modern slavery essay introduction

Modern Slavery: Definition and Types Essay

Introduction, definition and process, sex trafficking, forced labour, works cited.

Despite most countries in the world officially historically abolishing slavery and it is a universally condemned practice protected by law, in 2016, there were an estimated 40.3 million slaves around the world, with numbers continuing to rise (“Modern Slavery and Exploitation”). Modern slavery commonly takes on different forms than most people understand in historical context. It primarily focuses on forced and exploitative labour, particularly of vulnerable groups.

Private labour such as farming, construction, and domestic work are among common economic sectors involved in addition to well-known exploitation for groups such as sex workers or child labour. Modern slavery is a predatory practice that is being utilized by businesses and organizations, some seemingly legitimate, worldwide through the exploitative and forced labour of victims and needs to be addressed at the policy and law enforcement levels.

Modern slavery directly refers to the institutional slavery that occurs in present-day society through forms of forced labour via coercion, the threat of violence, or debt bondage. Modern slavery is often synonymous with human trafficking in the discourse on the topic. Although trafficking implies transportation of humans, the legal definition also encompasses acts of recruitment, harbouring, manipulating, and providing persons to be used in forced labour.

These individuals are considered victims regardless if they were borne into servitude, exploited in their hometowns or transported. Modern slavery takes advantage of vulnerable populations such as women and children, those experiencing poverty, and those who lack social support such as runaways, homeless, persecuted minorities (“What is Modern Slavery”). The economy of slavery in the modern day is devastating. While historically, slaves were a costly investment, and there were detailed records. In modern-day, there are no official records, making the extent of the issue unknown, and most slaves cost less than $100, having short spans of forced labour, but also being abused and experiencing traumatic consequences thereafter (Bales 13).

Often individuals are promised opportunities for a better life or income (as commonly practised with illegal migrants), and when they arrive, whether domestically or across national borders, they find that promised opportunities or conditions do not exist.

However, traffickers use manipulative methods such as keeping essential documents or forcing individuals into servitude over “debt” that has been acquired for the procurement of the promised job or transportation. Victims are particularly vulnerable as migrants where they lack the knowledge, language, and protection while being coerced (“What is Human Trafficking?”). However, it is erroneous to assume that victims only come from poor regions as countries such as the UK have one of the highest rates of origin for human trafficking victims (“2019 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery”).

Human trafficking of primarily women and young girls for the purposes of sex work is the most prevalent and well-known forms of modern slavery. Sex trafficking is defined when an individual engages in a commercial sex act (i.e. prostitution) due to threats or application of force, coercion, or fraud. Similar to the process described above, women and sometimes children are forced into paying off an unlawful “debt” that is incurred through transportation or recruitment. For adults, they are compelled into prostitution through coercion. Even if initially it is a consensual act, the person is held in service through psychological manipulation.

Meanwhile, children are often exploited as well through patronization or solicitation, taking advantage of their naivete, but using force and coercion as well (Kara 3). While some countries do allow legal prostitution for adults, it is universally illegal to use children in commercial sex work. It is estimated that 4.8 million people are victims of human trafficking for sex purposes, with 99% being female. Asia is the primary region for such activities (70%), followed by Europe and Central Asia at 14% (“Global Estimates of Modern Slavery”). Victims are exploited for an average of two years before being freed or escaping.

Forced labour is the performance of labour, often hard manual work, that is done involuntarily through coercion or under the menace of penalty with insignificant to none monetary compensation. Similar to sex trafficking, these individuals are forced through intimidation or means of manipulated debt, or retention of identity papers or denunciation to immigration authorities. Forced labour can be imposed by private employers as well as state enterprises, with 16 million people in the private economy and 4.1 million by the state. In forced labour, the female-male ratio is more equal with 57.6% female and 42.4% male. Breakdown by industry and types of work is: 24% domestic work, 18% construction, 15% manufacturing, and 11% in fishing and agriculture for the private economy (“Global Estimates of Modern Slavery”).

State-imposed forced labour is commonly overlooked as modern slavery but includes the use of labour by state authorities to participate in economic development projects, mandatory military conscripts performing non-military nature service, communal services, and prisoners working against their will. State forced labour is practised in many authoritarian nature countries such as China and North Korea and is shrouded by the state apparatus as legitimate despite being in principle forced slavery.

It is evident that modern slavery is prevalent and continues to grow in magnitude despite recognition and efforts by global institutions such as the UN-backed International Labour Organization. The issue is complex and closely tied to both domestic issues (poverty) and politics (immigration). To stop modern slavery will require a multifaceted approach consisting of economic and social protections, cultural understanding and recognition, and legal policy initiatives. It is necessary to recognize and extend protections and rights into the informal economy where modern slavery is prevalent. Given the cross-border dimensions of contemporary slavery, international cooperation is vital to success in its prevention.

“2019 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery.” HM Government , 2019. Web.

Bales, Kevin. Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves. University of California Press, 2007.

“ Global Estimates of Modern Slavery .” International Labour Organization , 2017. Web.

Kara, Siddharth. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Columbia University Press, 2009.

“Modern Slavery and Exploitation.” Joint Public Issues Team . Web.

“ What is Human Trafficking. ” Anti-slavery . Web.

“What is Modern Slavery.” US Department of State . Web.

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Modern Slavery, Essay Example

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Slavery is an age-old practice that rendered some people deprived of their fundamental human rights. The people enslaved were subjected to some form of control by other human beings. This act dispossessed them of their ability to choose what they wanted, where to live, whom to be with, and other life privileges that a free human being can get or must have in life.

The article confirms that slavery still exists in modern days as well. The only difference between this and the former type of slavery is in the manner it is done. Modern slavery is manifested in such forms as human trafficking, being locked up in brothels and subjected to poor and inhumane working conditions in restaurants and many others. This shows that the modern forms of slavery are related to work. When an employer subjects an employee to some hard labor conditions without good pay, then this can be seen as a form of slavery. The fact that someone is not happy about a position he or she is in but is forced to live in it, then this can be seen as a form of slavery. The slavery types identified in the article are labor slavery, sex slavery, and child slavery.

