The face of modern- day slavery
“Over a century after it was legally abolished in the US and the UK, slavery continues to flourish across the globe. The International Labour Organisation estimates that 20.9 million people are trapped in some form of forced labour, an industry which generates more than US$44 billion a year for those who profit from it. Slavery and human trafficking is estimated to be the third largest criminal industry in the world, outflanked only by arms and drug dealing. In one way or another it is a crime that reaches into every community in every country in the world: from the products we buy to the people with whom we share our towns and cities; in the global north as well as the global south.”...“About 150 years after most countries banned slavery – Brazil was the last to abolish its participation in the transatlantic slave trade, in 1888 – millions of men, women and children are still enslaved. Contemporary slavery takes many forms, from women forced into prostitution, to child slavery in agriculture supply chains or whole families working for nothing to pay off generational debts. Slavery thrives on every continent and in almost every country. Forced labour, people trafficking, debt bondage and child marriage are all forms of modern-day slavery that affect the world's most vulnerable people.”…
Read more:
Modern-day slavery: an explainer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/apr/03/modern-day-slavery-explainer
The faces of modern-day slavery – in pictures
Modern-day slavery: a global forum