The Shameful Truth About Modern Slavery
WILLS POINT — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified in 1948, seventy years ago. Article 4 of the Declaration says,
“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
A large number of people in the United States — perhaps most — believe that slavery no longer exists. That leads us to the first of four shameful truths about modern slavery.
Shameful Truth #1 — An estimated 40.3 million people are enslaved worldwide.
The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that
- .52 million are enslaved in the Middle East
- 95 million are enslaved in the Americas
- 3.59 million are enslaved in Europe and North Asia
- 9.24 million are enslaved in Africa
- 24.99 million are enslaved in South and Southeast Asia
“Slavery occurs in the gulags of North Korea, on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, and in the brothels of Eastern Europe. Its victims are children forced into military action in the Democratic Republic of Congo or born into debt bondage at brick kilns in India, young men laboring on rickety fishing boats in Thailand, and children and women pressed into domestic servitude in Haiti.”
Modern slavery is predominant in the same areas of the world where enslavement to generational poverty leaves people vulnerable to being trapped into forced labor, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced marriages.
People are enslaved in poverty are desperate to find a way out for themselves and their families. Sometimes, just for themselves at the cost of their families.
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