Approximately 50 million people today are in slavery, including 12 million children and 22 million people in forced marriages (many of whom are children).
Overview of modern slavery
Although the top 10 countries are North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, the UAE, Russia, Afghanistan and Kuwait, slaves are brought into other countries in the form of house servants and #nannies, #sexworkers and factory workers.
Migrant workers are another group that is often abused. Countries such as the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia import workers, who are then under the control of their sponsoring employers. This is known as debt bondage – the workers have an impossible task of paying off their debt to the employer or the broker who arranged the “job”.
Forced marriages represent another category of enslavement. Usually forced by their own parents to marry, children and young women face physical violence, sexual violence and emotional pressure to agree to the marriage. Boys are also forced into marriages.
I had to leave the situation or be killed. I know I can never return home because I am considered a dead person for breaking the culture and bringing shame to the families.
According to my father, I am dead.
— Female survivor of three forced marriages
Forced to work on the farm until the work is finished so I can have a break. And forced to finish the work even after the time and without paying additional wages.
— 56-year-old male agricultural worker
How it impacts us (or: why you should care)
Are you aware of the #supplychain of products you purchase? Were they made with #forcedlabor or #humantrafficking?
Every continent has forced labor, which means the shoes, furniture or food you buy could be done via forced labor. The five sectors with the highest number of modern slaves are non-domestic services/#hospitality, #manufacturing, #construction, #agriculture and #domesticwork. With the #globalsupplychain, due diligence is harder to conduct.
Just like you may research whether food you buy is organic, you can also use the resources below to learn more about your favorite brands and companies. #Social life cycle assessments (#sLCA) provide more in-depth research into companies’ practices.
Take a few minutes to learn about one or two brands you use.
Resources for businesses and consumers
https://knowthechain.org/ – a database on hundreds of companies
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods – list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/ – pages for 20,000 companies and dashboards for textile/clothing, mining/extraction, hotels and finance companies
Sources:
https://www.responsiblelabor.org/
https://www.walkfree.org/
https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/forced-labor-in-global-supply-chains/
https://www.slavefreealliance.org/about-us/
https://gfems.org/resources/
https://webapps.ilo.org/flodashboard/
global map: https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/findings/global-findings/