Modern slavery affects 35.8 million people

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask holds a placard during a demonstration by supporters of the Anonymous movement, as part of the global 'Million Mask March' protests, in Nantes November 5, 2014. The placard reads, 'Economic system = modern slavery'. REUTERS Photo

Forced to pick cotton, grow cannabis, prostitute themselves, fight wars or clean up after the wealthy, some 35.8 million people are currently trapped in modern-day slavery, a new report said Nov. 17.

The 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI), in its second annual report, said new methods showed some 20 percent more people were enslaved across the world than originally thought. 
     
“There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty,” said Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Australian-based Walk Free Foundation which produced the report.  The foundation’s definition of modern slavery includes slavery-like practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children, as well as human trafficking and forced labor.

The report, which covers 167 countries, said modern slavery contributed to the production of at least 122 goods from 58 countries.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates profits from this forced labor are $150 billion (120 billion euros) a year.

“From the Thai fisherman trawling fishmeal, to the Congolese boy mining diamonds, from the Uzbek child picking cotton, to the Indian girl stitching footballs... their forced labor is what we consume,” read the report.

The biggest offender, with the highest proportion of its population enslaved, remains the west African nation Mauritania, where slavery of black Moors by Berber Arabs is an entrenched part of society.

In second place was Uzbekistan where, every autumn, the government forces over one million people, including children, to harvest cotton.

Countries like Qatar in the Middle East were a major destination for men and women from Africa and Asia who are lured with promises of well-paid jobs only to find themselves exploited as domestic workers or in the construction industry.

The countries doing the most to combat the problem were the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Georgia, and Austria.

“The global economic crisis and austerity measures of the EU have meant that increasing numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians migrate in search of highly paid jobs. Some of these workers can be tricked or coerced into situations of exploitation,” said the report.

The highest numbers of modern slaves were found in India with an estimated 14.29 million enslaved.