International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic

International Convention for the Suppression of the "White Slave Traffic

," May 4, 1910, 211 Consol. T.S. 45, 1912 GR. Brit. T.S. No. 20, as amended by Protocol Amending the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, and Amending the International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, May 4, 1949, 2 U.S.T. 1999, 30 U.N.T.S. 23, entered into force June 21, 1951.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC


The Sovereigns, Heads of States, and Governments of the Powers hereinafter designated,


Being equally desirous of taking the most effective steps for the suppression of the traffic known as the "White Slave Traffic", have resolved to conclude a Convention with this object, and a draft thereof having been drawn up at a first Conference which met at Paris from 15 to 25 July 1902, they have appointed their plenipotentiaries, who met at a second Conference at Paris from 18 April to 4 May 1910 and agreed upon the following provisions:

Article 1

Whoever, in order to gratify the passions of another person, has procured, enticed, or led away, even with her consent, a woman or girl under age, for immoral purposes, shall be punished, notwithstanding that the various acts constituting the offence may have been committed in different countries.

Article 2

Whoever, in order to gratify the passions of another person, has, by fraud, or by means of violence, threats, abuse of authority, or any other method of compulsion, procured, enticed, or led away a woman or girl over age, for immoral purposes, shall also be punished, notwithstanding that the various acts constituting the offence may have been committed in different countries.

Article 3

The Contracting Parties whose legislation may not at present be sufficient to deal with the offences contemplated by the two preceding Articles engage to take or to propose to their respective legislatures the necessary steps to punish these offences according to their gravity.

Article 4

The Contracting Parties shall communicate to each other, through the intermediary of the Government of the French Republic, the laws which have already been or may in future be passed in their States relating to the object of the present Convention.

Article 5

The offences contemplated in Articles 1 and 2 shall, from the day on which the present Convention comes into force, be deemed to be lawfully included in the list of offences for which extradition may be granted in accordance with Conventions already existing between the Contracting Parties.


In cases in which the above provision cannot be made effective without amending existing legislation, the Contracting Parties engage to take or to propose to their respective legislatures the necessary measures.

Article 6

The transmission of Letters of Request relating to offences covered by the present Convention shall be effected:


1. Either by direct communication between the judicial authorities;


2. Or through the intermediary of the diplomatic or consular agent of the demanding State in the country to which the demand is addressed. This agent shall forward the Letter of Request direct to the competent judicial authority, and will receive direct from that authority the documents establishing the execution of the Letter of Request;


(in these two cases a copy of the Letter of Request shall always be addressed at the same time to the superior authority of the State to which the demand is addressed);


3. Or through the diplomatic channel.


Each Contracting Party shall make known, by a communication addressed to each of the other Contracting Parties, the method or methods of transmission which it recognises for Letters of Request emanating from that State.


All difficulties which may arise in connection with transmissions effected in cases 1 and 2 of the present Article shall be settled through the diplomatic channel.


In the absence of any different understanding, the Letter of Request must be drawn up either in the language of the State on whom the demand is made or in the language agreed upon between the two States concerned, or else it must be accompanied by a translation made in one of these two languages and duly certified by a diplomatic or consular agent of the demanding State, or by a sworn translator of the State on whom the demand is made.


The execution of the Letters of Request shall not entail repayment of expenses of any kind whatever.

Article 7

The Contracting Parties undertake to communicate to each other the records of convictions in respect of offences covered by the present Convention where the various acts constituting such offences have been committed in different countries.


These documents shall be forwarded direct by the authorities designated in conformity with Article 1 of the Agreement concluded at Paris on 18 May 1904, to the corresponding authorities of the other Contracting States.

Article 8

Non-signatory States may accede to the present Convention. For this purpose they shall notify their intention by a declaration which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic. The latter shall communicate a certified copy thereof through the diplomatic channel to each of the Contracting States, and shall inform them at the same time of the date of such deposit. The laws of the acceding State relative to the object of the present Convention shall also be communicated with the said declaration.


Six months after the date of the deposit of the said declaration the Convention shall come into force throughout the extent of the territory of the acceding State, which will thus become a contracting State.


Accession to the Convention shall necessarily entail, without special notification, a concomitant accession to the Agreement of 18 May 1904, in its entirety, which shall take effect, on the same date as the Convention itself, throughout the territory of the acceding State.


The preceding stipulation does not, however, derogate from Article 7 of the aforementioned Agreement of 18 May 1904, which remains applicable in cases where a State prefers to accede solely to that Agreement.

Article 9

The present Convention, completed by a Final Protocol which forms an integral part thereof, shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be deposited at Paris as soon as six of the Contracting States are in a position to do so.


A Protocol recording all deposits of ratifications shall be drawn up, of which a certified copy shall be transmitted through the diplomatic channel to each of the Contracting Parties.


The present Convention shall come into force six months after the date of the deposit of the ratifications.

