Supplementary
Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade,
and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
The States
Parties to the present Convention,
Considering that freedom is the birthright of every
human being,
Mindful that
the peoples of the United Nations reaffirmed in the
Charter their faith in the dignity and worth of the
human person,
Considering that the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United
Nations as a common standard of achievement for all
peoples and all nations, states that no one shall be
held in slavery or servitude and that slavery and the
slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms,
Recognizing that, since the conclusion of the
Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on 25 September
1926, which was designed to secure the abolition of
slavery and of the slave trade, further progress has
been made towards this end,
Having regard to the Forced Labour Convention of
1930 and to subsequent action by the International
Labour Organisation in regard to forced or compulsory
labour,
Being aware, however, that slavery, the slave trade
and institutions and practices similar to slavery have
not yet been eliminated in all parts of the world,
Having decided, therefore, that the Convention of
1926, which remains operative, should now be augmented
by the conclusion of a supplementary convention designed
to intensify national as well as international efforts
towards the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and
institutions and practices similar to slavery,
Have agreed as follows:
SECTION I.
INSTITUTIONS AND PRACTICES SIMILAR TO SLAVERY
Article 1
Each of the States 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 of those of a person under his
control as security for a debt, if the value of those
services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards
the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of
those services are not respectively limited and defined;
(b) Serfdom, that is to say, the condition or status
of a tenant who is by law, custom or agreement bound to
live and labour on land belonging to another person and
to render some determinate service to such other person,
whether for reward or not, and is not free to change his
status;
(c) Any institution or practice whereby:
(i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is
promised or given in marriage on payment of a
consideration in money or in kind to her parents,
guardian, family or any other person or group; or
(ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his
clan, has the right to transfer her to another person
for value received or otherwise; or
(iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable
to be inherited by another person;
(d) Any institution or practice whereby a child or
young person under the age of 18 years, is delivered by
either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian
to another person, whether for reward or not, with a
view to the exploitation of the child or young person or
of his labour.
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.
SECTION II.
THE SLAVE TRADE
Article 3
1. 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.
2. (a) The States Parties shall take all effective
measures to prevent ships and aircraft authorized to fly
their flags from conveying slaves and to punish persons
guilty of such acts or of using national flags for that
purpose.
(b) The States Parties shall take all effective
measures to ensure that their ports, airfields and
coasts are not used for the conveyance of slaves.
3. The States Parties to this Convention shall
exchange information in order to ensure the practical
co-ordination of the measures taken by them in combating
the slave trade and shall inform each other of every
case of the slave trade, and of every attempt to commit
this criminal offence, which comes to their notice.
Article 4
Any slave who takes refuge on board any vessel of a
State Party to this Convention shall ipso facto be free.
SECTION III.
SLAVERY AND INSTITUTIONS AND PRACTICES SIMILAR TO
SLAVERY
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
1. 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.
2. Subject to the provisions of the introductory
paragraph of article 1 of this Convention, the
provisions of paragraph 1 of the present article shall
also apply to the act of inducing another person to
place himself or a person dependent upon him into the
servile status resulting from any of the institutions or
practices mentioned in article 1, to any attempt to
perform such acts, to being accessory thereto, and to
being a party to a conspiracy to accomplish any such
acts.
SECTION IV.
DEFINITIONS
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.
SECTION V.
CO-OPERATION BETWEEN STATES PARTIES AND COMMUNICATION OF
INFORMATION
Article 8
1. The States Parties to this Convention undertake
to co-operate with each other and with the United
Nations to give effect to the foregoing provisions.
2. The Parties undertake to communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations copies of any
laws, regulations and administrative measures enacted or
put into effect to implement the provisions of this
Convention.
3. The Secretary-General shall communicate the
information received under paragraph 2 of this article
to the other Parties and to the Economic and Social
Council as part of the documentation for any discussion
which the Council might undertake with a view to making
further recommendations for the abolition of slavery,
the slave trade or the institutions and practices which
are the subject of this Convention.
SECTION VI.
FINAL CLAUSES
Article 9
No reservations may be made to this Convention.
Article 10
Any dispute between States Parties to this
Convention relating to its interpretation or
application, which is not settled by negotiation, shall
be referred to the International Court of Justice at the
request of any one of the parties to the dispute, unless
the parties concerned agree on another mode of
settlement.
Article 11
1. This Convention shall be open until I July 1957
for signature by any State Member of the United Nations
or of a specialized agency. It shall be subject to
ratification by the signatory States, and the
instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall
inform each signatory and acceding State.
2. After 1 July 1957 this Convention shall be open
for accession by any State Member of the United Nations
or of a specialized agency, or by any other State to
which an invitation to accede has been addressed by the
General Assembly of the United Nations. Accession shall
be effected by the deposit of a formal instrument with
the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall
inform each signatory and acceding State.
Article 12
1. This Convention shall apply to all
non-self-governing trust, colonial and other
non-metropolitan territories for the international
relations of which any State Party is responsible; the
Party concerned shall, subject to the provisions of
paragraph 2 of this article, at the time of signature,
ratification or accession declare the non-metropolitan
territory or territories to which the Convention shall
apply ipso facto as a result of such signature,
ratification or accession.
2. In any case in which the previous consent of a
non-metropolitan territory is required by the
constitutional laws or practices of the Party or of the
non-metropolitan territory, the Party concerned shall
endeavour to secure the needed consent of the
non-metropolitan territory within the period of twelve
months from the date of signature of the Convention by
the metropolitan State, and when such consent has been
obtained the Party shall notify the Secretary-General.
This Convention shall apply to the territory or
territories named in such notification from the date of
its receipt by the Secretary General.
3. After the expiry of the twelve-month period
mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the States Parties
concerned shall inform the Secretary-General of the
results of the consultations with those non-metropolitan
territories for whose international relations they are
responsible and whose consent to the application of this
Convention may have been withheld.
Article 13
1. This Convention shall enter into force on the
date on which two States have become Parties thereto.
2. It shall thereafter enter into force with respect
to each State and territory on the date of deposit of
the instrument of ratification or accession of that
State or notification of application to that territory.
Article 14
1. The application of this Convention shall be
divided into successive periods of three years, of which
the first shall begin on the date of entry into force of
the Convention in accordance with paragraph 1 of article
13.
2. Any State Party may denounce this Convention by a
notice addressed by that State to the Secretary-General
not less than six months before the expiration of the
current three-year period. The Secretary-General shall
notify all other Parties of each such notice and the
date of the receipt thereof.
3. Denunciations shall take effect at the expiration
of the current three-year period. The Secretary- General
shall notify other Parties of each such notice and the
date of the receipt thereof.
3. Denunciations shall take effect at the expiration
of the current three-year period.
4. In cases where, in accordance with the provisions
of article 12, this Convention has become applicable to
a non-metropolitan territory of a Party, that Party may
at any time thereafter, with the consent of the
territory concerned, give notice to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations denouncing this
Convention separately in respect of that territory. The
denunciation shall take effect one year after the date
of the receipt of such notice by the Secretary-General,
who shall notify all other Parties of such notice and
the date of the receipt thereof.
Article 15
This Convention, of which the Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic,
shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations
Secretariat. The Secretary-General shall prepare a
certified copy thereof for communication to States
Parties to this Convention, as well as to all other
States Members of the United Nations and of the
specialized agencies.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly
authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have
signed this Convention on the date appearing opposite
their respective signatures.
Notes:
Adopted by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries
convened by Economic and Social
Council
resolution 608(XXI) of 30 April 1956 and done at Geneva
on 7 September 1956.
Entry into force
30 April 1957, in accordance with article 13.
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