40 million people victims of modern slavery |03 December 2020

International Day for Abolition of Slavery is observed annually on December 2 to raise awareness and put an end to this plague.

Despite science and technological advances over the past century, millions of people across the world continue to be victims of slavery.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), more than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery.

“Modern slavery is used as an umbrella term covering practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, or abuse of power,” states the United Nations (UN) on its website.

The UN says the focus of the day was to raise awareness of the need to eradicate modern forms of slavery such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflicts.

The ILO further states that private economies earn US $150 billion in illegal profits every year out of slavery.

Additionally, 150 million children are subjected to child labour. Almost one in 10 children around the world. Furthermore, one million children are trafficked each year for cheap labour or sexual exploitation.

Christophe Zialor