1926 Slavery Convention

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1926 Slavery Convention
Signed25 September 1926
LocationGeneva
Effective9 March 1927
ConditionFulfilled
Parties99 as of 2013[1]
(Convention and subsequent Protocol)
DepositarySecretary-General of the League of Nations
LanguagesEnglish and French

The 1926 Slavery Convention or the Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery is an

international treaty created under the auspices of the League of Nations and first signed on 25 September 1926. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 9 March 1927, the same day it went into effect.[2] The objective of the convention is to confirm and advance the suppression of slavery and the slave trade and was extended in 1956 with the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, under the auspices of the United Nations
.

Background

In the

slave trade in Hejaz, attracted attention by the League of Nations and contributed to the creation of the later 1926 Slavery Convention, obliging the British to combat the slave trade in the area.[4]

A Temporary Slavery Commission was appointed by the Council of the

Frederick Lugard, as well as a representative from Haiti, and a representative from the International Labour Organization
.

Significance

The convention established concrete rules and articles to advance the suppression of slavery and the slave trade.

Slavery was defined in Article 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

The 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.

Selected articles

Article 2

The parties agreed to prevent and suppress the slave trade and to progressively bring about the complete elimination of slavery in all its forms.

Article 6

The parties undertook to promulgate severe penalties for slave trading, slaveholding, and enslavement.

Participants

As of 2013, there are 99 countries that have signed, acceded to, ratified, succeeded to, or otherwise committed to participation in the conventions as amended, and its subsequent protocol. The countries and the year of their first commitment to participation are as follows:

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), China (1955), 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), Jamaica (1964), Jordan (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), Tanzania (1962), Trinidad and Tobago (1966), Tunisia (1966), Turkey (1955), Turkmenistan (1997), Uganda (1964), Ukraine (1959, as the Ukrainian SSR), United Kingdom (1953), United States (1956), Uruguay (2001), Viet Nam (1956), Yemen (1987), Zambia (1973)

Updates

The convention was amended by the protocol entering into force on 7 July 1955.[5]

The definition of slavery was further refined and extended by a

1956 Supplementary Convention
.

See also

References

External links