Le droit du travail antiesclavagiste de l'État indépendant du Congo : analyse à l'aune du droit international des nations « civilisées » (1885-1890)
(2025) Revue de droit international et de droit comparé — Vol. 102, n° 1, p. 7-50 (2025)
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- This paper analyses the anti-slavery legal framework set by the Congo Free State in terms of labor. It introduces the scope of this State’s anti-slavery labor law, which establishes an exorbitant regime of the metropolitan labor law and which, because of its major shortcomings, led to the creation of an unprecedented virulent forced labor regime. The paper then examines the compatibility of this forced labor regime and its misuse to the anti-slavery international law of “civilized” nations. From this analysis, the paper illustrates the terminological divide between slavery and forced labor, the sadly famous “civilized” concept, the vague and carefree obligations that characterize this international law and the following reinterpretation of the obligations of the colonial States towards the “indigenous people” which legitimized forced labor and its abuse towards the “indigenous” of Congo. This paper concludes by highlighting the weakness of the institutional frame that the colonial States set up to be the exclusive judge of the interpretation and the application of anti-slavery international law and therefore escape from any international control.
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Via Balole, C. (2025). Le droit du travail antiesclavagiste de l’État indépendant du Congo : analyse à l’aune du droit international des nations « civilisées » (1885-1890). Revue de droit international et de droit comparé, 102(1), 7-50. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/275162 (Original work published 2025)