Did you know that this January was National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month? I didn’t think so. Hopefully it indicates that the government will place more resources into fighting slavery, bonded labor, human trafficking, and exploitation of children engaged in the worst forms of labor. According to the NGO Free the Slaves, there are currently 27 million slaves in the world today and while many people suffer in dark factories, small manufacturing businesses, as domestic workers, or in far flung fields as agricultural workers, it is not hard to uncover children working as prostitutes, domestic labor, street beggars, or in brick making in several countries across Asia. Many families are tricked and trapped into bonded labor, forever paying fictional debts while their bodies are broken through work. The U.S. is engaged in these issues, and hopefully committing further resources beyond an awareness campaign will be forthcoming.
What’s to be done? The U.S. should put slavery and labor exploitation on its agenda of foreign policy talking points. This isn’t to chastise other countries, but to find ways to cooperate, develop better procedures and legal structures for investigation, rescue, and return of liberated slaves, and prosecution of traffickers. Although many people are trafficked internally within their countries, trafficking and slavery are also transnational issues and require an international approach. NGOs and civil society are doing great work fighting against slavery, but only governments have the resources and capacity for long term, durable solutions.
What can we do? Educate yourself on modern forms of slavery. The NGOs Free the Slaves and Anti – Slavery International have great web sites. Also, reading the following books opened my eyes to the situations of exploitation and systems of trafficking that exist. Some trace U.S. efforts at fighting modern slavery while others follow how anti – trafficking NGOs approach their work.
A Crime So Monstrous: Face to Face With Modern Day Slavery (2008) by E. Benjamin Skinner
Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (2004) by Kevin Bales
Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves (2007) by Kevin Bales
The Road of Lost Innocence (2008) by Somaly Mam
Sex Slaves: The Trafficking of Women in Asia (2001) by Louise Brown
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.