Nov 14, 2009

Slavery Today | Introduction

In 1993 Abdul Momen, director of the human rights organization Women and Children International, traveled to Tungipara, Bangladesh, where more than one thousand children had been reported missing. The children’s mothers told Momen that the children had left with labor contractors who promised to find them good jobs in the Persian Gulf region. Circulating rumors alleged that the children had been abducted and sold into slavery—the girls stocked brothels in India and Pakistan, and the boys served as camel jockeys (boys who ride camels in races) for rich men’s entertainment. After months of investigation, Momen concluded that the rumors were true; the children of Tungipara were slaves. Many people are unaware that slavery still exists all over the world.

From the Middle East to the United States, from Eastern Europe to South America, men, women, and children work in slavery or in slavery-like conditions. Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest human rights group, claims that there are more than 200 million people in bondage. Indeed, some activists maintain that there are more people enslaved today than ever before.

One of the reasons that the problem is so little recognized is because slavery today bears little resemblance to the familiar images of whips, chains, and slave auctions that characterized slavery in the past. Slavery today involves human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, child labor, and forced prostitution. As stated by Charles Jacobs, president of the American Anti-Slavery Group, “Modern slaves can be concubines, camel jockeys, or cane cutters. They might weave carpets, build roads, or clear forests.” Although most slaves are no longer sold at public auctions, their lives are no easier than the lives of their predecessors. Indeed, for many slaves, conditions today are more miserable and dangerous than in the past.

The most common form of slavery today is debt bondage or bonded labor. A person enters into debt bondage when his or her labor is demanded as a way to pay back a loan. In India, for example, debts running from $14 to $214 are usually incurred for basic necessities, such as food, medical emergencies, marriage dowries (a long-standing cultural tradition), or funeral expenses. Taking into account the outrageous interest rates, often in excess of 60 percent, and the debtors’ meager wages, these loans are difficult, if not impossible, to repay. Moreover, inaccurate bookkeeping on the part of the moneylender ensures that the debtor never pays off the loan. Individuals are then forced to repay loans by working for the moneylender for the rest of their lives and often pass the same debt on to their children and grandchildren. Human rights groups estimate that there are approximately 20 million bonded laborers throughout the world.

Severe poverty and the demand for cheap labor are the driving forces behind bonded labor and other forms of slavery today. In Nepal, for instance, the per capita income is $240. By comparison, the per capita in- come in the United States is $34,100. According to Anti-Slavery International, “Without land or the benefits of education, the need for cash for daily survival forces people to sell their labor in exchange for a lump sum or a loan.” Parents in such poverty-stricken nations are forced to accept money in exchange for their or their children’s labor. Unscrupulous manufacturers exploit their desperation to secure inexpensive labor to produce goods that later stock the shelves of western clothing stores, carpet dealers, and chocolate makers.

In an economy increasingly driven by global financial markets, Western merchants seek cheap labor to reduce costs and increase profits. Labor in poverty-stricken nations, particularly slave labor, is significantly less expensive than labor in developed countries. Business owners contract with manufacturers in India, West Africa, and other poor countries to produce inexpensive goods to sell in the United States and other western nations. In India, for example, carpet manufacturers force child slaves to make thousands of handmade carpets that eventually end up in American homes. West African cocoa plantations rely on slave labor to satisfy the world’s chocolate cravings. Most westerners are unaware that slave labor produces the bricks, charcoal, jewelry, fireworks, and other items that they purchase on a routine basis.

To be sure, most international businesses that import slave-made products do so mostly through negligence rather than intent. Likewise, most consumers are unaware that they are complicit in perpetuating the practice of slavery. Free the Slaves and other nonprofit organizations contend that the international community must work to inform consumers that many of the products that they buy are made by slaves or have slavemade components. In order to eradicate the problem of slavery, these groups maintain, consumers must become aware of the origins of the everyday products they use and demand that they are not produced by slave labor. To achieve this goal, Free the Slaves set up a global partnership to eradicate slavery based on cooperation between nonprofit organizations, businesses, government agencies, labor groups, and consumers around the world. Through this partnership, Free the Slaves strives to identify where slavery exists, monitor areas where labor practices are in question, verify slave-free production of goods, and provide adequate rehabilitation and training for former slaves, among other endeavors.

Free the Slaves is not the only nongovernmental organization (NGO) struggling to end the problem of slavery. Other NGOs, such as Anti- Slavery International, Amnesty International, and the American Anti- Slavery Group, are bringing slavery to the attention of the world. Among their many efforts, these groups have purchased the freedom of slaves in Sudan and Mauritania and pursued harsher punishments for people caught trafficking in humans. The NGOs have also petitioned the United Nations to take action to stop slavery. In response, the United Nations created the Global Program Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GPAT) in 1999. GPAT’s many aims include promoting public awareness of the problem of slavery and human trafficking through public service announcements and other campaigns; training law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges to respond effectively to the crime of human trafficking; and advising committees on drafting and revising relevant legislation. In addition, GPAT enacted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons in 2000. The protocol increases penalties for human traffickers, compels governments to combat slavery within their countries, and strengthens protection for victims of trafficking and forced prostitution. Human rights activists hope that these regulations will challenge governments to recognize the existence of slavery within their borders and take the necessary steps to end the practice.

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 declared, “No one should be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Despite international laws against slavery, the practice exists throughout the world and shows no sign of abating. Various forms of slavery and efforts to eradicate it are among the issues discussed in At Issue: Slavery Today. Whether the international community will unite to rid the world of the abomination of slavery remains to be seen.