Stopping slavery: Slavery still exists, despite global efforts to end the practice.
Giles Crosse investigates how this can happen in today’s supposedly civilised world.
For people in developed countries, slavery may seem something from a previous century, or something that exists only at tribal levels in far flung territories.
But a harsher reality is the practice continues, if shrouded, in both developed and developing world societies. Within the EU, migrant workers, immigrants or asylum seekers sold into the sex trade from Eastern Europe into major Western cities represent a tip of the iceberg.
Elsewhere, Indian cultural practices continue to force women into ritual slavery. Human trafficking continues in Argentina. And forced labour remains a reality in places like Darfur.
‘An estimated 158 million children, aged 5 to 14, are engaged in child labour, one in six children in the world.’ estimates UNICEF. ‘Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery.’
Ironically, this can often be caused by seemingly positive moves like recycling. Western ships or computers are dismantled in India, where workers break up the machines under risky, poorly legislated health and safety conditions.
This is the true side of modern slavery. ‘Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them,’ explains the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
‘Smuggling migrants involves the procurement for financial or other material benefit of illegal entry of a person into a State of which that person is not a national or resident.’
‘Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs,’ continues UNODC, laying out a framework for describing and combating the practice.
Work is being done. UNODC launched the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking on 6 March 2009. It seeks to help Nation States implement the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, which aims to end movement and sale of humans into forced labour.
Ending the anguish
Nonetheless, there remain some pretty disconcerting challenges out there. The Polaris Project operates internationally to combat human trafficking. According to Polaris, ‘The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates 2.4 million people were victims of human trafficking from 1995/2005. This estimate uses the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking, and includes both transnational and internal data.’
That’s not all. Further Polaris figures suggest ‘800,000, number of people trafficked across international borders every year. (Source: U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.’)
Other data gathered by Polaris is equally worrying. It estimates ‘1 million, number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade, every year. (Source: U.S. Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.’)
And ‘70 per cent of female victims are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. This means that 30 per cent of female victims are victims of forced labour.’ (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: 2004.)
Polaris says 161 countries are identified as affected by human trafficking, that’s 127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries, though some are counted more than once in this dataset.
All in all, the organisation thinks about $32 billion are the total yearly profits generated by the human trafficking industry, with $15.5 billion made in industrialised countries and $9.7 billion in Asia.’
Counting the cost
Human costs are also recognised by the ILO. “Forced labour is the antithesis of decent work”, said ILO Director General Juan Somavia. “It causes untold human suffering and steals from its victims. Modern forced labour can be eradicated, providing there is a sustained commitment by the international community, working together with government, employers, workers and civil society.”
It seems there are wider difficulties slowing change, including disparity in international legislation and poor infrastructure. “We must never forget that forced labour is a serious criminal offence that requires criminal punishment,” said Roger Plant, head of the ILO’s Special Action Programme to combat forced labour.
“But we must also remember that forced labour is often poorly defined in national legislation, making it difficult to address the multiple subtle ways in which workers can be denied their freedom. The challenge is to address these problems in an integrated way, through prevention and law enforcement, using both labour and criminal justice”.
But there is hope. On March 1, Liberia launched its ‘Situational Analysis of Human Trafficking, Especially Women and Children in Liberia,’ report. This is positive, as it proves less developed countries can be willing to tackle the issues.
It seems slavery in Liberia takes place for different purposes including labour exploitation, organ removal and the trafficking of drugs. The paper argues that ‘officials do not have the skills to differentiate between trafficking, kidnappings and smuggling practices, especially in source or destination sites where an ‘intention to exploit’ is unknown.’
“I would like to call on the respective ministries and other institutions to facilitate the development of a comprehensive national anti human trafficking strategy and plan of action based on the findings of this study,” said Ms. Isabel Crowley, UNICEF Liberia Resident Representative.
This may be the key to a more global cure. Cohesive, comprehensive international strategies are the only way to solve issues that transcend national boundaries. Without these, one country’s good work stops as soon as slaves cross the border to a more lawless environment.
Something else the Polaris Project points out is that human trafficking is a ‘market based economy that exists on principles of supply and demand,’ so market based instruments could help prevent it, were slavery within legal boundaries.
Education and other programmes, which aren’t bound by law, and can reach beyond the scope of legal instruments, will be needed to help diminish demand by changing attitudes and building understanding.
And the reality remains those who are at risk of slavery are generally those unable to secure gainful work within society. This too is normally down to education. So widening access and investment in schooling might ultimately do a lot more than combative border patrols or late night raids.
What are your views? Not sure? Read the resources below for more information. Add your comment below. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Not a Planetary Citizen? Sign up to Our Future Planet today!
Resources:
THE COST OF COERCION - Executive Summary of 2009 Global Report on Forced Labour
Human Trafficking Cheat Sheet - Polaris Project
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking - Human trafficking: the facts
Anti-Slavery International 2007- Anti-slavery today's fight for tomorrow's freedom:
Forced Labour in North Korean Prison Camps
Poverty, discrimination and slavery - The reality of bonded labour in India, Nepal and Pakistan
Begging for Change - Research findings and recommendations on forced child begging in Albania/Greece, India and Senegal
Contemporary forms of slavery in Argentina
Darfur - Abductions, sexual slavery and forced labour - Darfur Consortium An African and International Civil Society for Darfur
Discrimination on the Basis of Work and Descent - THE ENSLAVEMENT OF DALIT AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN INDIA, NEPAL AND PAKISTAN THROUGH DEBT BONDAGE
Slave Trade or Fair Trade? The Problem the Solution and How You can Take Action
Opportunities and Obstacles: Ensuring access to compensation for trafficked persons in the UK
Women in Ritual Slavery - Devadasi, Jogini and Mathamma in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Southern India
