Slavery occurs when there is element of ownership or control over the life of another, coercion and restriction of movement, or when there is no element of freedom for individuals to leave or change their employer. There are forms of appearance of slavery such as “traditional slavery, debt bondage, serfdom, forced labor, ritual or religious slavery”.

The historical background of slavery, which means the denial of the basic principles of human rights and rejecting the human possibilities of man by commodifying man’s body and labor, dates back to ancient times. The institution of slavery has been banned on the basis of countries since the 18th century. Known as the first country in the world to ban the slave trade, Denmark banned slavery in its colonies in 1792. The slave trade was abolished in the United States and England in 1807. Various actions were taken against the decision in South America, but slavery was completely abolished in America in 1862. After America and England, the will to abolish the institution of slavery was put forward in many European states.

International studies of slavery and its abolition formed the theme of the regulations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this context, the “Slavery Convention” was adopted by the League of Nations in 1926. The scope of the definition of slavery in the Convention was expanded to include the practices and institutions of the debt of slavery, and the slavery-specific aspects of marriage with the 1956 “United Nations Supplementary Convention on Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery”. The Convention was accepted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 17.12.1963. With the Convention, contracting states are obliged “to take all practicable and necessary legislative and other measures to bring about progressively and as soon as possible the complete abolition or abandonment of the following institutions and practices, where they still exist and whether or not they are covered by the definition of slavery contained in article 1 of the Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on 25 September 1926.”

The establishment of slavery, which was significantly abolished at the beginning of the 20th century; due to its high socio-economic flexibility and the intense migration movements that have emerged since the Second World War, development differences between countries, unemployment, and inequality between men and women, it has re-formed as human trafficking. As of 2021, the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye, in line with the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the decision of the The Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking, has the duty and authority of the National Rapporteur in the fight against human trafficking.

On this occasion, we wish for a world in which modern forms of slavery have come to an end.

It is announced to the public with respect.