudence with respect to Article 600 of the Penal Code that has developed since the 1980s and comments on the fact that the Italian practice complies perfectly with the interpretation of the 1926 definition of slavery under international law.
Find this resource:
Tully, Stephen. “Sex, Slavery and the High Court of Australia: The Contribution of R. v. Tang to International Jurisprudence.” International Criminal Law Review 10.3 (2010): 403–423.
DOI: 10.1163/157181210X507886Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes the outcome of R. v. Tang—the first case in which the High Court of Australia interpreted the definition of slavery. Concludes that the court’s decision fell in between the dictum of the ICTY in Kunarac and that of the ECtHR in Siliadin v. France in focusing on an interpretation of “the powers attaching to the right of ownership,” promoting a human rights orientation to contemporary exploitative practices.
Find this resource:
The Sociological Definitions of Slavery

Paralleling the legal debate on the 1926 definition of slavery, sociologists and anthropologists have examined the issue of “contemporary,” “modern,” or “modern-day” slavery and have proposed definitions based on the characteristics of the practices identified through their fieldwork. These definitions focus on different elements. Bales adopted a first definition in 1999 and he amended it in 2012 (Bales 2012a and Bales 2012b); according to the author, the main characteristics of slavery are control, the threat of violence, and, in many cases, the aim of economic exploitation. Patterson 1982 focuses on the idea of slavery as social death. Honoré 2012 looks at the factual inferiority of the victim and the lack of access to remedy. Arocha 2010 takes into consideration the concept of property rights, the degree of alienation of the victim from a given society, and forced labor.

Arocha, Lorena. “Theoretical Perspectives on Understanding Slavery: Past and Present Challenges.” In Human Trafficking in Europe: Character, Causes and Consequences. Edited by Gillian Wylie and Penelope McRedmond, 30–40. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230281721Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Defines slavery in terms of the three attributes that, according to Arocha, are generally associated with it, namely “property in man,” “degree of alienation from a given society,” and “forced labor” and examines whether these attributes still fit the contemporary variant of slavery.
Find this resource:
Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012a.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Bales affirms: “Slavery is the total control of one person by another for the purpose of economic exploitation” and defines a slave as “a person held by violence or the threat of violence for economic exploitation” (p. 6). Examines case studies of exploitation in Mauritania, Thailand, India, Pakistan, and Brazil. Originally published in 1999.
Find this resource:
Bales, Kevin. “Professor Kevin Bales’s Response to Professor Orlando Patterson.” In The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. Edited by Jean Allain, 360–372. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012b.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660469.003.0019Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Contains Bales’s most recent version of his sociological definition of slavery. He affirms that slavery is “the control of one person (the slave) by another (the slaveholder or slaveholders). This control transfers agency, freedom of movement, access to the body, and labor and its product and benefits to the slaveholder. The control is supported and exercised through violence and its threat. The aim of this control is primarily economic exploitation, but may include sexual use or psychological benefit” (p. 370).
Find this resource:
Honoré, Anthony. “The Nature of Slavery.” In The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. Edited by Jean Allain, 9–16. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660469.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Defines a slave as a “person who, in fact, though not in law, is subordinate to an unlimited extent to another person or groups of persons . . . and who lacks access to state or other institutions that can remedy his or her inferior status” (p. 16).
Find this resource:
Patterson, Orlando. Slavery as Social Death: A Comparative Study. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes slavery in sixty-six different ancient and modern societies. Patterson rejects the legal definition of slavery based on the concept of rights of ownership exercised over a person and defines slavery as “the permanent, violent domination of natally alienated and generally dishonoured persons” (p. 13).
Find this resource:
“Contemporary,” “Modern,” or “Modern-Day” Slavery

