The French government has decided to declare slavery as a crime against humanity. This has taken nearly 200 years for the world to realise the need to do something about this horrific trade that was partly engineered by European nations. Many people hope that this will help to end all forms of slavery by sending a warning signal to those who benefit from the exploitation of vulnerable people like women, children, refugees and the extremely poor.

France has claimed to be the only country that has stood out to publicly declare that slavery, in its various forms, is a scar of human conscious, a crime of heart and mind, a crime against humanity. In the history of human kind, slavery was, and will continue to be, a pain in the neck, a tragedy that all continents have been hurt. It is a sin that has been going on for centuries by changing its forms. Just imagine in the ancient times, people in one tiny African village living in constant fear, some were kidnapped in big numbers, forced to go away; they were deprived of their identity and uprooted from their culture. A lot of men and women were heaped in ships without space and in the process, hundreds of them were dying. Women and men were traded like cattle in terrible condition.

A statement issued by the French government at the beginning of this year says, 'In marking the memory day the French Republic has announced that from the 10th of May this year commemorations will be organised in all slavery memorial places in the metropole and overseas. A committee will check out of this commemoration to see that slavery will have to find its true place in the curriculum of the national education in all schools, also literacy objects and archives relating to slave trade that are constituting a patrimony of an incredible richness. It will have to be preserved and presented to public in the museums'.

However, the French President Jaque Chirac understands that putting in place a date like 10th of May is not enough to push out the agonies that people went through, nevertheless, what is crucial is that a day now exists which pay's its respective to those lifes lost, identities wiped out and the tortuous prejudice that slavery brought to human life.

Looking at the turning of events in France recently, last November's riots, the decision by the government to establish such a day comes as an expected step; the governments' response after realising the 'mistakes' it that have been repeatedly ongoing - by ignoring the minority communities - in a way that ends to be termed as racism.

Dr. Jan-Georg Deutsch is Commonwealth Historian and lecturer at Oxford St. Cross College, supports this initiative but thinks that it is not enough. He sees this as a political strategy to back up a system when people realise that things are falling apart.

This could be one of the direct and long term results of slavery that today exist in the forms of racism and discrimination which has an impact in both the development and underdevelopment of communities and countries affected by trade. After three weeks of riots in France, said to be caused by lack of commitment in the government policies to curb poverty, unemployment, poor housing conditions and other social problems in poor suburbs of Paris and especially the states of 'Banlieue' communites. There were nearly five thousand arrests following the riots, some of the 'trouble makers' who do not have valid French residence permits will face expulsion. For the rest however, they wait anxiously for government domestic policies.

Malik, a 19 year boy, facing a prison sentence for kicking a police motorbike in one of the riots, told the BBC that if things don't change in France, there will be revolts again. Azuz Begag, the French Minister for Integration admits that there have been problems in most of the deprived areas in France, as a result of that there has been a huge loss of human values and respect because of the colour of skin.'The government has now realised that something has to be done', he recently told the BBC. In his address to the nation for the New Year 2006, the French President Jaque Chirac gave reasons why a Slavery National Day is important for France, he said that it is necessary that the process of reshaping the mind of the people is done. 'This work has to be accomplished to honour the victims of this awful traffic, to give them back their dignity. We have to accomplish it to recognise fully what slaves and their dependants brought a very big contribution to our country'. He said and insisted by making a call on the international community to join forces and condemn the slave trades, both the ancient and the contemporary forms of it. 'More than 20 million people are victims of this (slave trade). How can we tolerate this at the beginning of the 21 Century that there is in the world some families that have been chained generation after generation in slavery for debts. That so many children are working and very often in awful conditions, that young girls are being sold to become maids'.

The Anti-Slaver International , an organisation that campaigns against all forms of slavery is behind the French government and in its website www.antislavery.org, the organisation has welcomed the move by president Chirac and as part of its latest campaign - The fight for Freedom 1807 - 2007, the organisation has called the UK government to 'take constructive steps to address the legacies of the slave trade, including making it a requirement to teach the Transatlantic Slave Trade under the National Curriculum and establishing a national slavery memorial day'

Many people understand that in all British colonies slavery was officially abolished on 25 March 1807. This was not the end of slavery, people could still own other human beings, but it ended the trade from Africa to the British colonies and marked an important step on the path to the total abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the liberation of those who had been enslaved. The Great Slave Market in Zanzibar, however, continued to operate but eventually was closed in 1873. Dr. Jan - Georg Deutsch argues that slavery, in Tanzania (a former British colony) continued until the early 1920s and descendants of slave dealers and victims are identifiable even today.

In trying to ensure that his proposal becomes a strong point of reference, President Chirac went further by suggesting that there should be efforts to strengthen economic ties that are more relaxed between the northern and southern countries with the emphasis on putting together international organisations that are concerned in this issue, in particular the International Labour Organization and International Trade.

On top of that, the rights of international trade cannot ignore the fundamental principals of human rights. Industrialised countries need to be careful with their occidental firms so that when they are investing in developing countries, they should respect the principals and regulations with regard to the right to work as written in international law.

President Chirac proposed a European and international initiative and European making sure that the firms that are violating the law, by using forced labour and children, should be condemned in national courts even if the crimes are committed in outside their country.

This is in connection to the argument about international competition in trade. This argument is the international agreements in the field of labour aimed at helping to prevent international competition from taking place to the disadvantage of workers. This is a kind of code of fair competition between employers and between countries. This is according to the Purpose of International Law website: Competition.