The 1926 Slavery Convention banned slavery and the slave trade and created concrete measures States parties agree to undertake to eliminate these practices. The Convention, which was created under the auspices of the League of Nations, requires signatories to eliminate slavery and the slave trade in their territories.
The Protocol amending the Slavery Convention updates terminology to incorporate references to the institutions of the United Nations system, replacing references to League of Nations bodies.
Article 1 of the Slavery Convention defined slavery “as the status or condition of a person over which the powers of ownership are applied;” and the slave trade as “acts involving the capture, selling, or transport of enslaved people . . . in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves.”
The Slavery Convention was adopted by the Assembly of the League of Nations on September 25, 1926. It entered into force internationally on March 9, 1927. Canada signed the Convention on September 25, 1926 and ratified it on August 6, 1928.