Key dates in the chronology of abolitions

1777
Abolition of slavery in Vermont (USA).
1780
Progressive emancipation of slaves in Pennsylvania (USA).
1783
Progressive emancipation of slaves in Massachusetts and New Hampshire (USA).
1784
Progressive emancipation of slaves in Rhode Island and Connecticut (USA).
August, 26 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France.
1793
The commissioner of the Republic, Monsieur Sonthonax, abolished slavery in the French possession of Saint-Domingue.
1794
The Convention voted the decree of the abolition of slavery, extending Sonthonax’s abolition to the other French colonies.
1802
Reinstatement of the slave trade by Napoleon Bonaparte in compliance with the laws existing before 1789.
1803
Abolition of the slave trade in Denmark.
1804
Abolition of slavery in Haiti.
1806
Britain banned the slave trade for British subjects.
1807
The United States banned the importation of captives and slaves. Britain banned the slave trade on African coasts. Abolition of slavery in Prussia.
1808
The United States banned the slave trade.
1814
Holland banned the slave trade.
1815
During the Vienna Congress, the principal European powers (Austrian Empire, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Russia, and Sweden) made a commitment to end the slave trade. But the practice persisted undercover. During the Hundred Days, Napoleon 1st signed a decree banning the slave trade.
1817
French Law abolished the slave trade. It was reinstated on April 25, 1827 and on February 2, 1831.
1821
Peru: all descendants of slaves born after this date were free, progressive emancipation of those born earlier and prohibition of the slave trade.
1822
Abolition of slavery in Santo Domingo. The state of Liberia was founded in West Africa by an American Colonization Company for the resettlement of former slaves.
1823
Abolition of slavery in Chili.
1824
Abolition of slavery in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Belize, Salvador, Guatemala.
1826
Abolition of slavery in Bolivia.
1827
Second French law banning the slave trade.
1829
Abolition of slavery in Mexico.
1830
Abolition of slavery in Uruguay.
1833-1838
Enactment of the Abolition bill that provides for a progressive abolition of slavery in the British colonies (West Indies, British Guiana, Mauritius and India).
1836
Complete abolition of slavery in the British colonies. Abolition of slavery in Nicaragua.
1840 & 1843
Global anti-slavery convention in London.
1842
Abolition of slavery in Uruguay and Paraguay.
1846
Abolition of slavery in Tunisia.
1846-1848
Abolition of slavery in the Danish Virgin Island colonies. Saint-Thomas, Saint-Jean, Sainte-Croix.
1847
Abolition of slavery in the Swedish colony of Saint-Barthélemy.
1848
The abolition of slavery was decreed on April 27, 1848 in the French colonies (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana, The Reunion Island).
1850
Official abolition of the slave trade in Brazil. However it continued illegally.
1851
Abolition of slavery in Colombia and Ecuador.
1853
Abolition of slavery in Argentina.
1854
Abolition of slavery in Venezuela, Jamaica and Peru.
1861
Ban of serfdom in Russia.
1863
Abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and Insulindia.
1865
Enactment of the 13th amendment banning slavery by The United States.
1866
Spanish decree banning the slave trade.
1869
Abolition of slavery in Portuguese colonies.
1873
Abolition of slavery in Porto Rico, a Spanish colony at the time.
1876
Abolition of slavery in Turkey.
1885
Adoption of measures against slavery in Africa at the Berlin Conference.
1886
Abolition of slavery in Cuba.
1888
Effective abolition of slavery in Brazil.
1890
Brussels conference and General Act on the slave trade and slavery in Africa.
1894
Abolition of slavery in Korea.
1896
Abolition of slavery in Madagascar.
1900
Anti-slavery congress in Paris.
1907
Abolition of slavery in Kenya.
1910
Abolition of slavery in China.
1922
In Morocco, systematic emancipation of all runaway slave.
1923
Abolition of slavery in Afghanistan.
1926
Geneva Convention of the Society of Nations condemning slavery and ratified by 44 countries. Abolition of slavery in Nepal.
1928
Abolition of slavery in Iran.
1930
Convention on forced labor by the International Labor Office.
1937
Abolition of slavery in Bahrain.
1942
Abolition of slavery in Ethiopia.
1948
Adoption of the Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations was confirmed during the 1956 Convention.
1949
Abolition of slavery in Kuwait. United Nations Convention on the repression of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
1952
Abolition of slavery in Qatar.
1956
Adoption by the United Nations of the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices similar to Slavery.
1957
Convention on the abolition of forced labor by the International Labor Organization.
1962
Abolition of slavery in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
1970
Abolition of slavery in Oman.
1974
Creation of the United Nation work group on contemporary forms of slavery in the framework of the Human Rights Commission.
1981
Abolition of slavery in Mauritania.
1989
Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations.
1992
Abolition of slavery in Pakistan.
1994
Launch of the UNESCO program « The Slave Route ».
1996
First European Union communication on human trafficking.
1999
Coming into force of the International Labor Organization’s Convention 182 on the
« banning of the worst forms of child labor ».
2000
LThe Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union banned slavery, forced labor and human trafficking.
2001
French Law voted on May 21, 2001 recognizing the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. The global UN Conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and associated forms of intolerance (Durban, South Africa) recognized « slavery and the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity ».
2002
Adoption by the French Parliament of a law against human trafficking.
2004
International year to commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (United Nations).
2005
December 2, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.
2008
Declaration by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon : « The slave trade was abolished formally 200 years ago, but this flagrant human rights violation persists, fueled by a continuing lack of respect for the dignity of human beings, a denial of their humanity and desperate poverty ».
Today
The United Nations and the International Labor Organization estimate that contemporary slavery and forced labor involve 200 to 250 million people, of whom a large number are children. Given the lack of precise statistics due to the unlawful character of these crimes, it can be assumed that the phenomenon is actually more widespread.