International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (02/12)

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, which is celebrated annually on December 2, is associated with the date of adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution 317 (IV) of 2 December 1949).

The fight against slavery in the world has been going on since its inception. However, there are shameful pages in world history when slavery not only flourished, but was encouraged. Even today, in our progressive age, despite the fact that slavery is prohibited throughout the world, it still exists, and it is based, like a thousand years ago, on discrimination against one person in relation to another.

Forced labor, sexual exploitation, military captivity, family slavery, forced marriages, sale of brides, inheritance of widows, forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflicts, human trafficking, etc. — these are modern forms of slavery, the eradication of which is the main goal of this Day.

According to the UN, today about 50 million people in the world are victims of modern forms of slavery, including 28 million victims of forced labor and 22 million victims of forced marriage. Of the thousand people in the world, five are victims of modern slave traders. One of the four victims is a — child. In addition, one in ten children in the world is forced to work, representing a total of 150 million children engaged in child labor. Women and girls make up 99% of all victims employed in the commercial sex industry, as well as 58% in other sectors of the shadow economy.

Basically, the victims of modern slave traders are as a result of threats, violence, coercion, deception and/or abuse of power. Moreover, modern slavery exists in almost all countries of the world and crosses ethnic, cultural and religious borders. More than half (52%) of all cases of forced labor and a quarter of all cases of forced marriage occur in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.

Therefore, the efforts of government and public organizations, law enforcement agencies and other structures today are aimed not only at identifying and preventing such cases and criminal prosecution of the organizers of this type of crime against individuals, but also at the rehabilitation of victims.

For example, the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted a new legally binding Protocol on Forced Labor, which came into force in November 2016. This measure is an important step towards eradicating modern forms of slavery.

Recall that in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln passed a law abolishing slavery throughout the United States. And in the world calendar there are a number of other memorable days associated with this inhumane phenomenon —, for example, the International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Elimination.

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