International Day for the Abolition of Slavery: 2 December

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2022:

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is celebrated, each year, on December 2. The day is observed to remind us of the evils of enslavement, forced labour, child labour, and sexual exploitation and trafficking and to eliminate slavery practised in our time. The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery highlights the history of slavery and why its complete abolition is necessary. Slavery continues to persist today through forced labour, child labour, trafficking of women and children and illegal organ harvesting, among others.

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International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2022: Significance

In the last five years, there has been an increase in instances of forced labour and forced marriages, as noted by the United Nations (UN). The UN mentions that the number of modern slaves increased to 50 million by the end of 2021. The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is a significant day as it encourages us all to bring an end to such atrocities.

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery: History

Slavery has existed since the Sumerian and Mesopotamian times. In modern times, ISIS and Boko Haram terrorists have used non-Muslim women as sex slaves. Slavery was practised by Egyptian empires, ancient Greece and Rome and during the Viking rule of Britain. The transatlantic slave trade of African people began with the Portuguese and was also practised by the Dutch, the English and French merchants.

Countless African people were taken to the Americas to be slaves, in the 17th and 18th centuries, until Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, abolished slavery in the United States altogether, in 1865.

On December 2, 1949, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others via resolution 317 (IV). The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is celebrated on December 2 to mark the above convention.

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