As presented in the article, the major causes of modern slavery are related to the pursuit of money. Virtually all activities that are seen to put people in a way of slavery, such as human trafficking and forced labor in brothels and restaurants, are all geared towards making monetary gains. These causes are also contributed by the lack of government surveillance to prohibit the bad practice in the society. Whereas slavery is specific to poor countries, Brazil, Haiti, India, Nepal, Congo, and Ghana have been identified as the major countries where labor slavery is rife.

The problem of slavery can be addressed by adopting two top-most strategies. First, the governments must adopt safety measures aimed at protecting their citizens from the vice. There should also be consultative programs among all governments to curb it because human trafficking is an inter-country problem. The strategy relates to the issuance of information relating to the forms of slavery and the ways of evading them. This will be helpful to the victims who end up being trapped in it without knowing.

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Forms of Contemporary Slavery

To many, the term “slavery” conveys images of the transatlantic slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with all its deplorable horrors. Relegated to a barbaric past, few realize that the enslavement of human beings exists even today and remains a grave problem across our world. From traditional chattel slavery in Sudan to the contentious issue of trafficking in persons, international organizations such as Anti-Slavery International and Free the Slaves estimate that at least 27 million people are held in slavery like situations today. (Because of the hidden nature of modern slavery, it is difficult to determine precise numbers and data on modern slaves.)

Persistent modern-day slavery covers a variety of human rights violations and includes the practices of child labor, bonded labor, serfdom, servile marriage, trafficking in persons (especially women and children), and the exploitation of domestic and migrant labor. Such slavery-like practices remain clandestine in nature and, in certain cases, accepted as a part of society, making them difficult to root out and eliminate. Public ignorance has contributed to governmental and international inaction to abolish such forms of slavery. The problem is compounded by the fact that, worldwide, victims of contemporary slavery are characterized by their poverty and vulnerability.

An examination of international instruments to eliminate slavery and slavery-like practices reveals an ongoing evolution in the understanding of slavery and the many forms of enslavement. The Vienna Congress Declaration on the Universal Abolition of Slave Trade was adopted in 1815, though it was only in 1926 that the League of Nations gave an international definition to slavery. The 1926 Slavery Convention and its 1956 protocol “Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery” defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.” Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”

The slave trade was defined to include all acts involved in the capture, acquisition, or disposal of a person with intent to reduce the person to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging the person; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to selling or exchanging; and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves.

The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery brought into focus institutions and practices resembling slavery but which were not covered by the Slavery Convention, such as debt bondage, servile forms of marriage, and the exploitation of children and adolescents. The objective of the Supplementary Convention was to intensify national and international efforts to abolish slavery and all institutions and practices similar to slavery.

Content by Mini Singh Research Analyst, FSE

Content in Arabic by Raja El Habti Research Assistant, FSE

We need to change what people think modern slavery is

Senior lecturer, Bangor University

Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Bangor University

Disclosure statement

Fay Short was commissioned to write an objective evaluation of the project by the North Wales Anti-Slavery Coordinator.

Tracey Lloyd was commissioned to write an objective evaluation of the project by the North Wales Anti-Slavery Co-ordinator

Bangor University provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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What images does the word “slavery” conjure up in your mind? Men in iron collars shipped from Africa on huge wooden galleons, forced to work the fields under the whip of the master? Perhaps you think that slavery is an old concept that became obsolete in Britain in 1833 with the introduction of the Slavery Abolition Act ?

If so, you’d be wrong. Sadly, the reality of slavery is that it continues to exist in our modern world and our belief that this crime is only an artefact of history might be making it harder to detect and disrupt. As psychologists, we are particularly interested in understanding the minds of the victim and the criminal, and are working towards an intervention to encourage a better understanding of exploitation.

Hidden crimes

The Walk Free Foundation describes modern slavery as “possessing or controlling another person for your own benefit or to make a profit”. One example is a person who has been trafficked into a country to do manual labour. The gang master might confiscate their passport, pay them less than minimum wage for working illegally long hours, and then take back all of this small wage packet to pay for “living expenses”, such as housing in a cold warehouse with many other workers and no proper beds, kitchen, or toilet facilities.

Modern slavery and human trafficking are hidden crimes. Just over 2,000 victims were reported in the UK last year, but some estimates put the real figure as high as 13,000 .

One of the problems in detecting this crime is that many people may not recognise slavery in action. Members of the public might fail to notice the signs of slavery, while police may not be aware that an offender is committing a crime under the control of another criminal.

Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that some criminals may not see their actions as “slavery” while some victims may not see themselves as “slaves”. One example can be seen in a recent news report about a man convicted of holding his wife as a domestic slave . Many people may view this as a case of domestic abuse, but the control and enforced labour in the home for the benefit of the husband meant that this was legally categorised as modern day slavery.

Defining terms

One explanation for why a victim and criminal may not perceive a situation as slavery could be a mismatch between the self-schema and the “slavery” schema. A schema is your understanding of all of the elements that make up a certain thing: for example, your schema for a teacher might include using a red pen, wearing glasses, and holding a notebook. Your cognitive schemas are created through experience: to return to our example, if you and your friend attended different types of school then you may hold different schemas for a “teacher”.

If you have no personal experience on which to base your schema then you might rely on cultural stereotypes presented in the media. There is a clear media stereotype for slavery, and you can see this instantly recognisable schema if you run an internet search. Search Google images for “slave” – and almost all of the images will show African males in chains. Think about the concept of “slavery” presented at the start of this article, and consider whether this outdated perception could be the schema for “slave” held by modern criminals and victims.

Our self-schema is our understanding of all the elements that make us up as individuals, and it is clear that this old-fashioned definition of slavery will not match the self-schema of modern victims and criminals. This mismatch between the two could be one reason why victims claim that they are not being held as a slave and perpetrators deny that their relationship with the victim involves slavery.

