Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery
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The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery (ACE) was a permanent committee of the League of Nations, inaugurated in 1933. It was the first permanent slavery committee of the League of Nations, which was founded after a decade of work adressing the issue of slavery by temporary committees within the League.
The ACE conducted a global investigation concerning slavery, slave trade and force labor, and recommended solutions to address the issue. Its work lay the ground for the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery of 1956.
History[edit]
Foundation[edit]
The League of Nations had conducted an active work against chattel slavery and slave trade from the early 1920s. The investigation of the Temporary Slavery Commission (TSC) had resulted in the introduction of the 1926 Slavery Convention.[1] In 1932 the Committee of Experts on Slavery (CES) was established to investigate the effeciency of the 1926 Slavery Convention.[2] The result convinced the League of the need to established a permanent committee to adress the issue.
In 1933 the Committee of Experts on Slavery (CES) established the first permanent slavery committe, the Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery (ACE).[3] The ACE held its first meeting the following year, and met annually five times between 1934 and 1938.
Activity[edit]
The ACE conducted a major international investigation on chattel slavery and slave trade. The committee asked for reports from all member countries of the League of Nations, including the major colonial empires of the time. The governments were asked to report of all forms of slavery and slave trade taking place within the territories under their control, which the member countries of League as subject of the 1926 Slavery Convention were expected to actively oppose.
In 1938 George Maxwell of the ACE concluded that slave raids were almost nonexistent; that slave trade were significantly reduced; that the chattel slavery in the Aden Protectorate and the Persian Gulf were under control; and that in regard to slavery in Saudi Arabia and slavery in Yemen, nothing more could be expected.[4] In February 1939, it was decided that the Sixth meeting of the ACE were to be postphoned until later that same year; however by the outbreak of World War II in 3 September 1939 the activity of the ACE were effectively ended. [5]
Aftermath and legacy[edit]
The global investigation of the occurrence of slavery and slave trade performed by the ACE between 1934 and 1939 was interupted by the outbreak of the World War II, but it was the foundation for the work against slavery performed by the UN after the war.[6] When the League of Nations was succeeded by the United Nations (UN) after the end of the World War II, Greenidge of the Anti-Slavery International worked for the UN to continue the investigation of global slavery conducted by the ACE of the League, and in February 1950 the Ad hoc Committee on Slavery of the United Nations was inaugurated,[7] which ultimately resulted in the introduction of the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. USA: AltaMira Press. p. 100-121
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. USA: AltaMira Press. p. 197-215
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 216
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 289
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 291
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 294
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 323-324
- ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 326