Article 10

In case of one of the Contracting Parties shall denounce the Convention, such denunciation shall only have effect as regards that State.


The denunciation shall be notified by a declaration which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic. The latter shall communicate a certified copy, through the diplomatic channel, to each of the Contracting States, and shall inform them at the same time of the date of deposit.


Twelve months after that date the Convention shall cease to take effect throughout the territory of the State which has denounced it.


The denunciation of the Convention shall not entail as of right a concomitant denunciation of the Agreement of 18 May 1904, unless it should be so expressly mentioned in the declaration; if not, the Contracting State must, in order to denounce the said Agreement, proceed in conformity with Article 8 of that Agreement.

Article 11

If a Contracting State desires the present Convention to come into force in one or more of its colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts, it shall notify its intention to that effect by a declaration which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic. The latter shall communicate a certified copy thereof, through the diplomatic channel, to each of the Contracting States, and shall inform them at the same time of the date of the deposit.


The said declaration as regards colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts, shall also communicate the laws which have been therein enacted relative to the object of the present Convention. Laws which may in future be enacted therein shall be equally communicated to the Contracting States in conformity with Article 4.


Six months after the date of deposit of the said declaration, the Convention shall come into force in the colonies, possessions, and consular judicial districts mentioned in such declaration.


The demanding State shall make known, by a communication addressed to each of the other Contracting States, which method or methods of transmission it recognizes for Letters of Request destined for those colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts in respect of which the declaration mentioned in the first paragraph of the present Article shall have been made.


The denunciation of the Convention by one of the Contracting States on behalf of one or more of its colonies, possessions, and consular judicial districts, shall be made under the forms and conditions laid down by the first paragraph of the present Article. Such denunciation shall take effect twelve months after the date of the deposit of the declaration thereof in the archives of the Government of the French Republic.


Accession to the Convention by a Contracting State on behalf of one or more of its colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts shall entail, as of right and without special notification, a concomitant accession to the Agreement of 18 May 1904 in its entirety. The said Agreement shall come into force therein on the same date as the Convention itself. Nevertheless, the denunciation of the Convention by a Contracting State on behalf of one or more of its colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts shall not necessarily entail a concomitant denunciation of the Agreement of 18 May 1904, unless it should be so expressly mentioned in the declaration; moreover, the declarations which the Powers signatories of the Agreement of 18 May 1904 have been enabled to make respecting the accession of their colonies to the said Agreement are maintained.


Nevertheless, from and after the date of the coming into force of the present Convention, accessions to and denunciations of that Agreement as regards the colonies, possessions, or consular judicial districts of the Contracting States, shall be made in conformity with the stipulations of the present Article.

Article 12

The present Convention, which shall be dated 4 May 1910, may be signed in Paris up to 31 July following, by the plenipotentiaries of the Powers represented at the second Conference for the Suppression of the "White Slave Traffic".

DONE at Paris, the 4th May, 1910, in a single copy, of which a certified copy shall be communicated to each of the Signatory Powers.


FINAL PROTOCOL


At the moment of proceeding to the signature of the Convention of this day, the undersigned plenipotentiaries deem it expedient to indicate the sense in which Articles 1, 2, and 3 of that Convention are to be understood, and in accordance with which it is desirable that the Contracting States, in the exercise of their legislative sovereignty, should provide for the execution of the stipulations agreed upon or for their extension.


A. The stipulations of Articles 1 and 2 are to be considered as a minimum, seeing that it is self-evident that the Contracting Governments remain entirely free to punish other analogous offences, such, for example, as the procuring of women over age, even where neither fraud nor compulsion may have been exercised.


B. As regards the suppression of the offences provided for in Articles 1 and 2, it is fully understood that the words "woman or girl under age, woman or girl over age" refer to women or girls under or over twenty completed years of age. A law may, nevertheless, fix a more advanced age for protection, on condition that it is the same for women or girls of every nationality.


C. With a view to the suppression of the same offences the law should decree, in every case, a punishment involving loss of liberty, without prejudice to other penalties, principal or accessory; it should also take into account, apart from the age of the victim, the various aggravating circumstances which exist in the case, such as those referred to in Article 2, or the fact that the victim has been in effect delivered over to an immoral life.


D. The case of detention, against her will, of a woman or girl in a brothel could not, in spite of its gravity, be dealt with in the present Convention, seeing that it is governed exclusively by internal legislation.


The present Final Protocol shall be considered as forming an integral part of the Convention of this day, and shall have the same force, validity, and duration.

DONE AND SIGNED at Paris in a single copy, the 4th May, 1910.


[1] Signed for Australia, without reservation as to acceptance, 8 December 1949, with notification extending the application of the Protocol to all territories for the conduct of whose foreign relations Australia is responsible.

[2] The Protocol entered into force generally 4 May 1949 and for Australia 8 December 1949.

[3] The amendments entered into force 21 June 1951.



