Ever see how recent some countries formally abolished slavery?

[NNN0LHI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_slavery_timeline

Abolition of slavery timeline

1900–today

1902: Ethiopian Empire abolishes slavery (though it was not legally and officially abolished by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1942)
1906: China formally abolishes slavery effective 31 January 1910, when all adult slaves were converted into hired labourers and the young were freed upon reaching age 25.
1912: Siam (Thailand), formally abolishes all slavery. The act of selling a person into slavery was abolished in 1897 but slavery itself was not outlawed at that time.
1921: Nepal abolishes slavery
1923: Afghanistan abolishes slavery
1922: Morocco abolishes slavery
1924: Iraq abolishes slavery
1924: League of Nations Temporary Slavery Commission
1926, 25 September: Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slaverybound all signatories to end slavery.
1928: Iran abolishes slavery
1928: Domestic slavery practised by local African elites abolished in Sierra Leone Though established as a place for freed slaves, a study found practices of domestic slavery still widespread in rural areas in the 1970s.
1935: Italian General Emilio De Bono proclaims slavery to be abolished in the Ethiopian Empire
1936: Britain abolishes slavery in Northern Nigeria
1945: In the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan, workcamps for slave labor (primarily Jewish encampments in Nazi Germany and colonists in Japanese-dominated lands) were gradually closed by the liberators.
1946: Fritz Sauckel, procurer of slave labor for Nazi Germany, convicted at the Nuremberg trials and executed as war criminal.
1948: UN Article 4 of the Declaration of Human Rights bans slavery globally
1952: Qatar abolishes slavery
1959: Slavery in Tibet is abolished by China after the Dalai Lama flees.
1960: Niger abolishes slavery (though it was not made illegal until 2003)
1962: Saudi Arabia abolishes slavery
1962: Yemen abolishes slavery
1963: United Arab Emirates abolishes slavery
1970: Oman abolishes slavery
1981: Mauritania abolishes slavery

[closeupready]

1. Yet, slavery persists.

Unfortunately.

[Fumesucker]

2. Interesting that at least three of the last five are US allies..

Not sure about Oman and Mauritania..

[Scuba]

3. Bush's buddies.

[mactime]

4. Wait, I'm confused

I thought it was only evil Americans that permitted slavery? This time line almost makes it look like slavery was a worldwide phenomenon and America was way ahead of the times in abolishing this practice.

[bongbong]

6. You're uninformed

Try to keep up with current events better. One of the biggest & growing trends in America is prison labor, paying around a dollar a day. That is slavery by any other name.

Fox "news" doesn't tell you about this, preferring to air lies 24x7.

[Daniel537]

7. Ridiculous comparison

One can avoid doing prison labor by not committing a crime. One can't avoid slavery if their born into it.

[bongbong]

8. You're also uninformed

It's never been easier for a cop, perhaps upon orders from a for-profit prison for more cheap labor, to figure out a way to haul somebody off to jail.

Especially, cough, African-Americans.

Remember, just because you don't hear these things on Fox 'news' doesn't mean they're not happening.


I'm amazed at how many uninformed people are lurking around DU these days. And they make simple spelling mistakes like morans all over America! Certainly not the well-informed Liberals I'm used to. Maybe they got orders to come here...

[saras]

5. In general, when machinery and development made slaves obsolete

The pattern that stands out to me is that most of the countries are in the Middle East and North Africa, where slavery goes back far before white intervention.

Kind of shoots down the line I keep getting fed in school that America was one of the last slave societies in the world, too.