ABSTRACT

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was not the first time that slavery was condemned by the international community. Slavery and the slave trade were among the first human rights issues to receive attention after the establishment of the League of Nations. The League adopted the Slavery Convention of 1926, defining slavery as, "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised". The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms echoed the Universal Declaration's prohibition of slavery and servitude and also prohibited forced labour. In the 1970s, the United Nation set up a Working Group on Slavery to review reports about slavery. However, the first regional human rights convention repeated the Universal Declaration's prohibition of slavery and servitude and also prohibited forced labour, specifying four restricted circumstances in which states were entitled to force people to work.