(2) The slave trade includes all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves. Article 2 The High Contracting Parties undertake, each in respect of the territories placed under its sovereignty, jurisdiction, protection, suzerainty or tutelage, so far as they have not already taken the necessary steps: (a) To prevent and suppress the slave trade; (b) To bring about, progressively and as soon as possible, the complete abolition of slavery in all its forms. 249. Since then, several international treaties have reiterated the prohibition of slavery,364 which is considered a peremptory rule of international law (jus cogens),365 and entails obligations erga omnes according to the International Court of Justice.366 In the instant case, all the parties have expressly recognized this international legal status of the prohibition of slavery. In addition, both Brazil and most States in the region 367 are parties to the 1926 Slavery Convention and the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery of 1956. For example, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Art. 4; Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, 1956, Art. 1; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, Art. 8; European Convention on Human Rights, 1950, Art. 4; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998, Art. 7; Convention No. 182 of the International Labour Organization, 1999, Art. 3; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981, Art. 5; American Convention on Human Rights, 1969, Art. 6. 364 365 See, inter alia, expert opinion of Allain at the public hearing Cf. Case of the Río Negro Massacres, para. 141, and International Court of Justice, Case of Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belgium v. Spain), Judgment of February 5, 1970, para. 34. 366 Cf. Countries that have signed the 1926 Slavery Convention and its Protocol: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Santa Lucia, San Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America and Uruguay. Available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=0800000280030bab; and countries of the region that have signed the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery of 1956: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Santa Lucia, San Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America and Uruguay. Available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails. aspx?objid=080000028003103d. 367 64