French lawmakers on Thursday voted to formally repeal slavery-era laws that defined the legal status of enslaved people as "movable property" and justified abuse and corporal punishment.
While slavery was outlawed more than 170 years ago in France, making Thursday's motion a symoblic move to formally repeal an old royal decree that was superseded not overturned, the vote comes as the country continues to grapple with its colonial legacy.
France was the third-most prolific European trader of enslaved people in the colonial era, after Britain and Portugal. Expert estimates suggest ships departing French ports trafficked more than a million men, women and children from Africa, often to toil in Caribbean colonies. Max Mathiasin, a lawmaker from Guadeloupe, presented the bill to parliamentImage: Thomas Padilla/AP Photo/picture alliance
What does the bill aim to do?
All 254 parliamentarians present in the lower house voted in favor. The bill still must clear debate in the upper house, the Senate, which is seen as a formality.If adopted, the bill would require the government to report to parliament on the consequences of colonial law and the lasting effects of slavery on racism and discrimination in French society, as well as how the history of slavery is taught in schools.
