6. It is possible that a technical form of slavery may still exist in the remote and unadministered parts of the Protectorate - e.g. the Sultanate of Mahra, large areas of which have still not been penetrated by representatives of the Sultan's administration, much less British advisory staff. 7. Anti-slavery legislation, which prohibits the slave trade, is in force in a number of the States of the Protectorate - e.g. the Audhali Sultanate, the Lower Aulaqi Sultanate, the Upper Aulaqi Shaikhdom, the Ja'iti and the Kathiri Sultanates. The only instances of slave trading which have come to notice in the past two decades have been connected with nationals of Saudi Arabia or the Yemen, who bought or kidnapped one or two individuals with the view to disposal of them outside the Protectorate. In the last eight years only six such cases have come to light, and only one has occurred since 1959. Although the State Laws prohibit slave trading they do not expressly prohibit the owning of slaves. The view of the State authorities has been that as the social evil of slavery in the usual sense of the word does not exist in their territories, there is no necessity for legislation of this kind. 8. On August 2, 1963, the Supreme Council of the Federation of South Arabia issued a statement, completely refuting the charge that slavery was still practised within the boundaries of the Federation, reaffirming its belief that freedom is the birthright of every human being, and declaring that the institution of slavery, the maintaining in a state of slavery 0. one person by another, and the purchasing, selling or exchanging of one person by another were utterly abhorruit to it. It therefore urged all member States, which have /already