One strategy for reducing the mismatch between the self-schema and the slavery schema is to educate people about modern slavery. As the stereotype for slavery becomes less dated, then the characteristics of the modern slave and slaver will become more similar to the self-schema held by modern individuals.

Breaking the chains

The North Wales Anti-Slavery Project , under the guidance of co-ordinator Jim Coy, has been shining a light on the dark figure of modern slavery by running conferences and training courses to raise awareness of the signs of modern slavery. One incredible success story for the project has been Operation BASE, which resulted in the rescue of 111 migrant workers living and working in terrible conditions.

We were asked to review the North Wales Anti-Slavery Project as independent experts, and concluded that this project has taken the first steps towards making North Wales hostile to slavery . But more work is needed – and we will be working with the project in the future to explore how psychological interventions could help to change the slavery schemas held by both victims and criminals.

These types of awareness-raising activities and targeted interventions will, in the words of the leader of the British anti-slavery movement of the 1800s , William Wilberforce, ensure that we can never say again that we did not know.

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Introduction: fighting modern slavery from past to present

2021, Fighting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking: History and Contemporary Policy

Over the last two decades, fighting modern slavery and human trafficking has become a cause célèbre. Yet large numbers of researchers, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, workers, and others who would seem like natural allies in the fight against modern slavery and trafficking are hugely skeptical of these movements. They object to how the problems are framed, and are skeptical of the “new abolitionist” movement. Why? This book tackles key controversies surrounding the anti-slavery and anti-trafficking movements head on. Champions and skeptics explore the fissures and fault lines that surround efforts to fight modern slavery and human trafficking today. These include: whether efforts to fight modern slavery displace or crowd out support for labor and migrant rights; whether and to what extent efforts to fight modern slavery mask, naturalize, and distract from racial, gendered, and economic inequality; and whether contemporary anti-slavery and anti-trafficking crusaders' use of history are accurate and appropriate.

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There is still deep disagreement over the meaning of the term trafficking in persons, despite having had legal definitions for it for nearly 20 years. These disagreements continue to persist despite extensive scholarly attention and numerous calls to come to consensus for purposes of research and distribution of funding. This article offers two reasons for this endurance: First, trafficking is not an act in itself but a concept created to address social ills. It is not static, and the creative process continues to reshape what it means. Second, groups have been able to capitalize on the linguistic ambiguity to achieve certain political goals. This has provided incentive for them to keep using the language in contradictory ways. This article examines those incentives and the ways in which law has contributed to their creation. It reviews the history of the creation of anti-trafficking narratives and how they've been used to obscure potentially less palatable criminal and anti-immigration agendas. Given the expansiveness of U.S. global influence, the appearance of the categories "trafficked" and "not-trafficked" in its domestic and foreign policy has impacted not only legal landscapes but the ways in which groups of people are actually perceived and behave. U.S. laws and the narratives they reflect have resulted in activities that have harmed rather than benefited the marginalized groups often promoted as beneficiaries of anti-trafficking work. The purpose of the article is to clearly illustrate these processes in order to be able to identify and anticipate their effects in future initiatives. In that context it also draws attention to the construction of a new emerging trafficking narrative around the U.S.-Mexico border and its use as justification for punitive criminal law and the building of a wall to reduce migration.

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Twenty years ago, international cooperation against trafficking in persons was close to non-existent. This changed suddenly and irreversibly in 2000, with the signing of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons (TIP), especially Women and Children. Since then, regional and bilateral cooperation initiatives on TIP have proliferated. In addition to these interstate agreements, recent years have witnessed the emergence and spread of novel forms of soft or voluntary rule making, developed by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and private actors. As a result, the governance of TIP has evolved from a state-centric regime to a transnational regime complex, in which public and private actors share responsibilities over various global governance tasks, including information sharing, standard setting and monitoring and evaluation. In seeking to map out and shed light on the different components of this transnational regime complex, the article proposes a typology of transnational governance initiatives and illustrates its usefulness with an original dataset of 58 private, and public-private schemes involved in various aspects of the governance of TIP. The article then considers the implications of this increasing institutional complexity for international efforts to stop human trafficking. I argue that despite these remarkable institutional transformations and the growing role of private actors, the implementation of TIP rules and norms remains uneven and driven by state interests. Notwithstanding the increasing participation of non-state actors and IGOs in the governance of TIP, states' security concerns and their reluctance to cooperate on migration issues continue to drive anti-trafficking policies worldwide.

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Genevieve LeBaron

Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not. Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of broader dynamics of work and employment, since low-waged workers tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short periods of time. Third, on-the-ground studies of the effectiveness of buyer-centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for business scholars to make a contribution.

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A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of contemporary unfree labour. In this article, we argue that this literature could be strengthened by a stronger conceptualization of, and more systematic attention towards, the role of national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.

By most accounts, forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery are thriving in the global economy. Recent media reports — including the discovery of widespread trafficking in Thailand's shrimp industry, forced labour in global tea and cocoa supply chains, and the devastating deaths of workers constructing stadiums for Qatar's World Cup— have brought once hidden exploitation into the mainstream spotlight. As public concern about forced labour has escalated, governments around the world have begun to enact legislation to combat it in global production. Yet, in spite of soaring media and policy attention, reliable research on the business of forced labour remains difficult to come by. Forced labour is notoriously challenging to investigate, given that it is illegal, and powerful corporations and governments are reluctant to grant academics access to their workers and supply chains. Given the risk associated with researching the business of forced labour, until very recently, few scholars even attempted to collect hard or systematic data. Instead, academics have often had little choice but to rely on poor quality second-hand data, frequently generated by activists and businesses with vested interests in portraying the problem in a certain light. As a result, the evidence base on contemporary forced labour is both dangerously thin and riddled with bias. Researching Forced Labour in the Global Economy gathers an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to tackle this problem. It provides the first, comprehensive, scholarly account of forced labour's role in the contemporary global economy and reflections on the methodologies used to generate this research.

