Modern slavery is still a thriving industry with over 27 million people enslaved worldwide. Slavery includes forced labor, human trafficking, arranged marriage, and restrictions on freedom of movement. Children and women are the most frequent victims. Advocacy organizations work to educate people and free slaves.
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is yes. According to Anti-Slavery International, over 27 million people worldwide are enslaved, and at least 200 million people exist in some form of slavery. Many people are surprised to learn that modern slavery is a thriving industry because they associate the term “slavery” with the triangular trade that once existed between Europe, Africa, and America. Technically, slavery is outlawed globally, but people are still bought and sold in slave markets and are also forced to work through physical, mental and economic threats. Numerous advocacy organizations work to educate people about slavery and to free slaves around the world.
A slave is not simply someone who is treated like property that can be bought or sold. If someone is forced to work through threats and intimidation, he is a slave, because work is not done with free will. An individual who is also heavily controlled by his employer, physically, mentally or financially, is also a slave. Finally, restrictions on a person’s freedom of movement can also be considered a form of slavery: many slaves work in chains, or are not allowed to leave certain areas without reprisals.
There are several types of modern slavery, including human trafficking, forced labor, arranged marriage, and forced labor. Human trafficking refers to the transportation of individuals, usually across borders, and often for sex work. According to the United States Department of State, approximately 800,000 women and children are trafficked in the United States each year. In most cases, victims of trafficking are brought to industrialized countries for sex work, often with the promise of well-paying, respectable jobs. In some cases, victims are sold by their own families, desperate for money.
Forced labor is particularly prevalent in Asia, Latin America and Africa. A bonded slave is technically free, but heavily indebted to an employer, who advances a loan to help the worker pay for medical care, buy a home, or handle other serious expenses. The bonded worker is held forever in debt while the employer continues to advance loans, and will ultimately never go ahead. Often his family members will become slaves by descent, forced to pay off their parents’ debt.
Arranged marriage is considered by many to be a more nebulous form of slavery. In many countries, young women and girls are forced to marry without consent. In some cases, the women live a very restricted life and are essentially used as domestic servants. Some women forced into arranged marriages are beaten, forced to work in sweatshops, or driven into prostitution, usually to profit from their husbands. In addition to the lack of freedom that an arranged marriage implies, many of these women practically live in slavery.
In the case of forced labor, slaves are physically forced to work by a government, organization or company. Child soldiers in Africa are an example of forced labor, as are sugar cane cutters in South America. Forced laborers often work at gunpoint and endure immense physical and psychological stress. Many forced laborers are children, who are kidnapped, bought and sold as disposable goods.
Children and women are the most frequent victims of slavery. Millions of women and children are sold each year and work in a variety of dangerous conditions. Carpet weaving, brick making, and agricultural industries often rely heavily on slaves. Especially in Africa, a family may have more slaves of different ethnic or religious origins than their owners; this is especially common in Mali. Slaves fight for revolutionary movements, work in factories, cultivate fields and work in sex parlors all over the world. People who want to learn more about how they can make a difference can seek out local chapters of slavery advocacy organizations such as Anti-Slavery International and Free the Slaves.
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