France is holding Europe's first national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery.
Wednesday's day of commemoration has been ordered by President Jacques Chirac, who says the stain of slavery on history must not be forgotten.
On 10 May five years ago, the French Senate passed a law recognising slavery as a crime against humanity. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were taken by French ships from Africa to plantations in the Caribbean before France banned the practice in 1848.
But the president says he is not just looking to the past. He has promised to fight modern forms of slavery, allowing companies that knowingly use forced labour anywhere in the world to be prosecuted in French courts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4756635.stm