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The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking pp 1–18 Cite as

Explaining Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery

• John A. Winterdyk 3  
• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 23 January 2019

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The trafficking of persons is a diverse and complex concept that not only lacks a universal definition but which is conflated by a wide range of competing theories or models of explanation. This chapter provides an overview of some of the main theories and explanatory models and perspectives. They range from macro-level explanations to micro-level explanations, and the chapter concludes with a suggestion and recommendation for how researchers and theorists might work towards creating an integrated theoretical model.

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Winterdyk, J.A. (2019). Explaining Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery. In: Winterdyk, J., Jones, J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63192-9_68-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63192-9_68-1

Received : 05 February 2018

Accepted : 16 October 2018

Published : 23 January 2019

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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Introduction: Issues in Modern Slavery - A New GP E-Book

Anastasia Vasilyeva introduces and overviews a new Global Policy e-book available for free now .

Often thought to be a malice of the past, slavery continues to take on a variety of forms across the globe and disproportionately affects the most vulnerable - refugees, migrants, women, children, and marginalized identity groups. According to the IOM , fifty million people were enslaved in 2022. That figure includes individuals in conditions of forced and bonded labor, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced marriages.

This eBook assembles insights from leading academics and practitioners whose work addresses frontier questions around modern slavery. Key themes examined in this volume include causes of slavery, approaches to prevention, mitigation and rehabilitation, issues of definition and classification, policy shortcomings, and others. Many of the authors challenge the idea that slavery is categorically different from other forms of exploitation and advocate for focusing on reducing all types of vulnerabilities and empowering those on the margins of the global economy. Others critique dominant legislation surrounding the issue highlighting the unintended consequences that often reveal gaps in the mainstream understanding and operationalization of the experiences of slavery. Yet others discuss strategies for helping the victims and identifying the offenders. The articles collected in this eBook cite examples from various corners of the world, highlighting the global nature of this issue.

Jonathan Mandel and Kiril Sharapov critique the anti-trafficking industry by highlighting the perverse incentives faced by practitioners, a lack of focus on evidence and evaluation, and funding misuse. The authors argue that many anti-trafficking interventions are ineffective or even harmful, describing raids-based approaches that conflate trafficking with illegal immigration, citing the lack of behavior change resulting from awareness campaigns, and discussing poorly designed anti-trafficking apps. Mandel and Sharapov argue for the defunding of the anti-trafficking industry and a refocusing on addressing exploitation and vulnerability through redistributive justice and strengthening worker and migrant rights.

Several chapters in this eBook are dedicated to the legislative approaches that regulate responses to exploitation, determine the victim’s status, and define the level of authority of the state over certain sectors. These essays highlight the importance of legal frameworks for the material experiences of marginalized individuals who are labeled as slavery victims, as well as those who are excluded from that definition.

Jaffer Latief Najar considers the legacy of the anti-trafficking framework laid out in the Palermo Protocol over 20 years ago. The author argues that the operationalization of the ideas defined in the Protocol in many cases results in the denial of agency to consent, specifically in the context of sex work and labor migration. Najar cites his own research with sex workers in Kolkata, India that showed that the interventions influenced by the Palermo Protocol were often experienced as harmful by the intended beneficiaries. The essay concludes that conflating human trafficking with sex work and migration results in further disenfranchisement of some of the most vulnerable segments of global society.

Ronald Weitzer considers the evidence around the effect of decriminalization and legalization on sex trafficking rates and the well-being of sex workers. The author begins by highlighting the shortcomings of the two studies most commonly cited in anti-prostitution laws. Weitzer then argues that in-depth case studies, rather than large multinational correlation studies, are better suited for understanding the impact of the change of the criminalization status on previously criminalized businesses, citing case studies on the legalization of prostitution in Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. Much of the research around the legal status of sex work appears to suggest that it is criminalization, not legalization, that increases risks.

Samar El-Masri interrogates the factors that lead to the failure to deliver justice to Yazidi survivors of sexual slavery inflicted by ISIS. The precedence of ISIS membership as a sufficient criterion for a death penalty under the terrorism charge discouraged the collection of evidence and implementation of reparatory measures for the Yazidi victims who were seeking justice for the specific crimes committed against them. El-Masri argues that this resulted in victims of ISIS sexual slavery being denied the opportunity for public reckoning, confronting their abusers, locating women and girls who are still missing, and gathering evidence to memorialize the victims.

This volume further explores approaches to preventing and mitigating slavery. Several authors share unorthodox ideas for initiatives that could help survivors and address the causes of exploitation.

In their essay, Alex Balch and Lennon Mhishi offer a compelling perspective on the use of creative survivor-led approaches to modern slavery research and advocacy. The authors describe the model developed by the Anti-Slavery Knowledge Network, a University of Liverpool initiative that supports research and commissions projects that focus on arts-based community-centered approaches to anti-slavery action in several countries in Africa. The initiatives use creative and ethnographic methods to challenge narratives and break taboos in discussing exploitation, while engaging survivors and local community groups. The projects supported by the network use techniques like photography, performance, film, storytelling and more to rethink and document the experiences of communities and individuals affected by labor exploitation.

Neil Howard makes a thought-provoking case for universal basic income as a solution for eradicating modern slavery. The author argues that slavery is an extreme example of everyday exploitation under capitalism and addressing it requires eliminating its necessary contingents of vulnerability and propertylessness. In practice, the binary between coercion and consent becomes meaningless for workers on the margins of the global economy who are often compelled by circumstance to enter into conditions of slavery. Howard suggests that UBI would reduce vulnerabilities and render exploitation impossible.

Peter Bengsten focuses on the European regulatory environment aimed at addressing labor abuses down the supply chains. While new laws are being developed to solidify the punishment for labor abuse, the lack of effective monitoring and detection systems undermine the impact of these efforts. The author describes four distinct models for labor abuse monitoring that could fill the existing governance gap.

