International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023: Date, history, significance

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023: From history to theme to significance, here’s all that you need to know about this special day.

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023: Be it the contemporary forms of slavery or child labour, the various forms of slavery still exist in this world. Every year, millions of lives are lost to slavery, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced marriages and forced recruitment of children on armed conflict. People lose their lives to these forms of slavery; children lose their childhood. The present-day forms of slavery should be eradicated – it is high time that we stand up against it and address the plight of the victims.

Every year, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is observed to create awareness about the types of slavery that still exist and how people can rise together to abolish the same. As we gear up to celebrate the special day, here are a few facts to keep in mind.

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Date:

Every year, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is celebrated on December 2. This year, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery falls on a Saturday.

History:

On December 2, 1949, The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was passed by the Assembly. This day is celebrated to create awareness and inform people about the plight and dangers of slavery.

Significance:

The theme for this year's International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is - Fighting slavery’s legacy of racism through transformative education. "The racist legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade reverberates today in harmful prejudices and beliefs which are still being perpetuated and continue to impact people of African descent across the world. Transformative education, which seeks to empower learners to see the social world critically and through an ethical lens to challenge and change the status quo as agents of change is essential to the work of teaching and learning about slavery in order to end racism and injustice and to build inclusive societies based on dignity and human rights for all people, everywhere," wrote the United Nations on their official website.