“We were only there to work. It felt like I was in jail.”
Years ago, in the 19th century, the inhuman act of slavery was abolished. It marked a new and wonderful start to the modern world. It meant that people who were entrapped their whole life could happily restart. Many decades have passed since then, but we must ask ourselves, was slavery really abolished?
Unfortunately no, the cruel practice of slavery hasn’t stopped, in fact, it has only increased. It is still a grim reality. Modern slavery, also known as contemporary slavery or neo-slavery, refers to the existing exercise of slavery. It is the brutal exploitation and commercialization of people, mainly for monetary benefits. Everything is taken away from them, leaving behind only their identity of slaves. They are threatened and held against their will and forced to work with little to no wages. It is so unfortunate that we all live in a world where millions of people’s lives are being destroyed for the pure sake of someone’s luxury.
Modern slavery is everywhere, but this horrible affair isn’t recognized in our busy daily life. If we are mindful and observant, the realization will astonish us- slavery is everywhere- they have produced the clothes we wear, cooked the food we eat and cleaned the place we go too! In most cases, the labourers working as waiters, cleaners, maids and in different industries (commonly in cotton gins, sugar refineries, coal and gold mines) are victims of slavery.
Modern slavery occurs in different forms. Forced labour/ Labour trafficking is highly practiced today. People are unwillingly made to work for an insane number of hours every day without proper food or shelter, through the use of violence, intimidation, and abusing legal powers. Furthermore, they are threatened that their families will be hurt if they try to escape.
The main cause and link in this slavery chain are the brokers. They are the ones who find poor vulnerable people, assure them fancy jobs with not only good pay but additional benefits too, and consequently, fraud them. They recruit, harbour, transport and sell labourers.
One of the most common forms of coercion is the imposition bond or debt; the traffickers unlawfully assume debt on the victims and reason it for their employment. Migrants are especially vulnerable to this kind of trafficking. The brokers recruit people from different parts of the world, and when the victims arrive, the brokers deliberately withhold from assigning them any jobs, instead, their passports are confiscated and destroyed. They are, however, provided with free accommodation, some money for food and are given hope that jobs will be available soon. This is the classic act of such predators to be in the good books of the victims. Once the loaned money reaches a certain amount, they declare it as debt and enslave them.
Domestic servitude is another form of forced labour. In this case, the labourers are usually employed in a private residence where they are expected to do household work. More commonly, females are assigned to such jobs. They don’t have the freedom to leave their owner. They are abused and paid a negligible amount. Forced child labour is also highly prevalent. Children are in the custody of a non-family member and are required to perform various chores. They are forced to beg and handover the money collected to their owners.
One Burmese man said that he was promised a well-paying factory job, but on arrival, was pushed into a tiny boat where he was forced to fish for 20 hours a day, with no pay.
Sex trafficking is a commercial act where people, mostly females, are bullied into prostitution, as a result of physical force and psychological manipulation. When a person under the age of 18 is compelled to do such activities, it is called child sex trafficking.
These are just some of the ways slavery is practiced in the present day. Forced marriage and the use of child soldiers are also among them.
Whether we like it or not, slavery is an undeniable reality that millions face. According to Reuters, more than 45 million people are victims of slavery today, with Asia accounting for 2/3rd of it. Out of the 45 million, 24.9 million are forced labourers; more than 4.5 million people are victims of forced sexual exploitation, and 15 million are victims of forced marriage.
Mauritania, India, China, Uzbekistan, Libya and North Korea are the top 6 countries where slavery is still at large. Many children across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are forced to beg on the streets by criminals.
These are not the only nations where slavery is found; slavery survives in each country. In most, slavery is considered as a serious crime where the lawbreaker is severely punished. Even though slavery was abolished across the globe during the Slavery Convection in 1926, there are some countries, where slavery still isn’t illegal. This means that in these countries, there exists no criminal law penalising the slave trade or slavery, they will neither be prosecuted nor punished in the criminal court for conducting such operations. The government is basically providing these disgusting people with a free licence to slavery. A man in the UK was sentenced to jail for just two years for holding his wife as domestic servitude. The wife was tortured, forced to do all the chores and not allowed to leave home. This is the scenario of modern slavery. Even though there are laws to abolish slavery, it exists and so freely. After all, laws are just words on paper, if not implemented properly.
It’s high time we act on this. We can’t just close our eyes and shut it out only because modern slavery takes place in private houses and farms rather than in public. It's the theft of someone’s life! There are more slaves today than all the people captured from Africa in the transatlantic slave trade. There are more slaves in the world than the population in Canada. It’s our collective responsibility to take action. A dramatic change is required to end this massive problem of slavery. Freedom is essential. For everyone, anywhere and always.
Written by Dhatri
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