Hardly a relic, slavery thrives in many corners of the world
They are controlled by force, debt, and threat 鈥� sold into militias and marriages, lured into overseas brothels by false promises of custodial work, or bound to indentured servitude by inherited debt. 聽The 29.8 million adults and children who live in modern slavery,聽according to the聽,聽are trapped by more than a lack of better options.The report details聽the risk and prevalence of slavery in 160 countries, including the United States, where it estimates 59,644 people are held illegally against their will. The eye-catching new numbers presented by the Australia-based聽聽are significantly higher than previous estimates, in part because they include child brides married off to adult men.
The index, which made its debut yesterday, is part of an ambitious plan by the organization to end human slavery within a generation.
鈥淚t would be comforting to think that slavery is a relic of history, but it remains a scar on humanity on every continent," said聽, the foundation's CEO.
Almost half of modern slaves live in India, and the world's highest rate of enslavement is in Mauritania, where 1 in 20 people is owned by someone else.聽The type of slavery varies among countries.
" primarily takes the form of chattel slavery, meaning that adults and children in slavery are the full property of their masters who exercise total ownership over them and their descendants. Slave status has been passed down through the generations from people originally captured during historical raids by the slave-owning groups," the report says.
聽is even more complex:
"Migrants can originate from poor rural communities, lured to relatively wealthier cities by brokers on the false pretence of employment," the report finds. "Internally trafficked men, women and children make up significant shares of the workforce in construction, textiles, brick making, mines, fish and prawn processing and hospitality.聽However it is important to note that many of India鈥檚 enslaved have not been moved from one place to another 鈥� they are enslaved in their own villages. Many are trapped in debt bondage to a local landowner or born into slavery because of caste, customary, social and hereditary obligations."
In many of the countries that scored worst on the index, sex slavery and trafficking are rife. 聽According to Mick Wilkinson, a social policy analyst at England's聽, a growing Western demand for prostitutes drives this industry.聽
"There's a greater sexualization of society, and a greater debasement of women. In 1990 in the UK, one in 20 men surveyed admitted that they had payed for sex. Today it's聽one in 10," he said.
Wilkinson welcomes the Global Slavery Index as a "clear benchmark now for future progress," even though slavery's hidden nature makes it difficult to quantify and combat. 聽In the case of sex slavery, he said,聽"the women don't want to come forward because they are in fear for their lives, and they're ashamed."聽
Walk Free appears to have begun making its mark. Following the report's release, the Mauritanian daily C.R.I.DE.M published a of its government, which it said had not prosecuted a single person charged with enslavement since the country gained independence in 1960:
"Slavery was abolished in 1981, and even criminalized in 2007 and 2013 under the Ould Aziz regime. But each time the [Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement] begins criminal proceedings, it encounters an obstruction at the very top of the government."
, the European Parliament's Human Rights Subcommittee met to discuss slavery in Africa's Sahel region with an emphasis on Mauritania, though it is not clear whether this focus was related to the upcoming report. Nor is it clear whether the release of the Global Slavery Index was timed to coincide with that of 聽a new film based on the 1853 autobiography of , a free black man who was sold into slavery after being kidnapped in Washington, DC.
But earlier this year, Australia's Parliament passed a Slavery, Slavery-like Conditions and People Trafficking Act, an聽聽after a meeting with two trafficking survivors arranged by the founders of Walk Free.
鈥淭hey had been brought to Australia by their employers under false pretenses. They had their passports taken from them.聽They weren鈥檛 allowed to leave the house without supervision," she recounted.聽鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine from the safety and comfort we know, yet slavery still exists in our world and in our land.鈥�
In line with a promise to bring together business leaders and governments while raising the foundation has聽gathered high-profile endorsements. 聽
It released a by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Oct. 15, and claims the blessing of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Business magnates Richard Branson and Mo Ibrahim have given their support, and Walk Free founder Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest that advice from Bill Gates had spurred him to undertake the first annual Global Slavery Index.
Forrest himself is an iron tycoon, and the wealthiest man in Australia. Walk Free is one of three large humanitarian projects belonging to , a philanthropy and holdings company , after they became the first Australasian signatories of Warren Buffet's . Mr. Branson, Mr. Ibrahim, and Mr. Gates have all signed the same pledge, agreeing to donate over 50 percent of their fortunes to philanthropy.
Walk Free lays out 聽that includes the mobilization of a "global activist movement." But it is most emphatic about forcing business leaders to stamp out slavery in their own industries.
"My senior policy man here would like to be kicking down brothels," said Mr. Forrest at the Index's Oct. 17 live streamed launch in London. "However, it's the customers that make it happen. Eliminate the customers and you'll eliminate the trade."
