Over a million people are estimated to have been taken from Africa by ship via French ports to be enslaved in the Caribbean between the 17th and 19th centuries.
France abolished slavery more than 170 years ago and in 2001 classified slavery and the slave trade as a “crime against humanity.” However, several royal decrees from the 17th and 18th centuries have not been formally repealed.
According to the old decrees, people were considered property, which made it legal to exploit them for work and to abuse, sell, rape and murder them.
After the National Assembly's yes vote of 254 to zero, the proposal will be taken up in the Senate at a later date, where it can be approved.
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