Upvote:4
In 1976 the practice was abolished by the UN under "the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights"on the grounds that "No one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation." The debtors prison was abolished in some countries on the same grounds in the 19. century. E.g. it was abolished in France, Germany, Austria and the UK around 1870 as it was considered an offense towards the freedom of an individual to incarcerate them on such meager grounds.