Historically, the institution of slavery in the region of the later Yemen was reflected in the institution of
slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661)
slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and
slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258).
Slave trade to Yemen The Red Sea slave trade appears to have been established at least in the
1st-century, when
enslaved
Africans from the
Horn of Africa were trafficked across the
Red Sea to
Arabia and
Yemen. In the Middle Ages, the majority of slaves appeared to have been of African origin, but there were also enslaved people of other origins, such as Indians, Europeans and Turkish people, as well as an illegal enslavement of Muslim Arabs despite the fact that Islamic rules banned the enslavement of other Muslims. A tribute of 1000 slaves were annually sent from the
Dahlak Archipelago to Yemen, made up of what appeared to have been Nubian or Ethiopian slaves. These Habesha mamluks often rose to positions of power in Yemen. The Jazli seized power from the
Ziyadids and established the
Najahid dynasty, Faraj al-Saharti and Surur al-Amhari ruled successively as
Wazirs of
Zabid between 1133 and 1157 and other Habeshas participated in the state as military leaders such as Ishaq bin Marzuq al-Saharti. In the 1760s the Yemeni Hadhrami Arab
Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie mass enslaved other Muslims while raiding coastal Borneo in violation of sharia, before he founded the
Pontianak Sultanate. In the 19th century, slaves were exported from the Eritrean and Somali coast to Yemen. In 1876, large numbers of slaves were reportedly being exported from the Somali port of
Zeila to
Hodeida in Yemen. A French traveller writing from Zeila in 1881 noted that most of the slaves found there were
Oromo women captured as prisoners of war. French explorer
Edmond Combes found what he described as "a large number of Oromo slaves" in Yemen. In the 1850s, the
Afar people from the Eritrean and Djibouti coasts bringed Oromo slaves to
Mokha. Slaves were also exported from
Massawa to Mokha and Hodeida, according to the British Captain Haines:"
The slaves are brought from Mussowa to Mocha, Hodeida and Jedda, in native boats under red colors, when they have again to pay an import duty of one German Crown per head, and an export duty of half a German Crown. I have seen as many as 2 and 300 a month arrive at Mocha. On landing they were immediately placed within a compound, unclothed, from whence they were driven to a well for water, twice a day, like a flock of sheep, their food consisting of jowaree cake and some sugar-cane."By 1900, although
King Menelik of Ethiopia had outlawed the open trade in slaves in Ethiopia, Oromo slaves were still being sold in large numbers in Yemen. In 1869 the
Royal Navy was enforcing a ban on slave trading in the Gulf of Aden and intercepted over 100
Galla slaves that were illegally shipped to
Aden from Berbera. Soon after more slaves were discovered at
Siyara and
Lieutenant Colonel Playfair with the
steamer 'Lady Canning' implored the Makahil elders to surrender the slaves. Upon their refusal the Lady Canning would open fire shooting deliberately near the important fort of Siyara. This act of intimidation led the elders to oblige and free the slaves held in the area. The port town was later on described as being under the possession of the Habr Je'lo: The last branch of the Western tribes is the Haber el Jahleh, who possess the seaports from Seyareh to the ruined village of Rukudah, and as far as the town of Heis. Of these towns, Kurrum is the most important, from its possessing a tolerable harbour, and from its being the nearest point from Aden, the course to which place is N.N.W., consequently the wind is fair, and the boats laden with sheep for the Aden market pass but one night at sea, whilst those from Berbera are generally three. What greatly enhances the value of Kurrum however is its proximity to the country of the Dulbahanta, who approach within four days of Kurrum, and who therefore naturally have their chief trade through that port.
Function and conditions of slavery The function of slavery differed depending on if the enslaved person was male, female or a eunuch. In the early Middle Ages, there were also a minority of slave girls who were trained to become
qiyan artist courtesans or slave singing girls. Many of the
Imams of Yemen were the sons of slave-girls, and this custom continued until the 20th century. In the 1960s, the King and Imam of Yemen,
Ahmad bin Yahya (r. 1948-1962) were reported to have had a
harem of 100 slave women.
