Modern Slavery and How to Stop the Cycle
Authored by Jennifer Roozeboom
Edited by Mela Ottaiano
Historical accounts of slavery demonstrate that certain people with adequate power will exploit whom they can. Modern slavery is no different, and the common misconception that slavery is a thing of the past empowers the wrong people.
Illustrations of Historical Slavery
In the past, slavery has been described as a “condition in which one human being is owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, or chattel, and was deprived of most of the rights ordinarily held by free persons.”
Enslavement of the Disadvantaged
Slavery follows a pattern of disadvantage. Historically, those who were conquered in battle or stolen from a non-nomadic civilization supplied the demand for slave labor. Sedentary people groups were easy prey and provided a steady human supply for raiders and migratory people to attack at unexpected times and capture to sell as chattel. For example, the Slavs, who established settlements in Eastern Europe, comprised the majority of slaves used in Europe and the Muslim world during the Middle Ages. In fact, the word “slave” is rooted in the term “Slav,” derived from the consistent enslavement of the people group for centuries.
Similarly, from 750 C.E. to 1050 C.E., Viking raiders infamously terrorized coastal towns from the British Isles to the Iberian Peninsula, capturing humans to sell as a resource, force into labor, or marry. Once Portuguese ships successfully traversed the Atlantic Ocean in the 15th century, the transatlantic slave trade began shifting the enslavement of other Europeans to sub-Saharan Africans. Other seafaring nations joined the slave trade and by the early 16th century, sub-Saharan Africans were brought to a variety of destinations, including North America.
Slavery Was Ubiquitous
This recount targets European history, but slavery was ubiquitous. Indeed, slavery permeates human history geographically and temporally. In 6800 B.C.E., Mesopotamia captured and subjected their enemies to forced labor. Ancient religious texts such as the Quran and the Bible mention slavery. Egyptian art dated to 2575 B.C.E. depicts the capture of slaves during battle. Slavery has been traced to ancient Assyria, Babylonia, India, and Persia. In Athens during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E., most households had an average of three to four slaves. At the start of the common era, approximately 30-40% of the Roman Empire population (in the area of modern-day Italy) were slaves. Around 1000 C.E., the Song Dynasty in China declared women were the property of their fathers and husbands. This allowed men to view daughters, sisters, and wives as slaves, and sell them for any reason. Two hundred years later, the Mongols conquered China and enslaved tens of thousands of Chinese people. When Africans were brought to North America in the early 16th century, New England colonists were already enslaving Native Americans. For approximately 150 years, Native Americans and sub-Saharan Africans were enslaved in tandem until the 18th century, when larger influxes of African slaves shifted the focus away from Native American enslavement. Learning from their captors, Native Americans used their freedom to enslave other Native Americans as well as the sub-Saharan Africans.
History implies that any society would engage in slavery if they had the means.
Forms of Modern Slavery
Despite numerous attempts to banish it, slavery still exists. Though there is not an international definition of modern slavery, the United Nations explains that the term refers to “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.” In fact, an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide were in some form of bondage on any day in 2016—more than ever before in history. Modern slavery, often used interchangeably with human trafficking, comes in several forms that can broadly be categorized into forced labor and other exploitation.
Forced Labor
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that, of the 40.3 million enslaved people in 2016, 24.9 million were subjected to forced labor. The category of forced labor is large, and contains several forms of enslavement including domestic servitude, bonded labor, sexual exploitation, and child labor.
Domestic Servitude
Domestic servitude occurs when live-in help cannot leave, or are made to believe they cannot leave, the arrangement. Often disguised as nannies or maids, the victims are commonly from another country, unable to speak the new language, and are deceived when establishing the arrangement. The live-in component of the arrangement makes domestic servitude extremely difficult to detect.
In their book The Slave Next Door, Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter, an expert in human trafficking and a renown historian respectively, tell the story of how a Mexican girl named Maria became enslaved. Sandra Bearden of Laredo, Texas, traveled to Mexico in search of a family to exploit. Finding Maria, Sandra promised her parents that she would provide Maria with an education in the United States in exchange for her work as Sandra’s housemaid. After smuggling Maria across the border, Sandra imprisoned her. In summarizing the book, End Slavery Now tells that Sandra, “sprayed Maria with pepper spray, hit her with brooms and bottles and even sexually assaulted Maria with a gardening tool. Sandra even chained Maria to a pole in the backyard and fed her dog feces.” Maria did not get the education she wanted, but thanks to an attentive neighbor, she was liberated from her enslavement after suffering for seven months.
The ILO designates domestic servitude as a form of exploitation in the private sector, along with forced work in construction and agriculture. ILO reported that in 2016, 16 million people were exploited in the private sector, of which approximately four million people (24%) were subjected to domestic servitude.
Bonded Labor
Bonded labor begins with a debt that the victim works to repay but never can due to additional charges such as interest or room and board that grow the debt at a greater rate than the worker can earn.
