Anti-Slavery International

Anti-Slavery International is a United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization and registered charity focused exclusively on slavery and related abuses. Founded in London on 17 April 1839 as the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, it emerged from the abolitionist movement that had secured the end of the British transatlantic slave trade and the substantial abolition of slavery across the British Empire. Its original purpose was international: to campaign against slavery in countries where British emancipation had not resolved the wider global system of enslavement. The organization became a significant participant in nineteenth-century abolitionist networks. It helped convene the first World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840, a major international meeting that brought together campaigners from Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. The convention also exposed conflicts within reform movements, particularly over the exclusion of women delegates from formal participation. During the nineteenth century, the society continued to document slavery and support abolitionist activity beyond the British Empire, including work connected with the United States, Africa, the Middle East, and the Ottoman sphere. Its remit broadened during the twentieth century as legal chattel slavery declined but coercive labour systems, colonial exploitation, trafficking, and discrimination persisted. In 1909 it merged with the Aborigines' Protection Society, becoming the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society. The organization campaigned against abuses in the Congo Free State, including the forced labour system associated with King Leopold II, and used photographic evidence in a pioneering public campaign. It also opposed indentured labour in British colonies, supported action concerning indigenous forced labour in the Peruvian Amazon, and contributed evidence and advocacy to the League of Nations' investigation that led to the 1926 Slavery Convention. After the Second World War, Anti-Slavery worked through international institutions, first the League of Nations and later the United Nations. It campaigned against the Red Sea slave trade and slavery in the Arabian Peninsula, contributing to international pressure that accompanied the abolition of slavery in Saudi Arabia in 1962 and subsequent legal abolition in other Gulf and Arabian states. The organization also supported the development of international standards addressing slavery-like practices. The organization changed names several times as its work evolved. It was known as the Anti-Slavery Society from 1947 to 1956, the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights from 1956 to 1990, and Anti-Slavery International for the Protection of Human Rights from 1990. In 1995 it adopted the shorter name Anti-Slavery International. Its modern work addresses forced labour, debt bondage, child labour, trafficking, domestic servitude, descent-based slavery, exploitative supply chains, and state failures to protect survivors. It combines research, survivor-informed advocacy, litigation and policy lobbying, public campaigning, and collaboration with local civil-society organizations. The organization has worked on bonded labour in Nepal, slavery in Niger, child camel jockeying in the Gulf, forced labour in Indian garment production, trafficking law in the United Kingdom and European Union, domestic workers' rights, and abuses connected with cotton production in Xinjiang. It remains an advocacy organization rather than a commercial product brand.

Anti-Slavery International traces its institutional history to the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, established in London on 17 April 1839. The new body was formed after abolitionists concluded that ending slavery in the British Empire did not end slavery globally. Joseph Sturge was central to its creation, while John Harfield Tredgold served as its first secretary and George William Alexander as its first treasurer. The society's first major international initiative was the World Anti-Slavery Convention, held in London in June 1840. It connected abolitionists across national boundaries and made the society an important node in international human-rights advocacy, although the convention's treatment of women delegates revealed divisions within the movement. During the nineteenth century, the society publicized slavery outside the British Empire and supported abolitionist causes in the United States, Africa, and the Middle East. In the 1850s, it assisted John Brown with the preparation and publication of his autobiography. After the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, its attention increasingly turned toward remaining systems of enslavement and coercive labour elsewhere. In the early twentieth century, the organization campaigned against forced labour and abuses in the Congo Free State under King Leopold II. The campaign used photographs taken by missionary Alice Seeley Harris, making it an early example of visual documentation being used to mobilize international public opinion. In 1909, the society merged with the Aborigines' Protection Society and became the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society. It later opposed indentured labour in British colonies and supported efforts concerning indigenous labour exploitation in the Peruvian Amazon, including action against the Peruvian Amazon Company in 1921. The society contributed information and advocacy to the League of Nations' study of slavery in the 1920s. That process led to the creation of expert bodies and ultimately to the 1926 Slavery Convention. Although the organization and some international officials believed that legal slavery was nearing its end, later events demonstrated that slavery-like practices and coercive labour remained widespread. Following the Second World War, Anti-Slavery transferred much of its international institutional work to the United Nations system. From 1945 onward it campaigned against the Red Sea slave trade and slavery in the Arabian Peninsula. Its advocacy helped keep the issue on the international agenda during a period when geopolitical relationships limited government action. Saudi Arabia prohibited slave ownership in 1962; abolition followed in other Arabian and Gulf states over subsequent years. The organization was called the Anti-Slavery Society from 1947 to 1956 and the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights from 1956 to 1990. It became Anti-Slavery International for the Protection of Human Rights in 1990 and adopted the shorter name Anti-Slavery International in 1995. From the late twentieth century onward, its definition of slavery expanded in practical terms to include trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, domestic servitude, child exploitation, and other situations in which people cannot freely leave exploitative conditions. In the 1990s it supported the ECPAT movement against the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children and helped establish the United Kingdom branch. In the twenty-first century it partnered with organizations in Nepal and Niger on bonded labour and slavery, campaigned against child camel jockeying in the Gulf, supported the former slave Hadijatou Mani in proceedings before the ECOWAS Court, and advocated legislation on trafficking and forced labour in the United Kingdom. It also contributed to campaigns for international standards on domestic workers and exposed forced labour in garment supply chains in India. More recently, its work has included pressure on governments and companies over alleged forced-labour risks in Xinjiang cotton production. The organization continues to combine historical abolitionist campaigning with research, legal advocacy, policy engagement, and partnerships with affected communities.

