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(c) That the formation of armed bands should in all cases be made a criminal offence; (d) That, if the local authorities tolerate the formation of such bands, they should be severely punished, particularly if these bands by their actions have occasioned the death of any person or the capture of slaves;
(e) That, in all countries concerned, the law should be supplemented, if necessary, by provisions for the infliction of severe penalties on persons who enter a foreign territory with
arms;
() That orders should be given by the States concerned to their officers on the spot to report immediately and by the speediest means available to the nearest foreign local authorities the entry or the probable return into the territory under the latter's authority of armed bands and the frontier region which is likely to be crossed;
(g) That agreements as already recommended by the Temporary Commission-should be reached between these States authorising their officers, when in pursuit of the captors of slaves, to enter the territory of the other Power to which the captors have returned or in which they have taken refuge, and to arrest such persons if the authorities of the other Power have not available on the spot sufficient forces to proceed immediately to do so them- selves, with the proviso that the culprits would be handed over to the latter authorities either for judgment or until the necessary extradition formalities have been completed. An arrangement of this nature has been concluded between French Equatorial Africa and Darfur.
"
24. It would seem that these proposals, or at any rate those set out in (f) and (g) above, could be readily accepted by the Abyssinian Government, since, in its letter of April 12th, 1924, it expressed the desire to reach an agreement with the neighbouring countries with a view to joint action" in the campaign against slavery, an intention which was reiterated by the Abyssinian delegation in the Sixth Committee of the eleventh League Assembly. One result of the measures proposed would certainly be to prevent incidents which are bound to disturb the relations of good neighbourliness between the States concerned and to have a harmful effect from the international standpoint as well,
It cannot, however, be expected that the officers of the Abyssinian Government will be able to assist foreign States in preventing or suppressing slave-raids in the territory of the latter, or that slave- raids and individual captures by Abyssinians will be put down in Abyssinia itself, until the central authority is sufficiently powerful to enforce obedience to its orders by its officers to the utmost limits of the Empire. The abolition of the status of slavery by the Abyssinian Government would again be of immense assistance in the suppression of these practices.
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CHAPTER III. SLAVE TRADE.
A. Survey of the Situation.
25. The Temporary Commission's report includes under this heading only transactions for the purchase or sale of slaves on a commercial basis. According to the report, traffic in this sense persisted only in the States of Arabia or the coast of the Persian Gulf, and to a certain extent in Abyssinia.
26. The abolition since then of the status of slavery in Iraq, Persia, Kelat, Afghanistan and the Bahrein Archipelago has dealt a severe blow at the traffic in these countries.
27. The Abyssinian Government, which, by its Edict of March 31st, 1924, amended by that of July 15th, 1931, made the transfer of slaves, whether with or without payment, an offence entailing very severe penalties, will doubtless continue to meet, in the suppression of this practice, with difficulties of the kind mentioned in the part of the present report which deals with the status of slavery-viz., resistance from a considerable portion of the population and even from some of the authorities. The propinquity of Arabia complicates the Abyssinian Government's task, because whatever measures (hereafter referred to) may have been taken to prevent the importation of slaves into Arabia, it may still be that, in the Yemen, Hejaz and Nejd, and the Sultanates situated along the south-east coasts of the Arabian peninsula, traders may still find it possible to sell slaves at a good price. True, in its Edict of September 15th, 1923, the Abyssinian Government prohibited its officers from allowing slaves to leave their area, but, even supposing all these officers were desirous of complying with the edict, the extent of the frontier would make it difficult to organise effective supervision.
28. As regards transit across the British, French and Italian colonies bordering on the Red Sea and the embarkation of slaves from Abyssinia at any point on the west coast of that sea, the authorities of those colonies are making the most commendable efforts to prevent it, inter alia, by vigilant inspection of the passengers and crews of all vessels leaving their colonies, and the French expert points out that France frequently sends méharistes along the coast of its Somaliland colony with a view to the prevention of clandestine departures.
Further, British, French and Italian warships more or less frequently cruise in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, along the Arabian coast and in the Persian Gulf, to prevent the importation of slaves into the Arabian peninsula, but the commanders of these warships find it much more
difficult now to take effective action against the transport of slaves in these waters owing to the fact that the General Act of the Brussels Conference has been abrogated by their Governments, and that, so far, none of the general or special Conventions provided for in Article 3 of the Slavery Convention of 1926 has been concluded."
