modern day slavery essay

modern day slavery essay

Modern Day Slavery: A Call for Action

1. Introduction

Many are familiar with the transatlantic trade that occurred between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries when millions of people from Africa were forced into slavery and shipped to the Americas under brutal and inhumane conditions. However, the popular belief is that slavery was abolished in the mid-nineteenth century. We learned about it in school, and our governments deemed it a practice so morally corrupt that laws were passed around the world to stipulate its abolishment and punishment for those who partook in it. But it’s an idealistic and incorrect view. Slavery was only made illegal in the whole world in 2007. The statute that presides today states that “Slavery at its core is when someone legally owns another being and can therefore exploit that being without restraint. Slavery at its core is deemed illegal and unlawful. However, laws serving to form these ideals have loopholes, and it is these loopholes and lazy enforcement that allow 27 million people to be exploited in what are technically legal conditions of modern day slavery. As with anything unlawful, the majority of these acts are conducted by underground criminal units, and thus it is difficult to discern an accurate figure. However, it is a widely agreed-upon estimate for the number of slaves today.

The topic to be discussed in this paper is modern day slavery and its impact on society. The term modern day slavery, as defined by E. Benjamin Skinner, is “when someone acquires or holds another person in a condition of control by means of violence or deception to exploit him or her.” A practice that conjures illegal images of forcing someone to work under unbearable conditions against their will, with little food, no medical care, for no recompense. However, modern day slavery has taken many forms and guises that have blurred the lines for what constitutes as slavery. It is estimated that there are 27 million slaves in the world today, more than any other time in history.

Modern Day Slavery: A Call for Action

2. The Scope of Modern Day Slavery

An emerging problem is the widespread practice of human trafficking in order to provide cheap labor. Trafficking is a modern-day slave trade and is committed when a person is kidnapped, deceived, or coerced into a situation in which they are to work for little or no pay in conditions that represent the 21st-century equivalent of chattel slavery. Debt bondage, one form of trafficked labor, is akin to chattel slavery, as the victim becomes the property of his creditor and incurs a never-ending cycle of debt. Another form of trafficking involves the movement of people into conditions of exploitation using fraud or coercion. It has become a growing problem, with an estimated 800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year and additional internal trafficking within most countries. Push factors such as poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunity, conflict, and political instability drive people to search for a better way of life. Traffickers prey upon these individuals seeking to better themselves through false promises of good jobs and high wages. Once moving, many fall victim to traffickers who quickly seize the opportunity to exploit these willing migrants, as greater border security and immigration restrictions have served to increase the cost and risk of smuggling migrants. Forced labor is a type of work for service that is exacted from people under the menace of any penalty and for which they cannot offer a wage of their choosing. These people who are simply seeking employment are often manipulated and forced to work in conditions that are comparable to that of imprisonment. Migrants are highly vulnerable to this, as their lack of familiarity with language, laws, and rights in their new destinations often restricts their employment and lifestyle options. Whether in the form of domestic servitude or toiling long hours in agriculture and sweatshops, the migrant may result in little or no gain for his effort, which has essentially rendered him a modern-day indentured servant. This same type of forced underpaid labor also affects the lower social classes of many developed and undeveloped nations and is often used in addressing an economic or financial crisis.

“And remember, you were bought for a price; do not become slaves of men.” (1 Corinthians 7:23) This verse from the Bible indicates that the practice of slavery has not only been camouflaged through the centuries but also has been masked as something entirely different. In order to understand how such a declaration holds any truth today, it is important to establish the definition of slavery and what it encompasses. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, a person has been a victim of a severe form of trafficking when they have been “recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” This definition, secondary to the Thirteenth Amendment, clearly addresses the fact that slavery in this day and age is voluntary and has been illegalized. This form of human rights abuse is not limited by race, class, gender, or location, which is caused by the broad income and social disparity between nations worldwide. While in the past, when we conceptualize a slave being a person who is owned, he was tangible property; modern-day slaves are less recognizable and often free to go at times. These modern slaves are victims of debt bondage, which acts as the most common form of slavery today around the world, where an estimated 18 to 20 million are in bonded labor.

3. Causes and Consequences

What determines the lower class or the higher class in society? Marx viewed the stratification of classes as being based on how they are related to the economic situation will appear to be. The “haves” seem to have a better grip of this world’s understanding of economics. The “have-nots” are struggling and continuing to fall into this so-called “rat race”. The control over resources varies significantly between the two classes.

There are beliefs which are true when it comes to the idea of the poor and the rich. The poor are actually hardworking individuals who come home each day feeling completely drained trying to create a comfortable life for themselves and/or their families. They believe if they work hard enough they will eventually find their ticket to a better life. However, over the past thirty years, it is clearly visible that the solution is becoming further and further from reach. This is because wages and resources have stayed the same, but the cost of living in this day and age has increased dramatically. This is the struggle to stay in the lower class and the reason as to why it is becoming more difficult to better oneself. In today’s society, the only people who can say they can truly live comfortable lives are the ones who have obtained a higher education. This education has led to the better jobs and resources that many individuals have been striving for. This is another way of stratification for there is a clear difference in quality and pay between the blue-collar jobs and the white-collar jobs. The “haves” are the white-collar workers who are reaping the benefits of the economy, while the “have-nots” are continuing to struggle to make ends meet. This economic struggle has led to the low-cost and easy availability of the “have-nots” in which leads to the issue of debt bondage when individuals are seeking a better life.

4. The Fight Against Modern Day Slavery

The United States has taken a particularly active role in combating modern-day slavery – due in no small part to increased media attention to the issue. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which is aimed at preventing human trafficking worldwide, protecting and rehabilitating trafficking victims, and prosecuting traffickers. This has led to the establishment of numerous anti-trafficking programs in countries such as India, Haiti, and Ukraine, all aimed at rescuing and rehabilitating victims and, in time, providing for their reintegration into society. Through increased support for NGOs and other international organizations, it seems likely that the US will remain a major force in the global anti-slavery movement for the foreseeable future.

The fight against modern-day slavery is a relatively recent but growing social movement that it is today. It is led by and large by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and ‘first world’ governments, aiming to eradicate such practices as debt bondage, the worst forms of child labor, and trafficking. Increased awareness of the issue has led to a number of initiatives being taken worldwide to combat conditions of modern-day slavery. The endorsement in 1999 of a special ILO Convention to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labor can be seen as an important development in the fight, although in reality, the effectiveness of this is yet to be seen. However, a similar ILO convention on forced labor, Convention 29, has enjoyed some significant successes. At present, there are 19 countries that have ratified the convention and are faced with the prospect of having to review their national legislation on forced labor.

5. Conclusion: A Future Without Slavery

This chapter is encapsulated by a portrait of a world without slavery and details the specific features and steps required to reach this goal. No attempt is made here to provide a comprehensive political and legislative framework, but instead, the emphasis is on identifying the essential components of any effective strategy designed to abolish slavery and its practices. Throughout this chapter, it is assumed that the reader accepts the general conclusion of the book, that slavery is an abhorrent institution and should be abolished. This chapter is therefore only of relevance to people who are prepared to take some action in support of that belief. Its primary emphasis will be on ways to assist people in bondage and to bring weight to bear against the institutions and practices that are the modern manifestations of slavery.