Modern Slavery is so invisible that most often it does not get detected.  Slavery in the modern world, not just exist but is thriving.

At any given time, some 16 million people around the world are victims of forced labour exploitation in the private sector (not including sexual exploitation). On average, they are held 20.5 months before escaping or being freed.

Slavery – brings back images of Uncle Tom’s Cabin – which if you are from my generation, you would have read. Or the movie “Gone with the Wind” . For most people, the term slavery is associated with the American Civil War, and the emancipation of slaves. Very few associate slavery with modern day practise. In a way,  Slavery in America has defined how slavery ought to be seen, and many forms of slavery, are therefore invisible to us. What all is modern slavery ?

“traditional practices of forced labour, such as vestiges of slavery or slave-like practices, and various forms of debt bondage, as well as new forms of forced labour that have emerged in recent decades, such as human trafficking.”¹ also called “modern-slavery” to shed light on working and living conditions contrary to human dignity.

source : here

The ILO has it’s report on modern slavery, and it is fairly awful reading.

 

 among the 40 million victims of modern slavery, about 25 million were in forced labour, and 15 million were in forced marriage.

Child labour remains concentrated primarily in agriculture (70.9 per cent). Almost one in five child labourers work in the services sector (17.1 per cent) while 11.9 per cent of child labourers work in industry.

The split is 71% women, and 29% men.

Forced Labour

While, bonded labour is banned in India – way back in 1976, the custom still persists. It is a way of paying of debt, which will never be repaid. Compounded many times over, so that the debt gets passed on to the next generation. While the incidence has reduced in India, the reliance on non formal sources of debt for the economically vulnerable, makes them even more vulnerable.

An estimated 16 million people were in forced labour in the private economy in 2016. More women than men are affected by privately imposed forced labour, with 9.2 million (57.6 per cent) female and 6.8 million (42.4 per cent) male. Half of these men and women (51 per cent) were in debt bondage, in which personal debt is used to forcibly obtain labour. This proportion rises above 70 per cent for adults who were forced to work in agriculture, domestic work, or manufacturing.

For women, 7 per cent of victims reported acts of sexual violence.

Forced Marriage

Most victims (88%) were female, and 

 more than a third (37 per cent) of victims under 18 years of age at the time of the marriage. Among child victims, 44 per cent were forced to marry before the age of 15 years. While noting limits of the
data in key regions, particularly the Arab States, the data suggests prevalence of forced marriage per 1,000 people is highest in Africa (4.8 per 1,000), followed by Asia and the Pacific (2.0 victims per 1,000).

Whichever way you look at it, modern slavery is not just a huge humanitarian issue, it is also a terrible gender issue. Women are, once again, the most exploited

How does India fare

The ILO report does not explicitly talk about India – or indeed any nation. It talks about regional totals, and leaves it at that, but if you deep dive into google, you will get a fair indicator of the issue in India. Far away from all our eyes, the menace continues. As per the global slavery index, there are about 18 million Indians, who are ‘slaves’.

Bonded labour is a key factor, as is bonded begging. Forced commercial sex is a huge problem, as is forced domestic work. The report has harrowing first person survey responses. Forced marriage is one more factor, and this is being exacerbated by selective fetus termination in more  socially primitive states.  Though given social mores in India, it would be difficult to argue, and convince people,  that forced marriage is slavery.

The glimmer of hope, that the Indian Government takes the problem seriously. This includes the National Policy for Domestic Workers – which many in the middle class oppose. There has also been action against child trafficking, and most importantly, most forms of modern slavery are illegal in India.

But, for now, the problem is big – not just in India but across the world. And, it is believed that as the impact of climate change hits agriculture, and more people slip into poverty, the problem will increase. As far as I can tell, the report does not look at prisoners used as slaves by non government actors – such a ISIS. Complicating matters is war, civil war, local insurgencies, where children get press ganged into fighting units. While formal organisations in the world, can bring to bear pressure on Nation States, who are members, not much can be done about the non formal players – who are increasingly playing a role in making the world even more unstable.

Bottom line : Slavery is here in multiple new avtaars. Just because we have begun using politically correct terms for them, doesn’t mean the problem is over, it just means we don’t think of it as slavery.