PURPOSE: The United Nations General Assembly have designated December 2nd as International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, to mark the date of the adoption of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution 317(IV) of December 2nd, 1949). The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. Discrimination, including harmful traditional practices, plays a significant role in exacerbating the vulnerability of groups to exploitation.

 FORUM: "Modern slavery is on the rise." International Day of Abolition of Slavery 2025. Globally, 50 million people are trapped today in different forms of modern slavery, such as forced labour, trafficking in persons or domestic servitude. Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term covering practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power. Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world, and cuts across ethnic, cultural and religious lines. More than half (52%) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries. ILO has adopted a legally binding Protocol designed to strengthen global efforts to eliminate forced labour, which entered into force in November 2016. Ending Modern Slavery requires bold action by frontline leaders, donors, governments and a movement of collaborators. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #ModernSlavery, #forcedlabour, #EndHumanTrafficking, #2December, #SlaveryAbolitionDay.

EVENT: Celebration of the 76th anniversary of the Convention for the suppression of the Traffic in persons. 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the Slavery Convention, when the international community made a bold commitment to end slavery in all its forms. We must act with the same resolve to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery. A world built on freedom, dignity and justice for all is not only possible – it is our shared responsibility. The ILO’s Protocol on Forced Labour could restore hope and freedom to millions of people trapped in modern slavery. But first it must be ratified by countries around the world. We have the chance to make history. On December 2nd, the United Nations General Assembly will hold a conference to mark the International Day of Abolition of Slavery 2025.

Key objectives of the session:

• Reflect on the Forum’s theme of ‘Towards Effective Change in Implementing Obligations, Responsibilities and Remedies.’;

• Analyse how different stakeholders can act to ensure the effective implementation of the UNGPs and promote respect for human rights in business activities;

• Discuss how judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms, State-based and non-State based, can ensure access to effective remedy;

• Identify opportunities and obstacles for moving forward to make effective change; and

• Share positive practical examples of actions taken, including those that have been featured during the UN Forum.

EXHIBIT: The “Ark of Return” at UNHQ honours the victims of slavery and highlights the legacy of the slave trade.

PUBLICATIONS : Introduction to Forced Migration and Modern Slavery: Unplanned Journeys of Exploitation and Survival. Published by the Journal of Modern Slavery.

• Slaving and Slave Trading in Africa. Published by the Annual Review on Anthropology. Slavery in Africa dates to antiquity, though no precise estimates of its scale exist. The terms “slave” and “slavery” are found in many African dialects, languages, and sayings. Yet, definitions of enslavement and slave status remain elusive precisely because it has existed in various forms across Africa, spatially and temporally. It is, therefore, useful to speak of slavery in Africa but not “African slavery,” as if slavery were coterminous with the continent. Large- and small-scale systems of servility and unfree labor in the Savanna and Sahel existed for centuries. Slave trading networks in Africa transported people across the Sahara and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, with significant numbers of people sent to the Middle East, India, central Asia, and South and Southeast Asia. Africa, however, was not only a source of export of people; enslaved persons were also imported into the continent. Together, slaveries and slave trades have facilitated the movement of people, things, knowledge, skills, ideas, and imaginaries into, out of, and across Africa, transforming communities in the continent and beyond. Read the full publication!

• The Legacy of Slavery and Mass Incarceration: Evidence from Felony Case Outcomes. One common explanation for mass incarceration is that it is the latest in a series of institutions created to enforce the racial hierarchy in the United States. Despite this perspective’s prominence, it has been rarely tested empirically with extensive quantitative data. In this article, we begin to fill this gap by examining whether individuals charged with felonies experience worst-case outcomes when they are charged in counties that had high rates of slavery in 1860. Using multiple regression models that include state-year fixed effects and account for historical county-level factors and contemporary individual characteristics, we find that a criminal charge in a county with high levels of slavery in 1860 increases the likelihood of pretrial detention, the probability of a sentence of incarceration, and the length of incarceration sentences. These results hold for the full sample and for Black and White individuals separately. Read the full publication.

