Article 2. (Suppression of Slavery and the Slave Trade)

Abstract

The signatory States shall suppress all forms of the slave trade, and provide for the eventual emancipation of all slaves in their respective territories, and also for as speedy an elimination of domestic and other slavery as social conditions will allow. Article 2 was meant to create State obligations with regard to 'slavery' and the 'slave trade' as defined in Article 1. The notion of 'domestic slavery' was utilized by the Temporary Slavery Commission in its final Report of July 1925. Viscount Cecil sought the removal of the term 'domestic slavery' from the provisions of Article 2(b) due to the fact that such types of servitude were to be considered as being subsumed in the term 'slavery' as defined by Article 1 of the 1926 Convention, if the powers attached to the right of ownership were present.Keywords: Article 2; domestic slavery; slave trade; Temporary Slavery Commission