• 2010

  Forced labour becomes a United Kingdom criminal offence

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  Campaigning by Anti-Slavery International and Liberty contributed to the introduction of a specific forced-labour offence through the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

• 2008

  ECOWAS Court ruling in Hadijatou Mani case

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  Anti-Slavery supported Mani in a case in which the court held Niger responsible for failing to protect her from slavery.

• 1995

  Adoption of the name Anti-Slavery International

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  The organization relaunched under its current shorter name.

• 1962

  Abolition of slavery in Saudi Arabia

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  Saudi Arabia formally prohibited slave ownership following sustained international pressure, including campaigning by Anti-Slavery.

• 1926

  Slavery Convention adopted

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  The League of Nations adopted an international convention requiring the suppression of slavery and the slave trade after a major investigative process supported by Anti-Slavery.

• 1921

  Action concerning the Peruvian Amazon Company

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  The organization played a significant role in efforts to end the company's exploitation of indigenous forced labour in rubber production.

• 1909

  Merger with the Aborigines' Protection Society

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  The organizations merged to form the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society.

• 1840

  First World Anti-Slavery Convention

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  The society helped convene a major international abolitionist meeting in London.

• 1839

  British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society founded

  [1]Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org

  A successor organization was established in London to campaign against slavery outside the British Empire.

An international, specialist human-rights organization with a historic abolitionist identity and a contemporary focus on ending slavery, forced labour, trafficking, and related exploitation through research, campaigning, law reform, and partnership work.

Product categories. Research and documentation on slavery and forced labour · Policy advocacy and legislative campaigning · Human-rights education and public-awareness campaigns · Support for local partner organizations and affected communities · Legal and institutional advocacy concerning trafficking and exploitation

• 2021Xinjiang cotton forced-labour campaign

  International · China

  The organization urged companies and governments to address alleged forced-labour risks in Xinjiang cotton production and connected supply chains.

  Source
• 2005Child camel jockey campaign

  Gulf States

  Anti-Slavery International campaigned against the exploitation and trafficking of children used as camel jockeys in Gulf countries.

  Outcome. The campaign influenced the United Arab Emirates' efforts to rescue and repatriate as many as 3,000 child camel jockeys.

  Source
• 1998Global March Against Child Labour

  International

  The organization helped organize a worldwide mobilization against child labour and its most exploitative forms.

  Outcome. The campaign helped build support for the International Labour Organization's 1999 Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

  Source
• 1990Anti-Slavery International relaunch

  International

  The organization adopted the name Anti-Slavery International for the Protection of Human Rights as it reframed historic abolitionist work around contemporary slavery and human rights.

  Outcome. The shorter name Anti-Slavery International was adopted in 1995.

  Source
• 1990ECPAT and child exploitation campaign

  International · United Kingdom

  Anti-Slavery International was an original supporter of the campaign against child prostitution, pornography, and trafficking and helped establish the United Kingdom branch.

  Outcome. The campaign developed into an international network addressing commercial sexual exploitation and child trafficking.

  Source

• 2011

  Lobbying for European anti-trafficking protectionsStrategy

  Background

  Trafficking victims faced inconsistent protection and barriers to justice across European jurisdictions.

  Action taken

  Anti-Slavery lobbied the United Kingdom government to support European anti-trafficking legislation.

  Aftermath

  The advocacy contributed to broader policy efforts focused on victim protection and prosecution of traffickers.

  Source

• 1995

  Adoption of the Anti-Slavery International nameStrategy

  Background

  The organization had used several names reflecting earlier abolitionist and human-rights mandates.

  Action taken

  It relaunched under the shorter name Anti-Slavery International.

  Aftermath

  The name became the public identity for its contemporary anti-slavery campaigning.

  Source

1. 1Anti-Slavery Internationalen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Anti-Slavery International official websiteantislavery.org