The marginalization of slavery in international law

Abstract

This thesis proposes that the creation of the norms prohibiting forced labour and trafficking in persons did not reflect lacunae in the international legal system, and that their codification into international law has created legal confusion that obstructs the achievement of the object and purpose of the original 1926 Slavery Convention: the legal abolition and suppression of slavery. It seeks to describe how these norms were introduced into international law, to explain why the international community deemed them necessary, and to examine the legacy of their codification, as legal scholars, human rights organisations, and domestic and international courts struggle to explain, for example, how forced labour is different from slavery, or how the human rights law norms prohibiting slavery, forced labour and servitude relate to the more recently codified norm prohibiting trafficking in persons.