Other authors offer thematic case studies. For example, Deanna Davy explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the individuals affected by or vulnerable to modern slavery, organizations that provide support to the affected populations, and actors that engage in trafficking. Davy argues that the layoffs spurred by the pandemic resulted in increased inequality and debt that are linked to various forms of slavery. The pandemic also affected migrant workers, many of whom lost their jobs and found themselves stranded in a foreign country without the means to return home. Similarly, those already in situations of slavery suffered from a lack of access to medical care, health information, and other support, while the ability of NGOs to deliver support was disrupted by lockdowns and border closures. With that, Davy advocates for a way forward which includes the allocation of resources to social protection of the vulnerable, including migrants, and designing ways to deliver access to medical and other support services to the victims of slavery. 

Loria-Mae Heywood sheds light on the scale of child slavery and describes the factors that make it so common on the supply and demand sides. The author describes three approaches that have been successful at addressing child exploitation in Bangladesh, West Africa, and the Netherlands. Heywood writes that while these initiatives provide positive local examples of meaningful resistance against child slavery, scaling up their effects would require implementing global measures aimed at reducing the profitability of the trafficking industry and establishing protection systems for at-risk children.

Sarah Meo and Louise Shelley examine recent legal cases accusing hotel entities of facilitating trafficking. With hotels often becoming sites of exploitation, the authors investigate the ways in which hotels can enable trafficking, interrogate the effectiveness of the current anti-trafficking policies in the industry, and question the reluctance of many hotel brands to adopt more comprehensive guidelines and implementation practices.

The e-book also includes geographical case studies that illustrate how modern slavery manifests in different countries. The authors describe the unique features of labor exploitation in the selected locality, highlight local anti-trafficking efforts, and advocate for contextually tailored solutions to complement global frameworks.

In the first case study, Alexis Aronowitz reviews the patterns and causes of migrant worker abuses in the Gulf States that include harsh working and living conditions, salary withholdment, retention of passports, and physical or sexual abuse. The Kafala, an employer-driven work sponsorship system, establishes dependence whereby the kafeel holds significant legal and economic power over the migrant worker. Under kafala systems, workers’ rights to seek new jobs, leave the country, join unions or demand a minimum wage may be subject to regulation. Aronowitz also proposes reforms for sending and receiving countries to address the current situation of migrant workers in the Gulf.

Stephen Collins presents a fascinating case study from Ghana on the use of survivor testimony in theater performance. The project was implemented in James Town where, despite being a hotspot of modern slavery recruitment, the topic of modern slavery remains taboo. The script of the play was developed through in-depth interviews with survivors and performed by a local theater troupe. Audiences were encouraged to discuss the impact the play left on them and consider solutions they thought would fit their community.

Vera Gracheva describes the experience of working with the Russian trailblazing anti-trafficking network “The Alternative” in the desert-like infrastructural landscape where partnerships, awareness, rehabilitation processes, and even funding all needed to be built from scratch. Gracheva writes that, with high levels of poverty and illegal immigration, the population vulnerable to human trafficking is vast, while mechanisms for detecting and prosecuting cases of slavery are underdeveloped. The author describes how “The Alternative” operates a network of volunteers to respond to reported cases, highlighting the diversity of exploitative situations and types of victims the organization has encountered throughout the years of its operations. 

Tryon P. Woods argues that the USA’s criminal justice system presents a clear case study in modern slavery. With the highest rate of incarceration in the world, the state of the USA’ prisons today is interwoven with the country’s history of anti-black racism. Woods argues that policymaking that sought to criminalize the black community and pursue profit crystallized in the current phenomenon of the prison industrial complex. The comparison of practices in modern USA prisons and pre-abolition South reveals many similarities manifesting through themes of uncompensated labor, profit-making, resistance, and material living conditions.

Gary Craig brings attention to forced labor in rural parts of the UK, an issue that remained on the fringes of policy making until the mid-noughties. Craig argues that rural slavery has a number of unique dimensions that are generally not considered in national anti-slavery strategies. These features include higher distances between towns and low population density, fewer civil society partners, and fewer resources, all of which make it harder to identify and help victims. With that, the author advocates that organizations tasked with responding to modern slavery develop approaches that are sensitive to these differences. 

Binka Le Breton shares an overview of modern day slavery and the fight against it in Brazil. Forced labor, and most commonly debt slavery, penetrates many of the country’s key industries, such as logging, mining, and agriculture. Factors like the lack of decent jobs and rural poverty, widespread corruption, and vast amounts of remote Amazonian land align to create conditions that trap many vulnerable men. Le Breton details the efforts of the government and civil society that resulted in meaningful successes, while acknowledging that much more needs to be done until forced labor is fully eradicated in Brazil.

It is the editor’s hope that this volume galvanizes the reader to think critically about the themes and ideas presented by the authors, as well as take further steps to stay informed on issues of exploitation or get involved with local initiatives.

To download the free e-book as a PDF or for e-book readers, please  click here .

Anastasia Vasilyeva is a former intern for Global Policy and a current Research Manager at Consilient.

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Despite the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century, the practice is prevalent in the contemporary world. It is estimated that more people are enslaved today than during the few centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. Modern slavery poses a serious challenge to human rights protection worldwide, and many governments as well as international and regional bodies are working towards preventing and combating it.

This course explored the historical origins and forms of slavery from ancient times to the twenty-first century. It also looked at the international legal instruments regulating the prohibition of slavery: international human rights treaties, ILO conventions, as well as regional human rights instruments.

You should now be able to:

• understand the historical origins of slavery as well as examples of slavery
• understand the international legal framework prohibiting slavery
• understand the concept of modern slavery and its various forms
• analyse the applicable law and apply it to a given example/case study
• think critically about human rights aspects of slavery in a variety of contexts and to articulate an independent view
• critically analyse and evaluate proposals for new legislation addressing modern slavery.

If you are unsure about any of these, go back and reread the relevant section(s) of this course.

