Mapping Child Marriage Within the History of International Law: A Turn to the Archives of the 1926 Slavery Convention

Abstract

At its heart, this thesis is an investigation into how the female child, compelled into conditions akin to slavery through marriage, has been historically marginalized from the scope of slavery as it is defined in the 1926 Slavery Convention. Conversely, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly recently recognized that the experiences and exploitation of women in forced marriages can meet the international legal definition of slavery. This framing evolution indicates the reorientation of institutional efforts in recognizing forced marriages as a form of slavery. Through a historical study of the international legal origin of slavery, this thesis probes into the conceptual and linguistic shift in the framing of forced marriages. In doing so, it identifies, within the archives of the League of Nations, the forces which shaped a narrow conception of slavery in the law.

A critical analysis of the intersections of law and gender during the colonial era of the League of Nations concludes with the identification of a systematic exclusion of child marriage from the legal construction of slavery, driven by hegemonic forces. This work finds that the politics and ideologies of coloniality shaped a narrow conception of slavery, enabling the continued economic, labor, and other forms of exploitation of the colonized Global South. It emphasizes the limitations of the prevailing anti-slavery framework, rooted in this history, which continues to relegate the enslaved child to the margins.