The adjectives “contemporary,” “modern,” or “modern-day” are frequently associated with slavery by scholars (Bales 2012, Miers 2000, and Quirk 2009), international organizations (see also Slavery and the United Nations), nongovernmental organizations (Anti-Slavery International, Free the Slaves), and media agencies (CNN Freedom Project). Thus, contemporary, modern, or modern-day slavery are sociological umbrella terms that transcend the boundaries of the legal definitions available under international law, and, as such, they take into consideration exploitative practices whose inclusion under the legal category of slavery would be uncertain. The category of contemporary, modern, or modern-day slavery remains poorly defined in international law (Welch 2009). In this respect, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 2009) traces the link between the dispossession of land for indigenous communities and the condition of slavery, debt bondage, and forced labor for their inhabitants. The commission collectively considers the three exploitative practices as contemporary slavery. United States Department of StateUnited States Department of State 2013 places trafficking in persons within the category of contemporary or modern slavery. In contrast, Scarpa 2008 interprets the definition of human trafficking contained in the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, in Particular Women and Children as a process that leads to virtually all the practices usually associated with the category of contemporary slavery. On the other hand, sociological analysis focuses on the socioeconomic reasons that generate the phenomenon of contemporary slavery (Bales 2012) and on drawing a comparison between contemporary practices and those of the past so as to identify both differences and similarities (Bales 2012, Quirk 2009). Disagreement exists in respect of the use of the term new to refer to contemporary exploitative practices. Quirk 2011 criticizes such use in claiming that many contemporary practices have ancient roots; on the other hand, Scarpa 2012 affirms that the use of the adjective can serve various purposes.

Anti-Slavery International. What Is Modern Slavery. London: Anti-Slavery International.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Founded in 1839, Anti-Slavery International is the oldest international non-governmental organization working in the field of human rights. It identifies among modern-slavery practices that include debt bondage, child slavery, early and forced marriage, forced labor, descent-based slavery, and trafficking in persons. It is based in London.
Find this resource:
Bales, Kevin. “The New Slavery.” In Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. By Kevin Bales, 1–33. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Claims that specific differences exist between slavery as practiced in the past and contemporary slavery. With regard to slavery in the past, however, Bales’s analysis takes into consideration only the transatlantic slave trade and the practice of slavery that was associated with it. Originally published in 1999.
Find this resource:
CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery. Atlanta: Cable News Network.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Since 2011 CNN has published news in the field of modern slavery. The IReport section of the website invites everyone to take a stand against modern slavery and CNN periodically launches challenges aimed at raising awareness on specific issues (see for instance the fair trade chocolate challenge).
Find this resource:
Free the Slaves. Modern Slavery. Washington, DC: Free the Slaves.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Free the Slaves is an organization founded in 2000 that is based in Washington, DC. Kevin Bales is among its founders and his work in the field of contemporary slavery is reflected in the activities of the organization.
Find this resource:
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Captive Communities: Situation of the Guaranì Indigenous People and Contemporary Forms of Slavery in the Bolivian Chaco. OEA/Ser. L/V/II. Doc. 58 (2009).
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the case of the Guaranì indigenous people in the region of the Bolivian Chaco and focuses on the situation of approximately six hundred families, whose condition is considered as one of captive communities, claiming that they are held in slavery, debt bondage, and forced labor, amounting to contemporary forms of slavery.
Find this resource:
Miers, Suzanne. “Contemporary Forms of Slavery.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 34.3 (2000): 714–747.
DOI: 10.2307/486218Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A must-read article that takes into consideration some practices that are generally included in the category of “contemporary slavery” and discusses the fact that while they undoubtedly share some characteristics with chattel slavery, as defined in Article 1 of the 1926 Slavery Convention, there are also differences among them. Miers comments on the advantage of associating these practices with slavery so as to draw public attention to them and to the difficulty of finding a “catch-all” name that might include them all. While many treaties were adopted for the purpose of fighting against these practices and they are illegal in many countries, much remains to be done to guarantee their final eradication.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Joel. Unfinished Business: A Comparative Study on Historical and Contemporary Slavery. Paris: UNESCO, 2009.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Identifies both similarities and difference between slavery in the past and contemporary slavery and subdivides these differences into five main areas: demand, acquisition and control, transit and transfer, slave roles, and slave resistance.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Joel. The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the history of the antislavery movement starting from legal abolition in the British Empire to the fight against contemporary exploitative practices, creating a link between the past and present in the fight against slavery.
Find this resource:
Scarpa, Silvia. “Trafficking in Persons as One of the XXI Century’s New Forms of Slavery.” In Trafficking in Human Beings: Modern Slavery. By Silvia Scarpa, 3–40. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199541904.003.0002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines trafficking in persons as one of the contemporary exploitative practices plaguing the world today. It then takes into consideration specific practices and considers that they do fit the definition of human trafficking included in the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, in Particular Women and Children.
Find this resource:
Scarpa, Silvia. “Book Review: Joel Quirk. The Anti-slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking.” Leiden Journal of International Law 25.4 (2012): 1036–1039.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Claims that the use of the term new can be associated with the willingness to focus more on differences and new characteristics of some exploitative practices, reflects recent international legal frameworks (in the case of trafficking in persons), and corresponds to a general pattern promoted within the UN since the 1960s.
Find this resource:
United States Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report. Washington, DC: United States Department of State, 2013.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Report published annually by the US Department of State that monitors actions by states in the fields of trafficking prevention, protection, and prosecution (the so-called 3Ps) worldwide. States are subdivided into tiers on the basis of their compliance with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and can be sanctioned for bad performance. Trafficking is equated with modern-day slavery.
Find this resource:
Welch, Claude E. “Defining Contemporary Forms of Slavery: Updating a Venerable NGO.” Human Rights Quarterly 31 (2009): 70–128.
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.0.0050Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Focuses on the role that Anti-Slavery International—the most important nongovernmental organization in the fight against slavery of both past and contemporary slavery—has played in the process of drafting international treaties against slavery. Comments on the fact that the category of contemporary slavery remains poorly defined in international law.
Find this resource:
Slavery in International Human Rights Law