A documentary led by Anti-Slavery International titled Invisible Chains exposes the inhumane conditions victims experience when working in India’s brick kilns: “They [families] are forced to migrate [to the brick kilns] to escape a starving situation. They barely survive [the season of work] and return with nothing.” Thousands of family units are forced to work 14-hour shifts for less than minimum wage, or no payment at all. Beginning at midnight, workers spend their time forming and molding clay, firing bricks, pulling out smoldering bricks (often without protection), lining up and turning bricks, and loading and transporting bricks. The brick kiln workforce is 40% men, 40% women, and 20% children. Even when children are not forced to work, they are still subjected to the harsh environment and are not attending school.
Also in the category of exploitation in the private sector, bonded labor is considered the most common form of forced labor, affecting approximately eight million people in 2016.
Sexual Exploitation
Sexual exploitation refers to all adults and children who are involved in commercial sex acts, even those adults who chose to enter the industry and find they are unable to leave.
The International Justice Mission (IJM) tells the horrific story of a 7-year-old boy, pseudonym Maarko, who fell victim to cybersex trafficking. He was sexually abused on live internet and forced to molest his little sister— who was also his best friend—on streamed video.
In 2016, 4.8 million people were sexually exploited, most of whom (99%) were female, and more than one million of whom (21%) were children.
Child Labor
Child labor is the enslavement in any form of someone under the age of 18. This includes child sexual exploitation, child bonded labor, and child servitude (all discussed above), as well as child sales, forced hazardous work, child beggary, and child soldiers. In 2012, it was estimated that 10 million children were victims of child labor. In 2016, it was estimated that one in every four victims of modern slavery victims were children.
Forced Hazardous Work
Forced hazardous work occurs when children are required to work in harmful or hazardous environments, such as factories, brick kilns, and mines, and are unable to leave the employment or situation. Among other dangers, this form of slavery may expose the victims to toxic substances, unclean air, or dangerous machinery.
Child Beggary
Child beggary occurs when children are made to beg for money that becomes a profit for someone else. The nonprofit organization Love Without Reason reports that in countries where begging is common, “children with obvious birth defects or malformations are sold to gangs” who subject them to child beggary.
Child Soldiers
Children who are forced to take part in armed conflicts are child soldiers. They are used in combat and as cooks, looters, spies, informants, messengers, suicide bombers, and domestic and sex slaves. The United Nations reports that in 2015 an estimated 300,000 children were fighting in conflicts found in over 20 countries. Typically, forty percent (120,000) are girls who face their own gender-specific issues such as rape, pregnancy, stigma, and rejection by families and communities.
Other Exploitations
Forced marriage and organ harvesting are two additional forms of modern enslavement that are not included in the category of forced labor.
Forced Marriage
Forced marriage occurs when at least one of the individuals involved is given no choice or cannot refuse the union. Early marriage is the forced marriage of anyone under the age of 18. Servile marriage is another form of forced marriage where a woman or girl is traded or sold into marriage, or when a widow is inherited by a male in-law.
Childline tells the story of Dina, who was deceived by her family almost to the point of being forced to marry at the age of 16. Dina’s parents took her on a trip under the pretense of settling property issues. Once at their destination, she found her extended relatives were also there and was told they would all attend the wedding of an unknown cousin soon. Dina was taken shopping and overheard whispers that the wedding was for her. Her mother had confiscated her phone upon arrival for “safe keeping,” but Dina was able to convince a cousin to lend her a phone and called for help. Liberated before married, Dina learned that she was the property that her parents intended to settle.
In 2016, an estimated 15.4 million people are enslaved via forced marriage. Thirteen million of these people are women and girls comprising 84% of the victims.
Organ Harvesting
Organ harvesting is the removal of an internal organ for sale with or without the consent or knowledge of the donor. Victims may need surgery or are convinced they need surgery, but in recovery discover other organs are missing. Victims may also be manipulated to consent as a donor for money or rewards that never come.
NBC News reports that in 2001, registered transplant activity in China increased rapidly, and transplant wait times decreased. Official Chinese websites advertised organs for sale and customers were allowed to book a transplant in advance (implying future knowledge of available organs). An international tribune investigated the Chinese transplant system and found that crimes against humanity were committed against two people groups who were detainees in prison camps and killed for their organs on demand.
Kidneys are the predominant organ harvested. Advisory Board reports that 11,000 organs were sold on the black market in 2010. Of these organs, 10,000 of them were kidneys.
The Modern Slavery Venn Diagram
The lines that distinguish these categories are blurred at best. For example, sexual exploitation, child labor, and domestic servitude can easily be components of forced marriage. Similarly, the forms within the categories can overlap, as in a Venn diagram. For example, a domestic servant who incurs unpayable debt can easily fall into bonded labor. Child soldiers can be used as domestic or sex slaves; a newlywed from a forced marriage may be coerced into donating an organ for a new in-law. However, categories are important as they quantify the expanding breadth of modern slavery and facilitate a targeted approach for the abolition of each form.
The Abolition of Modern Slavery
Several governments, organizations, and individuals around the world are taking action to battle modern slavery on a global scale. They work on a spectrum of platforms to generate and ratify anti-slavery legislation, execute rescue missions and uphold justice directly, and promote choices that sustain freedom indirectly.
