International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Today is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery an important day during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence November 25-December 10. This day is important because it marks the date of the adoption of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on December 2, 1949. This was the first human trafficking related convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and it set the stage for how exploitation was viewed in the post WWII years. One this day every year the focus is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. While human trafficking has evolved since the original adoption of this convention in 1949 the crime still persists and manifests in different ways in the 21st century with links to technology and transnational crime.