International treaties and soft law standards adopted in the field of protection of human rights, both at the universal and at the regional levels, often include the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade within the category of civil rights. However, according to Martinez 2012 the fight for the abolition of the slave trade in the 19th century should also be considered as the precursor of the post–Second World War international human rights movement. Such a conclusion is, however, criticized in Alston 2013.

Alston, Philip. “Does the Past Matter? On the Origins of Human Rights.” Harvard Law Review 126 (2013): 2043–2081.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Criticizes the attempt made in Martinez 2012 to consider the movement against the slave trade as the origin of the human rights movement.
Find this resource:
Martinez, Jenny S. The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Proposes the theory that the contemporary human rights movement has its roots in the early-19th-century movement aimed at abolishing the slave trade that arose in Great Britain.
Find this resource:
The Universal Level

In the field of international human rights law, prohibitions of slavery were included in some fundamental treaties and soft law standards. At the universal level, slavery is prohibited under Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 11 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. See Novak 2005 and Allain 2009.

Allain, Jean. “On the Curious Disappearance of Human Servitude from General International Law.” Journal of the History of International Law 11 (2009): 303–332.
DOI: 10.1163/138819909X12468857001505Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the relationship between slavery and servitude and compares the history of the drafting of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery. Explains also that reference to the practices similar to slavery in the latter instrument was justified by the unwillingness of the drafting states to refer to servitude, as was done in Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Find this resource:
Novak, Manfred. “Article 8: Prohibition of Slavery.” In UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, CCPR Commentary. By Manfred Novak, 193–209. Kehl, Germany: Engel, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Concludes that the Travaux Préparatoires clarify that slavery has to be intended in its traditional sense, as implying the “destruction of one’s juridical personality,” while servitude has to be associated with dominance and degradation.
Find this resource:
The Regional and Subregional Level

At the European regional level, slavery is prohibited under Article 4 of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 5 of the 2000 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It is also worth noting that as regards the latter, the Treaty of Lisbon confers on the charter the same legal value as treaties. Moreover, slavery is included among the forms of exploitation specified in the definition of trafficking in persons provided by Article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The European Court of Human Rights 2012 summarizes the conclusions of the court in its recent judgments on Article 4 of the ECHR, prohibiting slavery, servitude, and forced labor. The positive obligations of states under Article 4 are specifically examined in Cullen 2006. Farrior 2010 comments instead on the case Rantsev v. Russia and Cyprus and the court’s conclusion that, by its very nature, trafficking in persons surely falls under the prohibition of Article 4. Finally, Olivetti 2008 comments on Article 5 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Banjul African Charter on Human and People’s Rights prohibits slavery under Article 5. In Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights found a violation of Article 5 of the Banjul Charter. Notwithstanding the adoption of legislation prohibiting slavery, many freed slaves in Mauritania continued to work in an unremunerated way for their masters. The court claimed, however, that the situation described by the applicants could not be labeled as slavery; rather, it constituted conditions analogous to slavery. There are no references to slavery in the founding treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). However, Article 4(g) of the ECOWAS Treaty on the Protection of Human and People’s Rights served as the basis, in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People Rights, on which Hadijatou Mani submitted her complain to the ECOWAS Court of Justice. The judgment’s strengths and weaknesses are considered in Duffy 2009. Allain 2009 considers the premises on which the judgment was founded to be wrong, but the author still believes that the court arrived at the right conclusion. Finally, Article 6 of the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights and Article 10 of the 2004 Arab Charter on Human Rights also contain a prohibition of slavery. No specific Asian subregional treaties contain a reference to slavery.