Recent Anti-Slavery Government Actions
The term G20 refers to an international forum of 19 countries and the European Union that together comprise more than 80% of the world Gross Domestic Product (GDP), more than 75% of global trade, and over 60% of the world’s population.
The 2019 Global Slavery Index (GSI) is an in-depth analysis of modern slavery focused on the G20 countries conducted by the Walk Free Foundation. According to the GSI, only seven countries are taking action to stop the sourcing of goods and services that may be produced with forced labor. This means that governments need to be more proactive about requiring transparency in supply chains, and imposing sanctions and fines on companies who fail to do so. Toward these goals and others like them, many countries are making progress:
· California Transparency in Supply Chains Act—Passed in 2010, the U.S. state of California now requires retailers and manufacturers that do business in California (with annual global revenues of $100 million or more) to publicly disclose their efforts to eliminate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains.
· 2015 Modern Slavery Act—Enacted in 2015 in the United Kingdom (U.K.), this act requires organizations that conduct business in the U.K. (with annual global revenues of at least $45 million) to record and publish an annual slavery and trafficking statement. It also includes provision for protection of victims and allows for the appointment of an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
· French Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law—As of January 1, 2018, French companies of a certain size are required to publish a due diligence plan and risk report of human rights and environmental protection violations in their supply chains. This legislation also includes fines up to 10 million Euros (nearly $11.5 million) for businesses that fail to comply.
Direct Intervention
There are several organizations working to directly end modern slavery. For example, the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) is a coalition of organizations dedicated to finding solutions and preventing modern slavery in all forms worldwide. More specifically, the Tostan organization is making significant headway in northwestern African countries by educating communities about the threats of child/forced marriage and female genital cutting, resulting in the empowerment of women, healthier communities, and more than 8,800 communities’ denouncement of marriage before the age of 18. A third example is the International Justice Mission.
International Justice Mission
The International Justice Mission (IJM) is the largest international anti-slavery organized group of advocates, donors, investigators, social workers, and lawyers in the world; they claim that modern slavery can be eradicated in our lifetime. In an interview with Time magazine, David Westlake, CEO of IJM, U.K., explains the means of propulsion driving modern slavery:
If you really boil it down, slavery happens because of three things. There are desperately vulnerable people who might be from a targeted group, or young, or powerless in some other way; there are violently greedy people who are prepared to make money out of other human beings; and then the third element is that these violent people think they can get away with it.
IJM has established and executes a three-part system that successfully breaks the cycle of slavery:
· Part one–In the first step, investigators work to locate enslaved people and provide support to local law enforcement in liberating the victims. Once free, IJM assists in immediate care like safe housing, food, and medical needs, but support doesn’t stop there. IJM continues to invest in the victimized individuals, providing counseling and education until they are fully restored.
· Part two–Once specific victims are safe, IJM works with local law enforcement to bring their perpetrators to justice and prevent the criminals from continuing their activity. IJM lawyers continue to work until the criminals are imprisoned. This step stops a specific cycle of slavery.
· Part three–The third step targets the core of slavery at a community level. Slave owners will continue their abuse if retribution and consequences for their actions are negligible. When a justice system lacks power, there can be no effective enforcement of laws. IJM combats these issues by providing education, training, mentoring, and support to police and judges to slow and stop enslavement and violence on a larger scale.
Since 1997, IJM has helped rescue more than 66,000 victims and helped convict over 3,200 criminals.
Indirect Intervention
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is December 2. As a part of its Action Library, End Slavery Now provides tangible actions that everyday individuals can take to do our part in ending modern slavery. The Action Library is stocked with 428 actions, which can be filtered by either the form of abolition (options include awareness, policy making, rescue, prosecution, aftercare, and empowerment) or the form of slavery (options include domestic servitude, sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor, child labor, and forced marriage).
Overarching Call to Action
Due to the intertwined nature of the different forms of enslavement, multiple actions fall into multiple categories; however, overarching themes emerge:
· Buy slave free. Whether it is chocolate, face masks, or footwear, be an educated consumer and support companies with transparent supply chains. Here is a verified list of slave-free companies. Additionally, purchasing products with a “fair trade” label ensures they have been made ethically.
· Donate. Give money or start a fundraiser to support an organization working to end slavery.
· Volunteer. There are multiple anti-slavery organizations around the world. Find one near you and sign up to join the fight. If your community lacks an organization, start one!
· Educate yourself. Read books, watch documentaries, and conduct research about modern slavery. Take some time to learn indicator signs and how to report tips; in general, stay informed. These actions will not only increase your understanding of the issue of modern slavery but will also equip you to be a part of the solution.
· Advocate. Support anti-slavery policies and oppose policies that treat victims as criminals. Discuss your convictions with your inner circles as well as within your community.
We each have a part to play in combating modern slavery; learning about the issues will help you identify your role. Actions such as buying fair trade products; donating time, resources, and mind power to anti-slavery efforts; punishing criminals; and terminating slavery cycles will crush the demand for human chattel. And then, as Love Without Reasons states, “If there is no demand, there will be no supply.”