Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery

The United Nations adopted the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery on September 7, 1956. It builds upon the Slavery Convention of 1926.

This Convention came into force on April 30, 1957. It currently has 36 signatories, and 124 Parties have ratified it. (Signatories are qualified to ratify, accept or approve a treaty. Ratification is an ‘international act’ whereby a State indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty.) India signed the Convention on September 7, 1956, and ratified it on June 23, 1960.

In its Preamble, the Convention reiterates Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “No one can be held in slavery and servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” It acknowledges the continuing existence of practices similar to slavery and aims to “intensify national as well as international efforts towards the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices similar to slavery.”

The 15 articles of the Convention are arranged across six sections. Articles 1-2 (Section I) cover various institutions and practices that are similar to slavery and fall under the purview of this convention. Articles 3-4 (Section II) discuss measures for prohibition and penalisation of slave trade. Articles 5-6 (Section III) outline the scope of the convention and procedures to be followed for abolition of practices similar to slavery in countries where slavery has not been completely abolished. Article 7 (Section IV) provides definitions of slavery, slave trade and ‘a person of servile status’. Article 8 (Section V) lays out instructions for cooperation between the State Parties and the United Nations. Articles 9-15 (Section VI) concern processes for ratification, accession, and denouncement of the Convention as well as procedures for the settlements of disputes.

The following are excerpts from seven of the 15 Articles of the Convention which remain especially relevant:

Article 1: Each of the State Parties to this Convention shall take all practicable and necessary legislative and other measures to bring about progressively and as soon as possible the complete abolition or abandonment of the following institutions and practices, where they still exist and whether or not they are covered by the definition of slavery contained in article 1 of the Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on 25 September 1926:

(a) Debt bondage, that is to say, the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or 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.

Article 2: With a view to bringing to an end the institutions and practices mentioned in article 1 (c) of this Convention, the States Parties undertake to prescribe, where appropriate, suitable minimum ages of marriage, to encourage the use of facilities whereby the consent of both parties to a marriage may be freely expressed in the presence of a competent civil or religious authority, and to encourage the registration of marriages.

Article 3: The act of conveying or attempting to convey slaves from one country to another by whatever means of transport, or of being accessory thereto, shall be a criminal offence under the laws of the States Parties to this Convention and persons convicted thereof shall be liable to very severe penalties.

Article 4: Any slave who takes refuge on board any vessel of a State Party to this Convention shall ipso facto be free.

Article 5: In a country where the abolition or abandonment of slavery, or of the institutions or practices mentioned in article 1 of this Convention, is not yet complete, 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, or of being accessory thereto, shall be a criminal offence under the laws of the States Parties to this Convention and persons convicted thereof shall be liable to punishment.

Article 6: 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 under the laws of the States Parties to this Convention and persons convicted thereof shall be liable to punishment.

Article 7: For the purposes of the present Convention:

(a) “Slavery” means, as defined in the Slavery Convention of 1926, the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised, and “slave” means a person in such condition or status;

(b) “A person of servile status” means a person in the condition or status resulting from any of the institutions or practices mentioned in article 1 of this Convention;

(c) “Slave trade” means and includes 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 person acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged; and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves by whatever means of conveyance.

Focus by Akshita Hazarika.