Allain, Jean. “Hadijatou Mani Koraou v. Republic of Niger: ECOWAS Community Court of Justice Judgment on Protection from Slavery.” American Journal of International Law 103 (2009): 311–317.
DOI: 10.2307/20535154Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Criticizes the ECOWAS Court of Justice for having built its judgment on weak premises based on wrong interpretation of the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the 1926 definition of slavery and positive obligations of states under international human rights law. Notwithstanding these issues, according to Allain, the court was right in condemning the Republic of Niger.
Find this resource:
Cullen, Holly. “Siliadin v. France: Positive Obligations under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” Human Rights Law Review 6 (2006): 585–592.
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngl013Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the judgment of the ECtHR that, for the first time, refers to positive obligations of states in respect of Article 4 of the ECHR. Criticizes the court for having interpreted the definition of slavery as implying the presence of legal ownership, thus excluding de facto practices from it. It also deplores the fact that the court did not rely on the ILO Convention n. 182 on the worst forms of child labor.
Find this resource:
Duffy, Helen. “Hadijatou Mani Koroua v. Niger: Slavery Unveiled by the ECOWAS Court.” Human Rights Review 9.1 (2009): 151–170.
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngn041Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes the facts and emphasizes both positive and negative aspects of the judgment. In this respect, underlines, inter alia, the importance of the reference to the Kunarac judgment for the purpose of interpreting the concept of slavery, but also notes how the court failed to take into consideration Mani’s discrimination, arbitrary detention, and right to marry a person of her own choice.
Find this resource:
European Court of Human Rights. Key Case-Law Issues: Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour, Article 4 of the Convention. Strasbourg, France: European Court of Human Rights, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
In the light of the recent jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, discusses the interpretation of the definitions of slavery, servitude, and forced labor; the inclusion of trafficking in human beings within the scope of Article 4 of the ECHR; and states parties’ positive obligations deriving from this provision.
Find this resource:
Farrior, Stephanie. “Human Trafficking Violates Anti-slavery Provisions: Introductory Note to Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, European Court of Human Rights, Judgment of 7 January 2010.” International Legal Materials 49 (2010): 415–473.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Underlines that this is the first time that the ECtHR examined a case of sex trafficking under Article 4 of the ECHR, prohibiting slavery, servitude and forced labor, and emphasizes the relevant list of positive obligations identified by the judges.
Find this resource:
Olivetti, Marco. “Article 5: Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour.” In Human Rights in Europe: Commentary on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Edited by William B. T. Mock and Gianmario Demuro, 33–39. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the prohibition of slavery, servitude, forced labor, and trafficking in human beings included in Article 5 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. Considers that the three practices of forced labor, servitude, and slavery can be placed on a scale with increased levels of harm caused to human dignity, with the latter being the most severe.
Find this resource:
Slavery in International Humanitarian Law

The prohibition of slavery was included in the 1863 Lieber Code. In the context of non-international armed conflicts, Art. 4.(2).(f) of the 1977 Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II) prohibits slavery and the slave trade in all their forms against persons who do not take a direct part or who have ceased to take part in hostilities. The Geneva Conventions and Protocol I on international armed conflicts do not contain a prohibition of slavery and the slave trade. However, the recent study on customary international humanitarian law drafted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) includes a reference to slavery and the slave trade.

International Committee of the Red Cross. “Rule 94: Slavery and the Slave Trade.” In Customary IHL Database. Geneva, Switzerland: International Committee of the Red Cross.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Claims that the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade in all their forms is applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts and, notwithstanding the fact that reference to it is found only in the 1863 Lieber Code and the 1977 Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, it is a rule of customary international law.
Find this resource:
Proposal of a New Treaty

International law in the field of slavery has been criticized for its fragmentation and lack of clarity. In this respect, the adoption of a new treaty in this field was proposed as a way to include all the contemporary practices, eliminate the loopholes that currently exist (Bassiouni 2008), guarantee implementation by states through the creation of a monitoring mechanism (Nanda and Bassiouni 1972), and shift the focus toward an economic and social rights point of view so as to empower the victims and contribute to the elimination of this practice (Rassam 2005).