• The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery on the Labour Rights of Incarcerated People: A Case Study of England and Wales Published by the Howard Journal of Crime and Justice.

• The General observation on the application of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105). Published by the ILO.

At its 2023 session (November–December), the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) adopted a general observation on the application of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105). The text of this observation is reproduced in this brochure. As part of the regular supervisory system on the application of ILO international labour standards, the CEACR is an independent body whose function is to provide an impartial and technical assessment of the application of these standards by ILO Member States. The CEACR is composed of 20 experts, eminent jurists from different geographical regions, legal systems and cultures. In addition to the comments directly addressed to Governments, the CEACR may decide to publish the so-called "general observations” on certain issues concerning the application of a Convention. The Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), constitutes one of the ILO fundamental conventions. Its purpose is to supplement the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), by requiring States to suppress the imposition of any form of forced or compulsory labour in five situations specified in its Article 1: • as a means of political coercion or education or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system; • as a method of mobilizing, and using labour for purposes of economic development; • as a means of labour discipline; • as a punishment for having participated in strikes; and • as a means of racial, social, national or religious discrimination. The Convention was inspired by the work of the ILO–UN Ad-Hoc Committee on Forced Labour, which was established in 1951 to conduct an impartial inquiry into the existence of systems of forced labour. The report issued by the Ad-Hoc Committee in 1953 revealed the existence of two principal systems of forced labour imposed by the State that seriously threaten human rights in contravention with the United Nations Charter. The first was the use of forced labour as a means of political coercion or punishment for holding or expressing political views. The second was the use of forced labour for important economic purposes. The negotiation and further adoption of the Convention reflected the determination of the ILO to continue and intensify its efforts to abolish such practices that were so far not explicitly covered by Convention No. 29. More than 65 years have passed since the adoption of Convention No. 105. Nevertheless, there are still a considerable number of cases that have been examined by the Committee where compulsory labour continues to be imposed by the State in the different situations prohibited by the Convention. This is particularly the case when compulsory labour is used for economic development purposes or as a punishment for the exercise of civil and political liberties, particularly freedom of expression and assembly. Given the considerable number of situations raised by the Committee with regard to the latter, the Committee considers that it is timely and appropriate to recall the nature and scope of the prohibitions established under Article 1(a) and (d) of the Convention, as well as the Committee’s requests addressed to governments in this regard. These prohibitions refer to the use of compulsory labour as “a means of political coercion or education, or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social, or economic system” (paragraph (a)); and “as a punishment for having participated in strikes” (paragraph (d)). 2 It must be noted that in these two cases, forced labour usually takes the form of compulsory labour imposed in the context of a penal sanction pronounced for acts that relate to the exercise of civil liberties, including the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, both of which are recognized in the ILO Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). The Committee wishes to recall from the outset that the Convention does not constitute a revision of Convention No. 29 and was adopted to reinforce and complement the protection offered by Convention No. 29. At the same time, these instruments are independent of each other, so that countries which have ratified both must ensure their cumulative application. This is particularly true for the exceptions laid down in Article 2(2) of Convention No. 29, which do not automatically apply in the five specific situations covered by Convention No. 105. Accordingly, while under Convention No. 29 work exacted as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law is an exception and does not constitute forced labour, Convention No. 105 prohibits the imposition of any form of compulsory labour in the situations mentioned under its Article 1, even if the work is imposed as a result of a conviction by a court of law. The Committee also considers necessary to clarify that, in the context of Convention No. 105, compulsory labour can take place either in the form of a sanction of imprisonment involving an obligation to work (compulsory prison labour) or as a specific sanction of community, public or correctional work to which the person has not given his or her consent. In this respect, one of the main questions analysed by the Committee when assessing compliance with the Convention by the country under examination is whether any of these forms of compulsory labour is contained in the national legislation. Read the full document!

STATEMENT: Read the full Statement from the United Nations Secretary-General on the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2025; December 2nd.

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