Essays , Issue #1 , Jason McQuinn

An introduction to modern slavery, by jason mcquinn  •  august 15, 2012.

Modern slavery should need no introduction. Modern slavery already intrudes into every aspect of life, debasing all it touches. It is the underlying organizing principle for all major economic institutions east and west, north and south. Its support and defense are the unspoken but automatically-understood objects of all major – and the vast majority of the minor – social, political and cultural institutions. Its infrastructure and demands extend into the deepest levels of modern consciousness, coloring our dreams as well as our nightmares. Yet modern slavery is largely invisible.

Modern slavery is officially non-existent. It has been tossed down the memory hole. It is not spoken of in polite company. Every institutional and government functionary, from the lowest levels of bureaucratic purgatory to the upper levels of elite power, knows instinctively that any explicit mention of its name as a contemporary reality means instant social death within the hierarchy. It is a rare day when it is acknowledged in any public context, even by the most radical or reckless of iconoclasts.

The dwindling numbers of union organizers and rank-and-file union members in the post-industrial nations less and less often speak even of wage slavery, despite a long and persistent history of naming this scourge during the dark decades of modern industrialization. Conservative writers usually reserve mention of slavery, if it’s mentioned at all, to excessive governmental regulation of business operations and, especially, of juridical property rights (which themselves are, ironically, always codified and enforced by that same government). Radical leftists (never mind the even more tamed moderates) are almost embarrassed to bring up the subject of slavery these days, except when speaking of history or, maybe, describing sweat-shop labor in the still-industrializing regions of the world. Even the extensive slave-labor systems employed in US prisons are unfit for public discussion, much less condemnation, especially in the allegedly “free” commercial press. Most of the population is blissfully unaware of their very existence.

Only the most extreme or titillating discoveries of enslavement around the world are usually acknowledged in these enlightened days. Stories of underground criminal syndicates running sex-slavery enterprises, stories of illegal immigrants imprisoned in slave-labor factories, or stories of slave-holding in the so-called “backward,” more “primitive” regions of Africa are given occasional exposure. This is largely in order to sell papers and magazines – or web ads, of course, along with drumming up charity support for administration-heavy humanitarian organizations. But it is also to demonstrate a moral lesson showing how much better off the rest of us are. After all, everyone knows that slavery as an institution has been officially abolished almost everywhere on the planet! It’s what we are taught in schools, what we hear the media, and what all the other social and cultural institutions tell us. Today, we’re all “free.”

But “freedom” has become just another word for modern slavery

The always ongoing propaganda wars for ideological hegemony have long been locked down by the religious, corporate and statist powers that be. Not just fought to victory over surrendering but still visible popular insurgents, but fought through to the virtual oblivion and disappearance of those now utterly demoralized foes. The ongoing crises of the age of revolutions were ended through the successful totalitarian – and semi-totalitarian – war-time mobilizations and post-war stabilizations of the mid-20th century. This was especially thanks to industrial commodity overflow and the immense semantic powers of the spectacular media to define reality, in full coordination with the immense social, economic and political powers of the major institutions of modern civilization. We now live in this spectacular brave new world, yet most people have little or no comprehension of what it means.

[pullquote]Everywhere we look slavery still exists throughout the civilized world. The trick is that it is not permitted to be named as such. [/pullquote]

Everywhere we look slavery still exists throughout the civilized world. The trick is that it is not permitted to be named as such. And even those who would attempt to question its ubiquitous existence are most often no longer strong enough to name it explicitly for themselves, much less publicly for others as well. Instead, the entire concept of slavery has been ideologically narrowed, distilled and reified to the point where it is reflexively understood as including only the most obvious and egregious forms of chattel enslavement – which is itself for the most part functionally obsolescent in modern, industrialized societies. The new (both conservative and liberal) politically-correct redefinitions of slavery conveniently serve to obscure the actual meanings and existence of the modern forms of bondage and servitude. The historical fact that chattel slavery has been vanquished precisely because it is generally inefficient, even incompatible, with more effective modern forms of labor domination and exploitation is not mentioned. Instead, the naive republican and democratic myth that chattel slavery has been suppressed primarily due to the victories of modern morality and political idealism is everywhere promoted.

The correlate of the disappearing act performed on institutionalized slavery has been the nearly ubiquitous rise of state-guaranteed freedoms – even under the most repressive and despotic of modern political regimes, along with the rise of democratic institutions around the world. Aside from a few remaining unapologetic kingdoms, theocracies and military dictatorships, every regime with pretensions to modernism attempts to project at least a semblance of social, economic and political freedom functioning within democratic institutions of some sort. What is never officially spoken – especially by the organs of mass media – is that the new forms of modern freedom can be legally expressed only in terms defined by the enforcers of state repression and work discipline. Once there still existed substantial numbers of people who maintained a modicum of autonomy guaranteed by their ability to live largely outside the commodity economy. Now there are only masses of (increasingly dependent, deskilled, demoralized and often functionally disabled) wage slaves, unemployed and homeless people inhabiting the major population centers of the modern post-industrial states. As long as they have the cash or resources they are “free” to buy commodities and sell themselves on the market. But any significant degree of autonomy or personal self-possession has long been absent. The commons have been appropriated, sold off, regulated or paved. Dispossessed of any significant means of livelihood beyond the economy of commodity exchange or stingy government handouts (“social benefits”), and of any genuine community outside of the local homeowners association, food co-op or Facebook people have for the most part lost even the ability to imagine what substantial freedom to live their own lives might mean. The only remaining utopian goal is to make a world of never-ending slavery more humane and more comfortable – if not as lived reality, then at least in its depictions in the spectacular media and the new frontier of blogs and social media! Left liberals and democratic socialists now settle for inspiring new visions in which a change in figurehead leaders, legal technicalities and regulatory personnel makes everything so much better! While all the ideological libertarians and anarchists of left and right tag along demanding a world of self-managed slavery!

Modern Slavery calls for a renewed struggle to abolish all forms of slavery!