Bassiouni, M. Cherif. “Enslavement: Slavery, Slave-Related Practices, and Trafficking in Persons for Sexual Purposes.” In International Criminal Law. Edited by M. Cherif Bassiouni, 535–598. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Comments on the fact that contemporary manifestations of slavery are not taken into consideration by conventional law, so that the drafting of a new and comprehensive treaty prohibiting all these practices, whether in time of peace or war, is recommended as a way to promote cohesiveness and coherence.
Find this resource:
Nanda, Ved P., and M. Cherif Bassiouni. “Slavery and the Slave Trade: Steps towards Eradication.” Santa Clara Lawyer 12 (1972): 424–442.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Concludes with a recommendation that a single treaty codifying the existing international conventions in the field should be drafted and that it should provide for the creation of a body of independent experts monitoring implementation of the treaty provisions.
Find this resource:
Rassam, Yasmine A. “International Law and Contemporary Forms of Slavery: An Economic and Social Rights-Based Approach.” Penn State International Law Review 23.4 (2005): 809–855.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes international law standards against slavery, the practices similar to slavery, forced labor, and trafficking in human beings and concludes that they are not effective in empowering the victims of these forms of exploitation. Therefore, it proposes the adoption of a new multilateral treaty that would shift the focus toward and economic and social rights-based approach toward these contemporary exploitative practices.
Find this resource:
Enslavement in International Criminal Law

Enslavement is included among the acts constituting crimes against humanity in the 1945 Charter of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg (Article 6.c), the 1946 Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Article 5.c), and the Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda (Articles 5.c and 3.c). Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) not only includes enslavement among the acts that, if committed as part of an intentional widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population, constitute crimes against humanity, but also contains a definition of enslavement that is identical to the 1926 definition of slavery, with a minor addition consisting in the inclusion of a reference to trafficking as the process that might lead toward enslavement. Finally, the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone also includes enslavement among the acts constituting crimes against humanity (Article 2.c) and the 2003 UN-Cambodia Agreement Concerning the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea adopts at Article 9 the same definition of crimes against humanity contained in the ICC Statute. Case law in the field has been growing recently. The ICTY interpreted the concept of enslavement in the Kunarac case. In it, the International Criminal Tribunal for Ex-Yugoslavia recognizes that “enslavement” under international criminal law might be interpreted more broadly in respect of “slavery” and makes reference to the jurisprudence of international military tribunals that prosecuted criminals for use of slave labor during the Second World War. It then interprets the definition of enslavement taking into consideration elements that include, in particular, control and ownership, the absence of consent, or its irrelevance because of, inter alia, the use of force, coercion, deception, the abuse of power, and the exploitation of the victim. The reliance of other courts on this judgment is evaluated positively by some scholars (Duffy 2009). However, as regards the interpretation it proposes, criticism has been made that it generates overlaps between the concepts of slavery and forced labor (Cullen 2012). Finally, Oosterveld 2004 discusses the differences between the crimes of enslavement and sexual slavery as included in the Statute of the ICC.

Cullen, Holly. “Contemporary International Legal Norms on Slavery: Problems of Judicial Interpretation and Application.” In The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. Edited by Jean Allain, 304–321. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660469.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Considers the judicial interpretation of the definition of slavery applied by various international and national courts. Recognizes the difficulty faced by the ICTY in defining enslavement with no precedents to serve as a guide, but it also criticizes the court for failing to draw a clear distinction between slavery and forced labor.
Find this resource:
Duffy, Helen. “Hadijatou Mani Koroua v. Niger: Slavery Unveiled by the ECOWAS Court.” Human Rights Review 9.1 (2009): 151–170.
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngn041Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Underlines the importance of the reference to the ICTY Kunarac judgment by the ECOWAS Court of Justice for the purpose of interpreting the concept of slavery.
Find this resource:
Oosterveld, Valerie. “Sexual Slavery and the International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law.” Michigan Journal of International Law 25 (2004): 605–651.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Oosterveld examines the inclusion of the crime of sexual slavery in the Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and compares it with the crimes of enforced prostitution and enslavement. Finally, the author discusses the approach of the International Criminal Tribunal for Ex-Yugoslavia and compares it with that of the ICC in respect of the crime of sexual slavery.
Find this resource:
Slavery, Servitude, and Forced Labor

The boundaries between slavery and other exploitative practices, including, in particular, servitude, practices similar to slavery, forced labor, and trafficking in human beings under international law have generated much debate. Much confusion exists on the conceptual boundaries between these different practices as defined in international law (Jordan 2011). The distinction between slavery and servitude can be interpreted as constituting a matter of degree (Novak 2005). Forced labor is seen as the common denominator of the other exploitative practices in Jordan 2011. However, Cullen 2012 believes that the Kunarac case has failed to clarify clearly the distinction between slavery and forced labor.

