Was Indian Indentureship a Crime Against Humanity?

Excerpts from the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) Thought Leaders' Forum, weighing the indenture system against the modern legal and moral definition of crimes against humanity.

Under international law, crimes against humanity are defined as “acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” These acts include enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, persecution, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering.

Many descendants, activists, and postcolonial scholars are calling for recognition, apology, and reparations for Indian indentureship. They argue that the system involved widespread and systematic abuse that fits the spirit — if not the technical legal definition — of a crime against humanity. Historically and morally, Indian indentureship can indeed be viewed as a crime against humanity because of the systematic exploitation and dehumanisation it involved. Legally, it falls into a grey area; yet the moral and historical parallels to slavery make the argument compelling.

The following are excerpts from the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) Thought Leaders' Forum of 19 October 2025. The Zoom program was chaired by Shakira Mohammed and moderated by Shalima Mohammed, both from Trinidad. Four speakers addressed the topic “Was Indian Indentureship a Crime Against Humanity?” The unedited recording is available online.

Prof. Shardhanand H. Singh

Slavery was officially recognised as a crime against humanity by the United Nations in 2001 — a universal acknowledgement of human suffering and moral responsibility. We are speaking here of the comparable, unequal treatment endured under Indian indentureship. During indenture, Indians also encountered severe injustices. Crimes against humanity were committed, and it is upon us to bring this before the law.

Prof. Onkar Nath Upadhyay

The systematic nature of the violations, the involvement of the state, and the scale of suffering meet the criteria for crimes against humanity under current international standards. The indenture system involved the systematic deprivation of liberty, forced labour, and inhumane treatment on a massive scale — satisfying the criteria set out in the Rome Statute.

Dr Aniel Pahladsingh

There was no free will for the Indian migrant to terminate the contract. Any attempt to do so was met with penal or labour sanctions, often severe. Indian indentured labour should therefore be qualified as forced labour, in violation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 29 on Forced Labour.

Prof. Mohammad Salim

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has been active since 1948 as a socio-religious organisation dedicated to promoting moral and human values. Our mission is justice — ensuring human dignity for all, particularly in India.

Conclusion: Can Indian Indentured Labour Be Declared a Crime Against Humanity?

From a moral and historical perspective, the Indian indenture system clearly qualifies as a crime against humanity. It involved systematic coercion, forced labour, sexual violence, racial discrimination, and the deprivation of liberty — all orchestrated under state authority and colonial policy. The experiences of millions of Indian labourers mirror many of the elements recognised under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998).

From a legal standpoint, however, the classification remains complex. The Rome Statute and the Durban Declaration (2001) did not retroactively criminalise historical acts committed before their adoption. Colonial powers, moreover, operated under legal frameworks that permitted indenture as a contractual system, however exploitative. Because the law against crimes against humanity was not codified at the time, a modern court would likely face jurisdictional and temporal barriers to prosecuting it as such.

Nonetheless, the moral equivalence to slavery — itself recognised as a crime against humanity — strengthens the argument that Indian indentureship deserves similar recognition, apology, and reparative justice. The systematic exploitation of millions of Indians under colonial control constitutes a de facto violation of the fundamental principles of human dignity, freedom, and equality. Therefore, while not legally prosecutable today, Indian indentureship meets the moral and human-rights criteria to be declared a crime against humanity in the court of history and conscience.

References

• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 7: Crimes Against Humanity. United Nations, 1998.
• “Was Indian Indentureship a Crime Against Humanity?” Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) Thought Leaders' Forum, 19 Oct. 2025.
• Durban Declaration and Program of Action, World Conference Against Racism. United Nations, 2001.
• International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 29 on Forced Labour. Geneva, 1930.
• European Convention on Human Rights, Article 4: Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour. Council of Europe, 1950.

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