December 2 has been observed as International Day For The Abolition Of Slavery by the United Nations (UN). The day has been observed to focus on the eradication of present forms of slavery, such as trafficking of persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
2014 theme for Dec 2 – International Day For The Abolition Of Slavery is “Victory over Slavery: Haiti and Beyond”
The Dec 2 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery marks the UN General Assembly’s adoption on 2 December 1949 of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 4 it is quoted “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”.
Today Dec 2, 2014, Global Freedom Network (GFN) has organised the meeting of the world leaders from Christian Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox, as well as Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities to jointly declare one common humanitarian goal.The goal is to eradicate modern-day slavery by the end of 2020 throughout our world.
The Global Freedom Network is a religion-based global network with a vision and purpose to eliminate the modern slavery and human trafficking throughout our world and once for all. It was launched on 17 March 2014 at the Vatican.
A Joint Declaration of Religious leaders against Modern Slavery was signed by the following leaders,
• Catholic – Pope Francis.
• Hindu – Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma).
• Buddhist – Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) (represented by Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong) and Ven. Datuk K Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Priest of Malaysia.
• Jewish – Rabbi Dr. Abraham Skorka and Rabbi Dr. David Rosen.
• Orthodox – His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (represented by His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France).
• Muslim – Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (represented by Dr. Abbas Abdalla Abbas Soliman, Undersecretary of State of Al Azhar Alsharif), Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain al Najafi (represented by Sheikh Naziyah Razzaq Jaafar, Special advisor of Grand Ayatollah) and Sheikh Omar Abboud.
• Anglican – Hon Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Notable years observed
- 2004 was declared as “The International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition” by General Assembly of United Nations on 18 December 2002.
- March 25, 2007 as the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 28 November 2006.