Male slaves Eunuchs were the most expensive slaves. In the Middle Ages they mainly came from Africa and underwent the dangerous operation in Ethiopia before being imported to Yemen. Eunuchs were bought by aristocrats and royalty and could be given a number of different assignments: as administrators and agents of the affairs of the harem and royal women, as teachers and caretakers of children, and as supervisors of the rest of the slaves. Aden admitted in their report to the
Temporary Slavery Commission (TSC) of 1924-1926 that there was still chattel slavery in Yemen. The
1926 Slavery Convention, which was founded upon the investigation of the TSC of the
League of Nations, was a turning point in banning global slavery. The British Empire, having signed the
1926 Slavery Convention, was obliged to fight slavery and slave trade in all land under direct or indirect control of the British Empire. However, the British control of Yemen was not complete even in the part of Yemen which was nominally controlled by them. The Aden Protectorate was divided into an Eastern Protectorate and a Western Protectorate. Those were further divided into 23 sultanates and emirates, and several independent tribes that had no relationships with the native states. The deal between the native states and Britain detailed protection and complete control of foreign relations by the British. This limited their actual power to do something about slavery. In 1932, the
League of Nations asked all member countries to include anti-slavery commitment in any treaties they made with all Arab states. In 1932 the League formed the
Committee of Experts on Slavery (CES) to review the result and enforcement of the 1926 Slavery Convention, which resulted in a new international investigation under the first permanent slavery committee, the
Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery (ACE) in 1934-1939. In 1934,
Freya Stark sailed down the Red Sea to Aden in the hope to reach the ancient city of Shabwa, which was rumoured to have been the capital of the
Queen of Sheba. Although she never reached Shabwa, she was able to travel extensively and recount many experiences. Stark returned to the region later for additional trips. During these journeys, she encountered slavery in Yemen, which according to a New Yorker profile caused a "moral predicament",. Stark reasoned that slavery seemed to decline in less religious societies, and thus she felt that slavery would decline in Arabia as it evolved. She published her account of the region in three books,
The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut (1936),
Seen In The Hadhramaut (1938) and
A Winter in Arabia (1940). In 1936, the British authorities in Aden filed a report about the slavery in Yemen. The British report told of 5,000 to 10,000 slaves in a population of three million. Most of the slaves were either trafficked from Africa, or born to enslaved Africans in Yemen, and a small minority of the slaves were Caucasian. Most of the male slaves were Africans, occupied in agricultural work or as soldiers. Since Britain banned the slave trade in its colonies, 19th century British ruled Aden was no longer officially a recipient of slaves and the slaves sent from Ethiopia to Arabia were shipped to Hejaz instead. Slavery in Yemen were given attention in the
Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery (ACE). The report to ACE about
Hadhramaut described the existence of Chinese girls (
Mui tsai) trafficked from Singapore for enslavement as concubines, Indian women trafficked to Hadrhamaut to be sold by their husbands, and Indian children officially taken there for religious studies, only to be sold upon arrival. The British tried to convince the coastal local rulers of the
Aden Protectorate to sign an agreement to ban the slave trade, but by January 1939, few had done so. The British, obliged by the
1926 Slavery Convention to abolish all practice of slavery in the British Empire, did not abolish the slavery as an institution in Yemen, but managed to free many slaves by buying them, manumitting them, and relocating them within the British Empire. After
World War II, there was a growing international pressure from the United Nations to end the slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula. In 1948, the United Nations declared slavery to be a crime against humanity in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (DHR), after which the
Anti-Slavery Society pointed out that there were about one million slaves in the Arabian Peninsula, which was a crime against the
1926 Slavery Convention, and demanded that the UN form a committee to handle the issue. The UN formed the
Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery in 1950, which resulted in the introduction of the
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. The Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery filed a report on the chattel slavery in Yemen during the 1950-1951 investigation. In the 1950s, in connection to the
Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery and the
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery,
Barnett Janner described Saudi Arabia and Yemen as the only remaining states where slavery was still a legal institution:The shipping of slaves occurs in only one particular area of the world, in the seas around Arabia. The warships most likely to search such slavers would be British, and I feel sure that there would not be any abuse of the right to search. I am sorry that we gave up the fight for that right. As far as I know, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are the only States in the world where chattel slavery is still a legal institution. Only a year or so ago a French Deputy—the person, I assume, to whom my hon. Friend referred—investigated the situation and found that every year ignorant Africans are lured on by agents to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. They are not told, of course, that they need a Saudi Arabian visa. When they arrive in Saudi Arabia without a visa they are arrested and put into prison for a few days and then handed over to licensed slave dealers. In addition, raids are made in Baluchistan and the Sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf and people are captured and carried off by land and sea, taken to small Saudi Arabian ports and sold in slave markets. In 1962, Yemen was one of the
last countries worldwide to abolish slavery. The
1962 revolution in Yemen lead to the abolition of slavery by the government in (North) Yemen, but in
British South Yemen the British colonial authorities continued to avoid interfering in the issue of slavery, and slavery in South Yemen was instead abolished by the socialist
National Liberation Front (NFL) who took over when the British left in 1967. All United Nations member states are subject to the UDHR, which specifically says in Article 4, that "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms." This declaration outlines basic rights that all human beings are entitled to. The rights outlined in the declaration become legally enforceable, since they define the terms 'fundamental freedoms' and 'human rights', which themselves feature in the United Nations Charter. All member states of the United Nations are legally obliged to comply with the United Nations Charter. Besides this, the 1926 Slavery Convention also exists, which at its creation aimed to prevent slavery, and the slave trade. It specifically defined what slavery and the slave trade were, and all participants agreed to prevent, and gradually eliminate all slavery that existed within their country, and also to create penalties for anyone found to be slave trading, or involved in the control of a slave. As of 1987, Yemen became a party to this convention, meaning they agreed with the aim of it, and agreed to the obligations it imposed upon parties. While not all slaves in Yemen were of African origin, there developed racist stereotypes in Yemen associating black skin with slavery, and this contributed to a discrimination of people with African origin also after the abolition of slavery. ==Modern day slavery in Yemen==