TEARFUND.ORG.NZ
ISSUE / AUTUMN 2012
CORRESPONDENT FIGHTING THE HUNGER BATTLE PAGE 5
FOOD JUSTICE
TOURS PAGE 12
PAGE 8
SLAVES: A disposable commodity TRAPPED: Bonded labour can bring a life time of misery for parents and their children.
It has been over 200 years since William Wilberforce and the British Anti-Slavery Society abolished slavery but today there are more slaves in the world than in his day. Keith Ramsay investigates modern-day slavery.
A
ll countries in the world have made slavery illegal since 1807, with Mauritania being the last country to abolish the trade in 1981, and criminalise it in 2007. While this is worth celebrating, the abolitionists would turn in their graves if they knew that today the slave trade is still a thriving enterprise. Abolition of slavery means little in countries with high levels of poverty. An estimated 27 million people are enslaved around the world. One expert
“The price of a modern-day slave is at an historic low, fetching only US $90.” The reason for the price slide is a boom in the world’s population, especially in developing countries. This has turned human beings into a cheap commodity. Bales says, “If they get sick, what’s the point of paying for medicine; it’s cheaper to let them die and acquire a new one.”
Bonded labour While not the most profitable of slaves, those sold into bonded labour make up
Today’s slaves are like Styrofoam cups – they are cheap to replace if damaged. on modern-day slavery, Siddharth Kara, says the profits generated by all forms of slavery in 2007 were about US $91.2 billion. That is second only to drug trafficking. The weighted average annual profits from a slave in 2007, was US $3,175, with a low average of US $950 for bonded labour and US $29,210 for a trafficked sex slave. Life is cheap in these countries. According to another slavery expert, Kevin Bales, 200 years ago a slave cost about US $40,000 in today’s money (adjusted for inflation).
the majority of those enslaved today. The International Labour Organisation estimates at least 9.3 million are in forced labour in the Asia-Pacific region, the majority in debt bondage. Poverty and people prepared to exploit the desperation of others, lie at the heart of bonded labour. It is an economic crime. People are enslaved to make a profit. They fall into slavery because they are economically vulnerable. A trafficker comes to a village offering jobs. Often the villagers don’t trust the
PICTURE / MANOOCHER DEGHATI / IRIN
recruiter but desperation forces them to cling to hope that he is genuine, says Bales. Without land or education, the need for cash for daily survival forces people to sell their labour in exchange for a loan. The interest rates are so high that they can never pay it back. This traps the borrower in perpetual slavery. This can include their whole family and if the debt isn’t paid, successive generations are trapped in bondage. Children as young as six often work hard in quarries or brick kilns and never get an education. They are locked up at night so they can’t escape, and they are beaten and abused. They don’t even get a day off. They are fed little but charged for their food and this inadequate shelter.
What will it take to end slavery? However, Bales says there is reason for hope. “The slave trade has been pushed to the edges of society, and it is on the precipice of its own extinction waiting for us to give it a big boot. While there are more slaves today, the good news is that a smaller fraction of the world’s population is enslaved than at any time in history.” Because slaves are often found in the poorest countries, it does not cost much to give them their freedom. Bales estimates it would cost a mere US $10.8 billion dollars to free the 27 million slaves in the world to a level of
‘sustainable freedom’. That is equivalent to the USA’s annual expenditure on blue cheese. Sustainable freedom includes the cost of walking alongside freed slaves until they are economically independent and ensure they are not revictimised. Organisations working to set slaves free never buy their freedom. If slave masters are paid, they have money to buy more slaves; it perpetuates the problem. “That is like paying a burglar to give you back the TV he stole from you; we would be abetting the crime,” says Bales. They work with the authorities to rescue and look after the victims, and through the court systems, prosecute the slave owners. Christians can pick up the baton from the likes of Wilberforce and put their efforts into stopping the global slave trade through prayer, raising awareness, speaking up for the oppressed and by giving to TEAR Fund’s programmes which are aimed at setting slaves free and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Read more about our antitrafficking programmes on page 4.
What can you do to help end slavery? • Support TEAR Fund’s anti-trafficking programmes in Nepal and South Asia. • Pray for victims and those working for their release. • Advocate and raise awareness. • Sponsor a Child.
PO Box 8315, Symonds St, Auckland 1150, New Zealand • enquiries@tearfund.org.nz • 0800 800 777 • tearfund.org.nz