As Lewis Perry points out in his essay “European Anarchism and the Idea of Slavery,” the mainstream of European anarchism – as well as those marginal to this mainstream – “defined [anarchism] by attacking slavery.” (see the appendix to Lewis Perry, Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought , Cornell University Press, 1973, p. 309) It was hardly surprising then that large numbers of abolitionists in the Antebellum United States quite logically turned toward anarchism, even in the absence of any established North American movement. And even then it was not uncommon for anarchists to point out that abolition of chattel slavery in order to inaugurate a new regime of generalized wage-slavery was not necessarily much of an improvement if there was no provision for any real autonomy and self-possession after manumission. Today anarchists have largely forgotten this central truth.

This is the reason Modern Slavery has been launched. To remind the libertarian milieu in general that promoting visions of freer slavery is no more than a continuing road to nowhere. For libertarian projects and movements to become relevant and more than sometimes amusing side shows to an onrushing future of post-modern cybernetic totalitarianism we need to stop all the self-defeating compromises with the pro-slavery left and right: both socialists and capitalists, red fascists and black fascists. If we can’t call slavery “slavery” and show ourselves and others that we won’t tolerate it, then we haven’t got much worth contributing to any anti-political, anti-state debate. If we can’t demonstrate that it’s possible to build new communities where slave holders, slave drivers and slave auctioneers are an extinct species, why call ourselves libertarians or anarchists at all?

Modern Slavery is a meeting space for all those interested in moving on beyond the dead-ends of ideology and postmodern fashions. Modern Slavery is for anyone and everyone interested in choosing to live their own lives to as great an extent as possible here and now. Modern Slavery is not the place to read the latest theories about organizing the masses, buying ecology-friendly commodities or reforming capitalism through direct democracy, neighborhood associations, industrial unions or abolishing the Federal Reserve! Modern Slavery is written, edited and published for those who think and act for themselves and want to encourage others to do so here and now and always.

Critical self-theory and the non-ideological critique of ideology

Modern Slavery promotes the non-ideological critique of ideology. There is a direct correlation between the rise of institutions of slavery and the rise of ideology. Prior to the development of shared ideological systems defining and justifying enslavement, the existence of slavery could not develop beyond particular individual instances. It takes a community-wide ideological system in which legitimated roles of domination and submission are explicitly defined in order for slavery to become institutionalized in developing hierarchical societies.

So the spread of ideology around the world, initially in the form of religion, accompanied the spread of slavery – all the various forms of forced labor. It can be argued that the rise of civilization – the centralization of religious, political and economic power in hierarchical, urban centers dominating their respective territories of resource extraction – has been co-extensive with the rise of both institutionalized ideology and slavery. In fact, it would be hard to find any factual arguments against this thesis, although there will probably always be apologists ready to argue that the role of slave in ancient Greece or the latifundia of Rome, serfdom in medieval Europe, indentured servitude in imperial colonies, or wage slavery under capitalism really isn’t so bad! And the reason this simple truth is almost never taught in schools, admitted by professional historians, or spoken of in any of the organs of dominating institutions isn’t hard to understand. Those who are subjected to the systems of forced labor – all of us without the means of livelihood and the power to live our lives unmolested by the regulative hierarchical institutions of modernity – will remain easier to manage as long as the dominant culture sings hymns to our many “freedoms” in order to drown out any occasionally discordant notes.

[pullquote]The only way to genuinely move beyond all the ideologies of modern slavery is to move beyond any apologies for any forms of forced labor. This requires a non-ideological critique of ideology, which can only arise from unreified, non-institutionalized theory and practice.[/pullquote]

It becomes obvious, then, that the fight against slavery is also the fight against all the ideologies of slavery, the ideologies by which the institutions of forced labor are legitimized. However, this fight is complicated by the historical evolution of the institutions of slavery themselves, whose developments are always accompanied by appropriately new forms of ideology. This has given us the entire panoply of competing modern ideologies: nationalism, liberalism, socialism, fascism, Marxism, communism, etc. (Many naive – or occasionally cynical – people turn libertarian ism and anarch ism into competing new ideologies as well.) Superficially, it can seem that some of the more radical of these ideologies claim to oppose all ideology. However, a closer examination always reveals that none can rise above the level of the competitive ideological critique of other ideologies. The only way to genuinely move beyond all the ideologies of modern slavery is to move beyond any apologies for any forms of forced labor. This requires a non-ideological critique of ideology, which can only arise from unreified, non-institutionalized theory and practice. This means a completely libertarian practice and theory that rests on no artificially-constructed subjectivities that can be turned back around to demand our subjugation and domination. This especially means no collective subjectivities that are represented as something other than or more than the particular persons who make them up at any given moment in space and time. And this, in turn, leaves us with any non-ideological critique of ideology arising from – and only from – the critical self theory of particular living individuals in their own chosen relationships with each other. Critical self-theory is the non-ideological critique of ideology, and this is the ultimate basis for any non-ideological anarchy.

Neoliberal potlatch and the end of empire

Modern Slavery will examine the neoliberal economic crisis – a structural crisis far more serious and long-term than has been generally yet acknowledged. And the predictable effects of the collapse of neoliberalism – the end of empire for the United States. We have already seen the Soviet empire collapse in 1989 and subsequent years. The upcoming collapse of neoliberal empire may be even more spectacular, though it will be likely to last for a decade or more of increasing retrenchments, unlike the rapid Soviet collapse. Whatever else we can expect there is no actual neoliberal “recovery” in sight as the Eurozone disintegrates, structural unemployment continues to grow throughout the industrialized world (clumsily hidden in the US by classifying most of the unemployed as not part of the work force), and much of the world’s financial systems and stock markets collapse. With peak oil, the effects of global warming, and the impending declines of the world’s agriculture, fisheries and fresh water supplies, combined with still growing populations and onrushing worldwide industrialization, there is no hope for economic stabilization under the rule of capital over the coming decades. The world is on a path towards massive social, economic, technological, military and political upheaval. It is extremely important that we get out in front of the coming changes in order to anticipate what will be ahead and act appropriately as the world’s population and development trends for centuries grind to a halt before they turn to decentralization, deurbanization and the winding down of overly complex technologies, as well as irrational development patterns, and production and distribution systems. The world will neither look or feel the same in the upcoming decades, and the pace and direction of the changes will undoubtedly surprise most of us.

