Permanent Mandates Commission > Slavery

2
The information received up to the present (August nth, 1930) may be summarised as
follows :
I.
RATIFICATIONS OF, AND ACCESSIONS TO, THE CONVENTION ON SLAVERY OF
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1926.
Since the end of the tenth session of the Assembly, the following ratifications or accessions
have been deposited with the Secretariat :
Yugoslavia: September 28th, 1929 ;
Liberia: May 17th, 1930;
Greece: July 4th, 1930 ;
Irish Free State: July 18th, 1930.
The Polish Government has notified the Secretary-General (August 7th, 1930) that
the instrument of ratification of the Convention will shortly be deposited with the Secretariat.
Moreover, Cuba (July 18th, 1930), Czechoslovakia (March 14th, 1930), Japan (January 4th,
1930), Lithuania (July 8th, 1930), Switzerland (May 20th, 1930) and Uruguay (December 12th,
1929) have intimated that they hope shortly to ratify or accede to the Convention. The Govern¬
ments of Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Uruguay, in their communications on this subj ect, state
that the question of slavery is of no practical or direct interest to them, but that they are
willing to consider ratification or accession in order to give a moral support to the efforts
made under the auspices of the League. On the other hand, the Government of Luxemburg,
in a letter dated November 21st, 1929, states that it has decided not to ratify the Convention
on Slavery, as the Convention could not be applied by it.
The total number of ratifications or definitive accessions on August nth, 1930, was 33;
the number of signatures or accessions not yet perfected by ratification was 14 ; while the
Convention is open to accession by 24 other States.
The accessions by Hungary (April 16th, 1927) and by the United States of America (March
21st, 1929) were given with certain reservations, which have been submitted for acceptance
to the parties to the Convention. Fourteen States have not yet replied as regards the Hungarian
reservations ; ten replies have still to be received regarding the United States reservations.
II.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PRESENT
POSITION OF SLAVERY.
The communications received from the following countries are reproduced as appendices :
Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Hungary, India, Portugal and Salvador.
The following countries in their replies indicate that they have no information to furnish ;
that no slavery exists in the territories under their authority ; or that they are not directly
interested in the question : Austria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Haiti, Irish Free State, Italy,
Japan, Lithuania, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa and Sweden.
The Governments of Estonia and Germany state that they have no information either from
official or from private sources. The Government of Yugoslavia states that it conforms strictly
to the Slavery Convention; it has, for the moment, no information to furnish, but would be
glad to communicate to the League any information that may come to its knowledge. The
Governments of Spain,1 2 the United States of America and Uruguay 2 state that they have
nothing to add to previous communications on the subject.
The Danish Government states that it has no special information in its possession. The
Canadian Government says that it is not in a position to supply any details on the present
situation as regards slavery. The Government of the Sudan refers to the information
contained in its communication of March 27th, 1930, which has been reproduced in the
annual report to the Council (document A.13.1930.VI). The Government of Egypt also
refers to the aforesaid information furnished directly by the Government of the Sudan.
Appendix 1.
SLAVERY CONVENTION.
{Signed at Geneva on September 25th, 1926.)
State of the Signatures, Ratifications or Accessions (August iith, 1930.)
Ratifications or Signatures or Accessions not
definitive Accessions yet perfected by Ratification
United States of America 3 Abyssinia
Austria Albania
British Empire China
Canada Colombia
The Convention is open
to Accession by
Afghanistan
Argentine Republic
Bolivia
Brazil
1 See document A.17.1929.VI.
2 See document C.625.M.224.1924.VI.
3 Subject to a reservation which has been submitted to the signatory States for acceptance.