29. However that may be, the Hejaz, in a treaty concluded on May 20th, 1927, with the British Government, has undertaken to co-operate with the United Kingdom in the campaign against the slave trade. The same undertaking has been given by the Sultanates of Muscat, Oman and the Bahrein Archipelago, the Trucial Sheikhdoms and most of the Sultanates of the Hadra- mouth coast.
The right to continue in territorial waters the pursuit of vessels suspected of being engaged in the transport of slaves has been granted to British warships by the greater part of these States and Sultanates.
30. Are slaves from Africa imported in considerable numbers into the slavery-tolerating States or Sultanates of Arabia or the Persian Gulf ? The Committee is unable to give a definite reply to this question. According to certain documents from private sources, such importation still exists on a considerable scale. On the other hand, the opinion of British officials who, according to the British Government in the United Kingdom, are in a very good position to judge, is that the traffic is now on a very small scale. This view is confirmed by the Italian expert on the Committee.
In any case, it is alleged that the importation of slaves into the Sultanates of Muscat and Koweit has virtually ceased, the only additions to the number of slaves in these countries being children born of marriages or concubinage with slaves. Slaves, if sold at all, are only sold, it is maintained, in secret.
31. It is far from improbable, however, that a certain number of free persons forming part of the crews of vessels bound for Arabia or represented as such, or members of the family of pas- sengers for Arabia, are sold in Arabia as slaves. Pilgrimages to the holy places of Arabia are said to provide the principal opportunity for this traffic.
This danger has been forestalled by the Netherlands Government in the Far East. Pilgrims only leave for Arabia at certain seasons of the year, and exclusively on vessels of certain large steamship companies which have a de facto monopoly of their transport by sea. The companies are required to give every guarantee that the transport conditions are satisfactory, hygienic and sure. They have to deposit a surety for the return of the pilgrims. The persons organising these pilgrimages on the outward and return trips earn large profits. Only persons of unquestion- able respectability are permitted to assemble and embark pilgrims. Pilgrims may not embark unless they possess individual passports in which they are carefully identified. Copies of these passports are kept by the Consul of the Netherlands at Jeddah, and registers are kept in the place where the passports are issued. By these means, the pilgrims are effectively protected. It is due no doubt in part to this strict supervision that no case of enslavement in Arabia of pilgrims from the Netherlands colonies in the Far East has been reported for a long time past.
The Governments of the Federated Malay States and the Straits Settlements have also established a passport control organisation. The Committee has no information as to the working of this system, but it understands that a public official of the Straits Settlements accompanies the pilgrims to the holy places in Arabia.
The French Government also takes steps to protect pilgrims proceeding from the African territories under French control. The pilgrims are assembled in certain towns, provided with individual passports and conducted to the holy places of Arabia under the supervision of officer- interpreters who hold collective passports. To prevent the supply of contingent of slaves to the Hejaz from the population of the Chad region, an Order of August 16th, 1930, promulgated by the Governor-General of Equatorial Africa makes it compulsory for natives proceeding abroad from this colony in all cases to be in possession of a passport.
It is not impossible, however, that pilgrims belonging to territories administered by France sometimes leave these territories individually and without passports for Arabia. The same applies to pilgrims belonging to the Italian colonies, despite the regulations to which pilgrimage is subject there.
Lastly, other Governments of Africa have not taken the measures and precautions described above, probably on account of the special conditions of the territories administered by them.
Pilgrims coming from the African continent therefore still run the risk of being sold in Arabia as slaves.
32. The United Kingdom, France and Italy, like the Netherlands, have each an agent at Jeddah. Every person who takes refuge with these agents is, in fact, assured of his freedom.
As regards the British Legation at Jeddah, its right of manumission has been recognised by treaty with the King of the Hejaz, and extends to slaves who do not belong to British territories. In cases of manumission, the Legation repatriates the slave or, if he wishes to remain in Hejaz- Nejd, takes the necessary steps to obtain for him an official certificate of manumission, with the consent of his former owner. British political agents in the Sultanates of Muscat and Bahrein, and
on the Hadramouth coast also have the power of manumitting slaves, and this power is well known along the whole of the coast of the Persian Gulf.
33. The committee regrets that it possesses no information regarding the co-operation of Egypt in the campaign against the slave trade, except that contained in paragraph 35 of the Temporary Commission's report.
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