No future for modern slavery?

The end of neoliberalism, the end of the US empire, the decline of fossil fuel production, and the intensification of the ecological crises of our time do not mean that the end of 10,000 years of human slavery is necessarily in sight. None of these processes guarantee on their own or together the end of capitalism, the end of hierarchical social institutions, the end of resource despoliation or the end of mass species extinction. If modern slavery is to be ended it will only be ended by people refusing to submit any longer as slaves here and now in all aspects of our everyday lives. This can be accomplished only by beginning to live differently in convivial, mutually-beneficial, non-hierarchical and anarchic relationships. And, most importantly, doing so with an eye on preventing recuperation of our efforts through the creation of ever newer forms of enslavement by all the ideologues and bosses ready to take over. Will you join us on this journey?

-Jason McQuinn

[We very much encourage considered comments on these pages. But, because the web site receives large amounts of spam that wastes our time, as of 04/16/15 to comment you will need to register and be logged in to the web site whenever comments are made.]

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What works: a review of interventions to combat modern day slavery.

• Walk Free Foundation

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**What works? **

A review of interventions to combat modern day slavery.

Research paper prepared by Katharine Bryant, Research Manager, Walk Free Foundation and Bernadette Joudo, Research Assistant, Walk Free Foundation

Introduction

The importance of evaluation to understanding the impact and effectiveness of projects designed to prevent or address the harm connected with modern slavery is widely accepted.1 Reviews of evaluations already undertaken offers an opportunity to both take stock of the state of the evaluation field – what has been evaluated and what has not? - but also to identify and examine results emerging from evaluation work that has already been undertaken. From these existing evaluations we’re able to identify what do we know, what don't we know, and what remains unclear?

In an effort to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of projects combating modern slavery, the Promising Practices Database was created by the Walk Free Foundation. The Database collatesimpact and programmatic evaluations of anti-slavery and counter trafficking programming and categorises these by terms such as country, region, type of modern slavery, and impact of the evaluation. The Database was developed so that project developers, researchers, and academics could quickly identify relevant evaluation work that had already been undertaken, but also seek to better understand what works – and what does not— through a simple search by country, target population, type or sector of slavery, or type of intervention. The theory is that we can learn from the evaluations already undertaken, even if the learning is ‘there is a lot we don't know.’ To date, the Database contains 179 evaluations from the modern slavery and associated sectors.

Within the database, each evaluation is categorised based on the type of modern slavery, sector (or industry), type of activity, and program results. From this categorisation, we have mapped existing evaluations, identifying where they have been conducted, and whether there are any areas where further evaluation work is necessary. We have also been able to draw some general conclusions about the current state of monitoring and evaluation in the anti- slavery and counter trafficking field.

Following this overview paper are a set of policy papers that dive into different sectors or interventions targeting modern slavery, where we have made observations about which practices have been proven to work, which look promising, and which are ineffective.

This paper sets out the theory and purpose of the database; an overview of the process for developing the database; and identifies key lessons for modern slavery programming and evaluations. For more detailed analysis of certain sectors or interventions, please refer to corresponding policy briefs on case management initiatives, labour monitoring systems, and conditional and non-conditional cash transfers, among others.

A note on definitions

For the purposes of this research, the term ‘modern slavery’ is used. Modern slavery is an umbrella term which describes different forms of exploitation such as human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, and the sale or exploitation of children.

Related Content

Irc gedi annual report 2023, child centred early warning systems: examples and good practice, anticipatory action: a child-centered guide, icrc humanitarian law & policy blog: voluntary reports: a new tool ‘toward a universal culture of compliance with ihl’.

Slavery Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on slavery.

Slavery is a term that signifies the injustice that is being carried out against humans since the 1600s. Whenever this word comes up, usually people picture rich white people ruling over black people. However, that is not the only case to exist. After a profound study, historians found evidence that suggested the presence of slavery in almost every culture. It was not essentially in the form of people working in the fields, but other forms. Slavery generally happens due to the division of levels amongst humans in a society. It still exists in various parts of the world. It may not necessarily be that hard-core, nonetheless, it happens.

Impact of Slavery

Slavery is one of the main causes behind racism in most of the cultures. It did severe damage to the race relations of America where a rift was formed between the whites and blacks.

The impact of Slavery has caused irreparable damage which can be seen to date. Even after the abolishment of slavery in the 1800s in America, racial tensions remained amongst the citizens.

In other words, this made them drift apart from each other instead of coming close. Slavery also gave birth to White supremacy which made people think they are inherently superior just because of their skin color and descendant.

Talking about the other forms of slavery, human trafficking did tremendous damage. It is a social evil which operates even today, ruining hundreds and thousands of innocent lives. Slavery is the sole cause which gave birth to all this.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

The Aftermath

Even though slavery was abolished over 150 years ago, the scars still remain. The enslaved still haven’t forgotten the struggles of their ancestors. It lives on in their hearts which has made them defensive more than usual. They resent the people whose ancestors brought it down on their lineage.

Even today many people of color are a victim of racism in the 21st century. For instance, black people face far more severe punishments than a white man. They are ridiculed for their skin color even today. There is a desperate need to overcome slavery and all its manifestations for the condition and security of all citizens irrespective of race, religion , social, and economic position .

In short, slavery never did any good to any human being, of the majority nor minority. It further divided us as humans and put tags on one another. Times are changing and so are people’s mindsets.

One needs to be socially aware of these evils lurking in our society in different forms. We must come together as one to fight it off. Every citizen has the duty to make the world a safer place for every human being to live in.

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