More than 50 million people around the globe are estimated to be in enslavement according to 2022 reports by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations.
During the horrific transatlantic trade in African people from the 16th to the 19th centuries, more than 20 million African people were captured and enslaved by Western colonial powers.
The difference in numbers is both stark and an indictment of modern-day society as much as it was on those involved and who benefited (and whose ancestors still benefit) from the transatlantic trade in humans.
But why is enslavement still taking place and, it seems, still increasing?
Why is enslavement increasing?
Race is definitely a factor in today’s iteration of enslavement, but it’s far from being the only or even decisive issue.
Racism was not even the decisive issue with the initial transatlantic trade in African bodies. Rather, racism was a construct designed by the enslavers to justify their inhuman treatment of other human beings.
The racism that was a creation of the transatlantic trade in African people is something that we all still have to live with today. For more on this, I suggest you read my book: The Rebirth of the African Phoenix — A view from Babylon (Manifesto Press). The book also goes into the far less talked about trade in Africans from the east coast of the Mother Continent.
I would never, as someone whose ancestors were captured and enslaved, do anything to minimize the importance of what they and others were forced to go through. Without their bravery and endurance, I would not be sitting here today in a position to be able to write these lines or do anything other than serve most of the people reading this.
But it is important to note that the modern version of slavery takes place in almost every country in the world and cuts across ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. Recent figures show that more than half (52%) of all forced labor and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries.
By far, the most cases of forced labor (around 86%) are found in the private sector. Forced commercial sexual exploitation represents around a quarter of all forced labor, mostly of women or girls.
Enslaved miners make our modern life possible
Somewhere in the region of 3.5 million children around the world are in forced labor. The mines of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) paint a horrific picture of that.
More than 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from thousands of slaves extracting the mineral for the equivalent of less than $2 USD per day to line the pockets of multinational companies. In the usual way that capitalism operates, women and children working these mines will earn less for their toil than men.
This is the stark reality of how standards of living and consumption in the West are sustained. In these mines, there are at least 40,000 enslaved children who chip away at rocks so Apple can release new iPhone models every year. The cobalt in your (and my) phone, computer, and (if you have one) electric car is mined in conditions of enslavement.
Some 70-75% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the DRC, where forced laborers, working with their bare hands and basic tools, help to keep us in the manner to which we would like to remain accustomed.
So, as with the transatlantic trade in humans, profit is at the heart of the issue.
Similarly, forced marriage is an important component of the current mode of enslavement. Estimates vary, but some say that upward of 22 million women and girls are living in a forced marriage.
The true incidence of forced marriage, particularly involving children aged 16 and younger, is likely far greater than current estimates can capture. But this is a growing rather than a declining problem.
Although two-thirds (65%) of forced marriages are found in Asia-Pacific region, when regional population size is considered, the prevalence is highest in the Arab states, with 4.8 people out of every 1,000 in the region in forced marriage.
Migrant workers are more than three times more likely to be in forced labor than non-migrant adult workers.
It is worth remembering that, according to all reputable figures, such as those provided by the United Nations, and despite the hysteria whipped up by the far right, most migration in the world takes place within national borders.
While labor migration across borders has an incredibly positive effect, the figures demonstrate the vulnerability of migrants to forced labor and trafficking.
Countries affected by conflict face some of the highest vulnerability to the use of enslavement. Examples include the DRC, Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Mali, Pakistan, Iraq, the Central African Republic, and Libya.
Profits and power
The enslavement of other human beings thrives mostly where vulnerability meets profit—low wages, discrimination, lack of legal status, conflict, corruption, and weak labor protections.
Contemporary slavery is only harder to see because most of us choose not to look. But, nevertheless, it is widespread, often hidden in plain sight.
Today’s enslavement operates through well-organized hidden networks of exploitation, where people are trapped by debt, threats, lies, and violence.
Many victims of enslavement are tied to impossible recruitment fees, or debts that they need to return at an exorbitant rate, constant fear of harm to themselves or their families, and legal protection is either very weak or non-existent.
Discrimination, caste systems, gender inequality, xenophobia and, of course, that old devil called racism, often determine who is vulnerable to enslavement.
Slavery persists not just because it is profitable, but also because it is intertwined with inequality, prejudice, and systems of power that remain unchallenged. The truth is that contemporary systems of enslavement continue to underpin today’s global economy.
Abolition today
This coming September will mark the centenary of the international Slavery Convention, but the truth is we don’t have much progress to show for the past hundred years.
It should also serve as a reminder that kind words did not end the older systems of enslavement. It was the resistance of the enslaved that was foremost in achieving that, along with the unity and support of collaborators and allies.
That is what we must do again.
The legislative approach to tacking enslavement will, of course, be important. We must improve and enforce laws, end state-imposed forced labor, introduce stronger measures to combat forced labor and trafficking, extend social protections, and strengthen legal protections, such as raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exception.
We should also end the often Western-driven conflicts disrupting societies, tackle the increased risk of trafficking and forced labor for migrant workers, promote fair and ethical labor recruitment, and provide greater support for women, girls, and vulnerable individuals.
These are all vital steps that need to be taken to tackle enslavement.
But we must learn from our history. We must understand that it is the support we can provide to those who are enslaved to be the architects of their own freedom that will be the decisive factor.
Waiting for a saviour or attempting to assume that role ourselves hasn’t cut it so far and shows no signs of ever doing so.
Morning Star
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