UN: 50M People Worldwide Stuck in ‘Modern Slavery’

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Facts

  • Economic uncertainty caused by COVID, armed conflict and the climate crisis have pushed millions into modern slavery, according to a new report published by the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO), the Walk Free Foundation, and the International Organization for Migration on Monday.1
  • The UN estimates 50M people worldwide are victims of forced marriage and labor, up 23% from the last estimate in 2016. Modern slavery refers to people who cannot refuse or leave because of 'threats, violence, deception, abuse of power or other forms of coercion.'2
  • The UN aims to eradicate all forms of modern slavery by 2030. However, the report found that at the end of last year, 28M people were in forced labor and 22M in a forced marriage. This suggests that roughly one out of every 150 people in the world are in some form of modern slavery.1
  • Women and children are the most vulnerable, according to the findings. One out of five people in forced labor are children – a total of 3.3M globally – and more than half of them are stuck in commercial sexual exploitation.1
  • Increases in child and forced marriages have been found in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo, Egypt, India, Uganda, and Yemen. However, nearly one in four forced marriages take place in high or upper-middle-income countries.3
  • Migrants are also three times more likely to be exploited in the workplace than non-migrant adults. Experts now fear that rising energy and food prices all over the world could further exacerbate the problem.2

Sources: 1CNN, 2Al Jazeera and 3Indianexpress.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Breitbart. These shocking revelations may finally prompt action on the appalling human rights situation in places like China, where more than 1M Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have allegedly been detained. Since China ratified the ILO Forced Labour Convention last month, there is new hope that the West will begin a difficult dialogue on such human rights violations.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Guardian. We don't need to look overseas to find human rights abuses that need addressing, given that more than half of all forced labor and a quarter of forced marriages occur outside of the global south. Trade unions, employers' organizations, and ordinary people must take action to force better regulation and strengthened employment laws.