Slavery

October 18th is National Anti Slavery Day. It aims to highlight the abuse that is modern day slavery and human trafficking.

Our parliament abolished slavery 200 years ago and its prohibition is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet there are still over 12 million in slavery today.

This dreadful practice comes in many forms. Bonded labour is the most prolific. Here the poor are typically provided with a loan and are then forced to work in order to repay it. The debt is never repaid and the squalid accommodation and food is provided in return for the work. Worldwide over 9-million people are affected.

Another form is child domestic work. Here children as young as 5 (but typically between 12 and 17) work in someone's home usually for no pay. The work might involve helping to run a small business or looking after other children. Over 90% of the children involved are girls and the UN's International Labour Organisation estimates that domestic service is the largest source of employment for girls under 16 worldwide.

Along with modern slavery comes trafficking. Here people are coerced or tricked into leaving their communities and pressed into dependency and forced labour within a country where the exploiter's profits are maximised.

Prostitution typically features with, for example, East European women being trafficked to Western Europe (often on the promise of a job and then having their passports confiscated and being forced into prostitution to 're-pay' their travel costs).

The government is to tackle human trafficking more effectively through better border controls, improved international co-operation and focusing on interrupting the trafficking routes before they near our shores.

We have come a long way since William Wilberforce succeeded in abolishing slavery. Yet we still have a considerable way to go.