Cullen, Holly. “Contemporary International Legal Norms on Slavery: Problems of Judicial Interpretation and Application.” In The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. Edited by Jean Allain, 304–321. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660469.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Criticizes the ICTY interpretation in the Kunarac case, claiming that it blurs the concepts of slavery and forced labor. Claims that the latter’s essence is to be found in coercion, while the former is centered on the powers attaching to the rights of ownership.
Find this resource:
Jordan, Ann. “Slavery, Forced Labor, Debt Bondage, and Human Trafficking: From Conceptional confusion to targeted Solutions.” Washington, DC: American University Washington College of Law, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Takes into consideration the prohibitions of forced labor, debt bondage, slavery, and trafficking in human beings to conclude that the recent international mobilization against the latter has diverted attention from the other three exploitative practices. Moreover, Jordan examines these activities and concludes that, while they are not all the same, debt bondage, slavery, and trafficking in human beings include elements of forced labor.
Find this resource:
Novak, Manfred. “Article 8: Prohibition of Slavery.” In UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, CCPR Commentary. By Manfred Novak, 193–209. Kehl, Germany: Engel, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Concludes that the Travaux Préparatoires clarify that slavery has to be intended in its traditional sense, as implying the “destruction of one’s juridical personality,” while servitude has to be associated with dominance and degradation.
Find this resource:
Slavery as a Form of Exploitation in the Definition of Human Trafficking

Slavery is included among the forms of exploitation included in the definition of trafficking in persons contained in the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. In this respect, the prohibition of slavery—as well as those of practices similar to slavery, servitude, forced labor, and debt bondage—are taken into account as a way to enhance the protection of trafficking victims (Scarpa 2008 and Gallagher 2008). A major interest in clarifying the definitions of slavery and of other exploitative practices as forms of exploitation connected with trafficking is also found in Allain 2012 (cited under the History of Slavery and the Slave Trade until the Early 20th Century).

Gallagher, Anne. “Using International Human Rights Law to Better Protect Victims of Human Trafficking: The Prohibitions of Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour and Debt Bondage.” In Theory and Practice of International Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of M. Cherif Bassiouni. Edited by Leila N. Sadat and Michael P. Scharf, 397–430. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004166318.i-448Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the prohibitions of slavery, servitude, forced labor, and debt bondage and discusses to what extent they have recently been used and could potentially be used in the future for the purpose of enhancing the protection of the human rights of trafficking victims.
Find this resource:
Scarpa, Silvia. Trafficking in Human Beings: Modern Slavery. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199541904.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the prohibitions of slavery, servitude, and forced labor included in UN human rights treaties and takes into consideration the work of UN treaty bodies and UN special procedures, the ILO conventions and the prohibition of enslavement included in Article 7(1).c of the Statute of the International Criminal Court for the purpose of enhancing the protection of the human rights of trafficked victims.
Find this resource:
The Status of the Prohibition of Slavery Under International Law

The prohibition of slavery in time of peace and war is considered to be a well-established rule of customary international law that has attained the level of jus cogens. Bassiouni 2008 extends this recognition to practices related to slavery. Lenzerini 2000 limits this recognition to slavery only; however, the author interprets the 1926 definition in such a way that most of the contemporary practices would fit it. Moreover, in its famous judgment the Barcelona Traction Case of 1970 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) distinguishes between the obligations of a state toward the international community as a whole and those arising vis-à-vis another state in the field of diplomatic protection. According to the court, slavery constitutes an international obligation of states toward the international community as a whole (obligation erga omnes).

Bassiouni, Cherif M. “Enslavement: Slavery, Slave-Related Practices, and Trafficking in Persons for Sexual Purposes.” In International Criminal Law. Edited by M. Cherif Bassiouni, 535–598. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Considers that the prohibition of slavery and practices “related to slavery” have achieved the status of jus cogens rules of international law.
Find this resource:
Lenzerini, Federico. “Suppressing Slavery under Customary International Law.” Italian Yearbook of International Law 10 (2000): 145–180.
DOI: 10.1163/221161300X00068Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
States that the prohibition of slavery, as defined by the 1926 Slavery Convention, is a principle of customary international law that has attained the level of jus cogens. Examines the definition of slavery and concludes that it covers not only chattel slavery, but also contemporary forms of slavery, as far as the latter produce effects on victims similar to the former.
Find this resource: