Abolishing slavery in all its forms : a critical examination of the laws' failure to abolish the indigenous forms of slavery in southeastern Nigeria

Since the late nineteenth century, numerous state and international anti-slavery laws and policies have been applied to the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. However, as I make evident in this thesis, Igbo indigenous forms of slavery (osu and ohu) continue to exist in modern-day southeastern Nigeria. The main aim of this thesis is to critically examine why the various anti-slavery laws in southeastern Nigeria have not been able to effectively abolish the indigenous slavery practices in the region. To achieve this aim, I use primary and secondary sources to analyse the complex legal, social and political issues within classical and contemporary anti-slavery efforts in southeastern Nigeria. I demonstrate that these issues often stem from conflicts between Igbo indigenous slavery laws and state/international anti-slavery laws. Hence, I argue that these conflicts, which typically manifest as differences in ideologies of law, slavery and freedom, lie at the heart of the failure to effectively abolish the indigenous forms of slavery in southeastern Nigeria.

In making the above argument, I attach importance to the role of the Igbo indigenous legal system in the regulation of the indigenous forms of slavery in southeastern Nigeria. Whilst the Igbo indigenous legal system enacts and enforces Igbo indigenous slavery practices, the legal abolition of slavery often takes place under state and international laws. Hence, despite its dominance in southeastern Nigeria, the role of the Igbo indigenous legal system in the regulation of slavery is often taken for granted. Drawing on sociological conceptions of law which acknowledge the normative value of the state and non-state forms of law in southeastern Nigeria, I make an original contribution to knowledge by recognising the role of the Igbo indigenous legal system in the definition, continuous existence and abolition of the indigenous forms of slavery in southeastern Nigeria.