What is modern slavery?

Slavery continues TODAY. Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their ‘employers’.

Slavery exists today despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practised. It is also prohibited by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 United Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Women from Eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates.

Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.

What is slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights’ violations. A slave is:

• forced to work – through mental or physical threat;
• owned or controlled by an ‘employer’, usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;
• dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’;
• physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

What types of slavery exist today?

Bonded labour affects at least 20 million people around the world. People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. To repay the debt, they are forced to work long hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter as ‘payment’ for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down through several generations.

Forced labour affects people who are illegally recruited by governments, political parties or private individuals, and forced to work – usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Child labour refers to children who work in exploitative or dangerous conditions… Children are also exploited for their commercial value through prostitution, trafficking and pornography. They are often kidnapped, bought, or forced to enter the sex market.

Early and forced marriage affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Traditional or ‘chattel’ slavery involves the buying and selling of people. They are often abducted from their homes, inherited or given as gifts.

For more information and to find out how you can get involved in the campaign to eliminate slavery contact Anti-Slavery International – www.antislavery.org