London: Nearly 30 million people are living in slavery across the globe,
many of them men, women and children trafficked by gangs for sex work
and unskilled labour, according to a global slavery index released on
Thursday.
The index by anti-slavery charity Walk Free Foundation ranked 162
countries on the number living in slavery, the risk of enslavement, and
the strength of government responses to combating the illegal activity.
It found that 10 countries accounted for 76 percent of the 29.8 million
people living in slavery - India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia,
Russia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and
Bangladesh.
Modern slavery was defined as human trafficking, forced labour, and
practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage, and the sale or
exploitation of children.
Researcher Kevin Bales said he hoped the index, the first annual report
to monitor slavery globally, would raise public awareness as numbers
were at an all-time high and it would increase pressure on governments
to take more action. He dismissed the view that poverty was the key factor behind slavery
and instead blamed corruption, calling for laws to stop organised
gangs.
"Consistently when we analysed the statistics we found that corruption
came out as more powerful than poverty in driving slavery," said Bales, a
professor of contemporary slavery at the Wilberforce Institute for the
Study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull in northern
England.
"Fundamentally this is a violent crime issue."
The report found Mauritania in West Africa had the highest number of
slaves proportionately, with up to 160,000 enslaved in a population of
3.8 million, due to culturally-sanctioned forms of chattel slavery and
high levels of child marriage.
The highest absolute numbers were almost 14 million in slavery in India and three million in China.
"By far the largest proportion of this problem (in India) is the
exploitation of Indian citizens within India itself, particularly
through debt bondage and bonded labour," said the report.
In China there was forced labour of men, women and children, including
domestic servitude and forced begging, sexual exploitation of women and
children and forced marriage.
Coming last in the index were Iceland, Ireland and Britain although Bales stressed they were not slavery-free.
Up to 4,400 people are estimated to be enslaved in Britain, the
victims mainly from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. They are forced
into sex work, domestic servitude, or low-paid jobs in agriculture,
construction, restaurants and nail salons.
"Hopefully this report will be a wake-up call for rich countries as well," Bales told a news agency.
SOURCE: ZEE NEWS
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