International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (December 2): Modern Slavery Facts

Slavery was abolished by law long ago — yet millions of people are still trapped in forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage and trafficking today. The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, observed by the United Nations every December 2, focuses on ending these contemporary forms of slavery.

Key facts
Date	December 2 every year
Marks	Adoption of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons (December 2, 1949)
Focus	Modern slavery: forced labour, trafficking, debt bondage, forced marriage, child labour
People in modern slavery	About 50 million (ILO, Walk Free and IOM, 2021 estimate)

Modern Slavery in Numbers

Form	Estimated people affected (2021)
Forced labour	About 28 million
Forced marriage	About 22 million
Total in modern slavery	About 50 million
Children among them	About 1 in 4 victims of forced labour

What Counts as Modern Slavery?

Form	What it means
Forced labour	Work done under threat or coercion
Debt bondage	Working to repay a debt that can never be cleared
Human trafficking	Recruiting or moving people by force or deception to exploit them
Forced marriage	Marriage without free and full consent
Worst forms of child labour	Dangerous work, armed conflict or exploitation of children
Domestic servitude	Workers trapped in households without freedom or pay

A Timeline of Abolition

Year	Milestone
1807	Britain bans the transatlantic slave trade
1833	Slavery Abolition Act in the British Empire
1865	13th Amendment abolishes slavery in the United States
1888	Brazil becomes the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery
1926	League of Nations Slavery Convention
1948	Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 4: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude”
1949	UN Convention on traffic in persons adopted, December 2
2015	SDG target 8.7: end forced labour, modern slavery and child labour

Related UN Days

• March 25 — International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
• July 30 — World Day against Trafficking in Persons
• August 23 — International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
• December 2 — International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

What You Can Do

1. Learn the signs of trafficking and forced labour, and report concerns to local authorities or hotlines.
2. Ask brands about their supply chains and support ethical, fair-trade products.
3. Support organisations that rescue and rehabilitate survivors.
4. Share accurate information with #EndSlavery.

👉 Also December 2: Laos National Day

👉 Plan ahead: All December observances

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