Century After Slavery Convention, Millions Still Wait for Freedom and Justice

The centenary of the Slavery Convention, adopted on 25 September 1926, brings that unfinished promise into focus, with a commemorative statement calling for stronger protection, accountability and justice.

A hundred years after countries agreed that no human being should be treated as property, millions of people are still being denied control over their own lives through slavery and exploitation. The centenary of the Slavery Convention, adopted on 25 September 1926, brings that unfinished promise into focus, with a commemorative statement calling for stronger protection, accountability and justice. The anniversary honours a landmark agreement built around human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity, and asks what those commitments mean for people whose freedom remains out of reach.

A historic promise that helped shape human rights

Countries meeting in Geneva in 1926 recognised slavery as an offence against humanity that demanded a shared response, making the convention one of the earliest major examples of international cooperation to protect human dignity. Their agreement came before the modern international human rights framework took shape and established a principle that would help guide its development: people cannot be owned. Under Article 2, participating states committed to bringing about the complete abolition of slavery in all its forms, accepting responsibility for turning that principle into meaningful change.

The convention helped lay the foundations for protections reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and agreements addressing forced labour, human trafficking, child exploitation and contemporary slavery. This year also marks 70 years since the 1956 Supplementary Convention strengthened those efforts by targeting debt bondage, serfdom, servile marriage and the exploitation of children. The statement recognises the contribution of human rights defenders, activists and civil society organisations whose work has advanced abolition efforts and defended the dignity of affected individuals and communities.

Exploitation survives through inequality and impunity

The formal abolition of chattel slavery did not erase its consequences or end the exploitation of human beings, and contemporary slavery often operates in forms that are harder to see. Traditional practices, including descent-based slavery, persist in some regions, trapping people in abuse linked to the status inherited from their families. Poverty, discrimination, armed conflict, climate change, displacement, migration and marginalisation increase vulnerability to exploitation. The statement also warns that, in some contexts, unilateral coercive measures and their humanitarian consequences may contribute to forced migration and increase exposure to trafficking and other abuses.

Gender shapes both the exploitation people experience and their access to protection, creating different challenges for women and girls, men and boys, and trans and other gender-diverse people. Widespread impunity allows perpetrators to continue abusing people without facing consequences, leaving victims without justice, effective remedies or safeguards against further harm. The statement connects these failures to the enduring legacies of the enslavement of Africans and colonialism, which continue to fuel inequality, discrimination and social injustice. Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent have suffered disproportionate harm from traditional and contemporary slavery, compounded by persistent dispossession and marginalisation.

Survivors must help shape the response

The centenary statement calls on governments, international organisations, civil society, businesses and communities to confront those legacies and strengthen efforts to eliminate slavery in every form. That responsibility includes holding perpetrators accountable, protecting people facing exploitation and ensuring victims and survivors can access justice. Countries that have not ratified the 1926 Slavery Convention or the 1956 Supplementary Convention are urged to do so without delay, giving a concrete expression to their commitment to abolition and the principle that every person is born free and equal in dignity and rights.

The international human rights system, including Special Procedures experts, Treaty Bodies and the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, has reaffirmed its commitment to ending these abuses. The statement places survivors' voices, leadership and lived experiences at the centre of lasting solutions, recognising that people who have endured slavery must help shape the response. A century of legal progress carries an obligation to make freedom real in people's daily lives, through protection they can reach, remedies they can obtain and institutions that respond when their rights are violated.