Is the end of modern slavery just a dream for the world

 

The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration partnered with the International Labor Organization and the Walk Free Foundation (a human rights group) to produce the latest estimates of modern slavery, which highlighted the significant increase of more than 10 million people in forced labor and forced marriage between 2016 and 2021.

The study also pointed out that one in 150 people worldwide is a victim of some form of modern slavery. Globally, by the end of 2021, 80 million people were in forced labor while 22 million were facing forced marriage.

It has now become global lucrative business. A report by the International Labour Organization report revealed that modern slavery is estimated to generate profits of $170 billion per year globally.

Global Estimates of Modern Slavery,

The 2018 Global Slavery Index stated that in 2016, there were 40.3 million people in modern-day slavery , including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage.

Whereas, according to the latest global estimates of modern slavery there is a significant increase over the past 5 years, in which women and children have been particularly vulnerable. The number of girls and women trapped in forced marriage has increased by about 66 lakhs since 2016; in which three-fourth of the girls are below fifteen years of age.

The ILO (International Labour Organization) reported that most cases of forced labor (86 percent) are found in the private sector. Such people are forced to work or marry because of intimidation, violence, deception or abuse of power, today an estimated 28 million people are in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriage. More than three times the entire Atlantic slave trade.

India has the largest number of modern slaves at 8 million, followed by China at 3.88 million and Pakistan at 31.9 million, North Korea at 26.4 million and Nigeria at 13.9 million.

One in five people trapped in forced labor is a child, while more than half are forced into commercial sexual exploitation. Many children are forcibly abducted to be used as combatants. Others are made to work as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Young girls are forced into “marriage” or raped by commanders and male combatants.

This is followed by forced confinement, physical and sexual violence, sex trafficking and deprivation of basic needs, which are less common but by no means negligible.

The dark truth of modern slavery,

As the world has become modern and globalized with the invention of technology such as laptops and phones, new supply chains have emerged for each product. Obviously, modern slavery has also become a part of it.

Technology is like a double-edged sword, where experts are leveraging it to tackle slavery on multiple fronts. Slave labour can be mapped out at known sites of modern slavery (such as brick kilns) from space or AI-powered chatbots that carry out conversations with buyers and providers of sexual services to generate leads for law enforcement.

For example, with the rapid growth in digital technology, the global online community of perpetrators has been climbing and new forms of child abuse, such as live-streamed abuse, have emerged.

Online platforms are being misused for modern slave trade and human trafficking. New technologies create additional exploitative opportunities for smugglers and slaves in product supply chains.

It is now routinely practiced medically, from live streaming online sexual abuse to criminal abuse facilities across county lines to the drug trade, to organ removal for transplants, and much, much more.

Unethical and illegal practices are common in today's modern world. The use of social media apps to sell illegal domestic workers is on the rise in Middle Eastern countries, according to a new BBC investigation. For example, there are hundreds of apps in Saudi Arabia,  where human trafficking is taking place under the guise of household products.

There is a Saudi-Arabia-based e-commerce website and app 'Haraj' and hashtags and private messages on Instagram and Facebook where thousands of women are being sold. The issue does not stop here, under the kafala system for monitoring migrant laborers, domestic workers cannot change their jobs or leave the country without their sponsor's permission.

The apps available on Google Play and Apple's App Store promote advertisements for illegal labour. Somewhere all this is fueling an online slave market. Although apps promoting human trafficking are taking some steps to address the issue, hundreds of thousands of workers continue to be trafficked online.

Thousands of women are illegally bought and sold as  domestic workers on Haraj app

In many ways, modern slavery may look different from the slavery of the transatlantic slave trade, but modern slavery includes many forms of slavery, for example, people-trafficking in terms of transportation through false job advertisements (fake websites for illegal jobs). offers and posts as if they are real jobs) and platforms for exploitation such as cheating, escort and pornography websites, have all been made possible through the development of technology.

Traffickers often recruit people in the name of jobs and may trick people into traveling across borders voluntarily and legally, then begin exploitation upon arrival or during travel.

According to a report in the United States, hundreds of deaths occur every year during illegal human trafficking by being stuffed in large wooden boxes.

There is disagreement over the exact number of slaves because there is no accepted definition of modern slavery, identifying slaves can be challenging, and reliable statistics are often unavailable.

In fact, ongoing conflict, political instability and forced displacement in some regions are major drivers of modern slavery. Changes in the world of work, climate change, and migration increase the vulnerability of many people to exploitation in others.

Somewhere Covid-19 is also responsible for this situation, which affected employment and education, resulting in increased poverty and unsafe or illegal migration.

Illegal migrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, regardless of where in the world they are, they often have nowhere to claim rights, usually cannot speak the local language and do not know Where can they go for help?, they slave for well below minimum wage.

Traffickers can be family members, employers or strangers, but each takes advantage of the victim's vulnerability and is motivated by low risk and high reward.

There is no region of the world that is untouched by modern slavery, now it becomes a matter of global concern. Compared to the rate at which this illegal trade is growing, the international response has been slow.

Efforts are being made by Facebook and Google, Apple to stop this, such as- the Arabic hashtag #maidsfortransfer, which was being used to sell workers, has now been banned on Facebook. Google and Apple are also working with developers to prevent illegal activities.

All in all, human trafficking or modern slavery is a big business- according to the UN office Drug and Crime, Sectors such as construction or mining exploit exclusively men, while victims of forced prostitution and exploitation in private households tend to be women, But something they all have in common: they are coerced into working through threats, violence, fraud, most cases go unreported.

The United Nations has long criticized the practice and has set a goal of ending modern slavery by 2030. The UN’s Global Goal 8 aims to create decent work and economic growth to stop human trafficking. But it still exist and growing.

Will this practice continue in the future as well or Is the end of modern slavery just a dream for the world?