PROTOCOL AMENDING THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, SIGNED AT PARIS ON 18 MAY 1904, AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, SIGNED AT PARIS ON 4 MAY 1910


THE PARTIES TO THE PRESENT PROTOCOL, considering that under the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, signed at Paris on 18 May 1904, and the International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, signed at Paris on 4 May 1910, the Government of the French Republic was invested with certain functions; considering that the said Government has offered to transfer to the United Nations the functions exercised by it under the abovementioned agreements; and considering that it is expedient that these functions should be assumed henceforth by the United Nations; hereby agree as follows:

Article 1

The Parties to the present Protocol undertake that as between themselves they will, each in respect of the instruments to which it is a Party and in accordance with the provisions of the present Protocol, attribute full legal force and effect to, and duly apply, the amendments to those instruments which are set forth in the Annex to the present Protocol.

Article 2

The Secretary-General shall prepare the texts of the International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic and of the International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, as revised in accordance with the present Protocol, and shall send copies for their information to the Governments of every Member of the United Nations and every non-member State to which this Protocol is open for signature or acceptance. He shall also invite Parties to any of the instruments to be amended by the present Protocol to apply the amended texts of those instruments as soon as the amendments are in force, even if they have not yet been able to become Parties to the present Protocol.

Article 3

The present Protocol shall be open for signature or acceptance by any of the Parties to the International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic or to the International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, to which the Secretary-General has communicated for this purpose a copy of the present Protocol.

Article 4

States may become Parties to the present Protocol by:


(a) Signature without reservation as to acceptance;[1]


(b) Signature with reservation as to acceptance, followed by acceptance;


(c) Acceptance.


Acceptance shall be effected by the deposit of a formal instrument with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 5

The present Protocol shall come into force on the date on which two or more States shall have become Parties thereto.[2]


The amendments set forth in the Annex to the present Protocol shall come into force in respect of the International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic when twenty Parties thereto shall have become Parties to the present Protocol; and in respect of the International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic when twenty Parties thereto shall have become Parties to the present Protocol; and, consequently, any State becoming a Party to the Agreement or to the Convention after the amendments thereto have come into force shall become a Party to the Agreement or to the Convention as so amended.[3]

Article 6

Upon the entry into force of the amendments set forth in the Annex to the present Protocol and concerning either the Agreement or the Convention, the French Government shall deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations the original of that of the two agreements to which the aforesaid amendments relate, together with the various documents which were in its custody by virtue of the functions which it exercised.

Article 7

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations and the regulations pursuant thereto adopted by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is authorized to effect registration of the present Protocol and the amendments made in the Agreement and Convention by the present Protocol on the respective dates of their entry into force, and to publish the Protocol and the amended Agreement and Convention as soon as possible after registration.

Article 8

The present Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations Secretariat. The Agreement and the Convention to be amended in accordance with the Annex being in the French language only, the French text of the Annex shall be authentic and the Chinese, English, Russian and Spanish texts shall be translations. A certified copy of the Protocol, including the Annex, shall be sent by the Secretary-General to each of the Parties to the International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic or to the International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, as well as to all Members of the United Nations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, signed the present Protocol on the date appearing opposite their respective signatures.

DONE at Lake Success, New York, this fourth day of May one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine.


ANNEX TO THE PROTOCOL AMENDING THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, SIGNED AT PARIS ON 18 MAY 1904, AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, SIGNED AT PARIS ON 4 MAY 1910


1. International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, signed at Paris on 18 May 1904


Article 7 shall read:


"Non-signatory States may adhere to the present Agreement. For this purpose they shall notify their intention to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall acquaint all the Contracting States and all the Members of the United Nations."


2. International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, signed at Paris on 4 May 1910


Article 4 shall read:


"The Contracting Parties shall communicate to each other, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, such laws as have already been, or may in the future be, promulgated in their countries relating to the subject of the present Convention."


Article 8. The first paragraph shall read:


"Non-signatory States may accede to the present Convention. For this purpose, they shall notify their intention by an instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy to each of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations, and shall at the same time inform them of the date of deposit. The said instrument of notification shall also transmit any laws promulgated by the acceding State relating to the subject of the present Convention."


Article 10. The second paragraph shall read:


"The denunciation shall be notified by an instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy to each of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations, and shall at the same time inform them of the date of deposit."


Article 11. The first paragraph shall read:


"Should a Contracting State desire the present Convention to come into force in one or more of its colonies, possessions or areas under consular jurisdiction, it shall for this purpose notify its intention by an instrument which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall send a certified copy to each of the Contracting States and to all the Members of the United Nations, and shall at the same time inform them of the date of deposit."


The fifth paragraph shall read:


"The denunciation of the Convention by one of the Contracting States for one or more of such colonies, possessions or areas under consular jurisdiction shall take place in accordance with the forms and conditions laid down in the first paragraph of the present Article. It shall take effect twelve months after the date of deposit of the instrument of denunciation in the archives of the United Nations."