You may think that slavery is no longer happening today. However, right now, over fifty million people are in slavery worldwide. Slavery is a problem that affects all countries in the world, even those that have child-labor-laws. 

Slavery, in many ways, may seem different from the transatlantic slave trade. However, modern slavery encompasses many slavery forms, like people being born in slavery and human trafficking. There are very many definitions of modern slavery. They include aspects of involuntary exploitation and actions. 

You can define modern slavery as when a person gets exploited by others for commercial or personal gain. Whether coerced, tricked, or forced, their freedom is lost. It includes debt bondage, forced labor, and human trafficking. Everybody should have space everywhere, always. 

Modern slavery is all over and is hidden in sight. You can become enslaved by making clothes, picking crops, serving food, working in a house as a cleaner, nanny, or cook, or working in a factory. As a victim of modern slavery, you may face threats or violence, be forced into inescapable debt, or your passport is taken away, and even face deportation threats. 

Many people fall into this trap because they are escaping insecurity or poverty to support their families and lives. Now they cannot leave. 

According to estimates, international labor organizations state that over fifty million people are in modern slavery, forced marriage, or forced labor. The majority of these victims are children. Over twenty million are in forced marriage. Over forty percent of these people are children. 

Over thirty million are in forced labor, and over sixty percent of them are in forced labor in the private sector; over ten percent are in commercial sex exploitation. Close to four million people are in forced labor by the state authorities. The covid 19 pandemic has accelerated the conditions of forced labor. Migrant workers are vulnerable to forced labor. 

Types of slavery today 

Modest slavery comes in different forms. The most common ones are

  • Human trafficking

It involves the use of coercion, violence, and threats to harbor, recruit, or transport people to exploit them for organ removal, marriage, criminality, labor, and forced prostitution. 

  • Forced labor

Service or work that people are forced to do against their wishes is usually under the threat of punishment. 

  • Debt bondage/bonded labor

This is the most widespread form of slavery in the world. People in poverty borrow money and get forced to pay the debt, losing control of their conditions of employment and debt. 

  • Descent–based slavery 

This is an old form of slavery where you get treated as an entity, and the slave status gets transferred to the maternal line. 

  • Child slavery

This is when a child gets exploited for another person's gain. It includes child soldiers, child trafficking, child domestic slavery, and child marriages. 

  • Early and forced marriage

When an individual gets married against their will and does not have the option to leave, most child marriages are slavery. 

  • Domestic servitude

Domestic servitude and domestic work are not always slavery; when appropriately regulated, it is a source of income for people. Nevertheless, working in someone's home may be vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and slavery, as they are hidden from eyesight. You may also lack legal protection. 

Why are people in slavery today? 

You may end up in a slavery trap because you are vulnerable to being exploited, trapped, and tricked due to exclusion and poverty and because the law does not protect you adequately. 

You can be vulnerable to modern slavery when external circumstances push you into making risky decisions while seeking opportunities to provide for your family or when you get pushed into a job in exploitative conditions. Anybody can be a victim of forced labor, but people in vulnerable circumstances, like not accessing their passports or being in debt, are the most at risk. Conditions like climate change and covid 19 can make you susceptible to exploitation. 

Supporting Victims

Witnesses and victims in such cases will be vulnerable, which presents challenges in supporting and managing them before and during the trial. They are targeted for their vulnerability, are homeless, have an addiction to drugs and alcohol, destitute, isolated, and friendless. They may become institutionalized when they have discipline control, violence, and threats. 

It is suitable for these victims to be taken to private reception centers for easy assessment of needs and referral to the proper support agencies. In these cases, the police will work with social services to coordinate services and provide continuous accommodation and retain constant contact before trial. The CPS will liaise with officers before the prosecution to agree on accommodation, transport, and other costs for the trial duration. 

Limiting the number of third-party contacts with victims is good to help them reduce defense cross-examination that undermines the victim's credibility through coaching. 

It would help to consider using expert evidence like psychologists and medical evidence when there is extreme vulnerability. It is good to choose experts with tailored expertise to the needs and conditions of the victims, with the capacity to support the victim and give evidence and advise advocates in knowing how to communicate with the victim. Ground rule hearings and intermediaries can be considered in some cases. 

If a victim of forced slavery or labor is a suspect in a criminal case, refer to the section on suspects that are victims of slavery or trafficking. 

Many victims take a risk in giving evidence. Prosecutors must consider available measures to protect and support trafficked victims by providing evidence and making applications in court. 

Interpreters and Intermediaries

Issues like affiliation, political orientation, gender, cultural background, and regional origins of the interpreter should be considered while choosing the right person. Any requirement expressed by the witness should be considered. Arrangements for engagement and selection of qualified interpreters can be found within the judicial system. 

Slavery and trafficking victims are targeted for their vulnerabilities, like being mute, deaf, or learning challenges. In such cases, prosecutors should examine the witnesses via intermediaries to help witnesses give evidence in court. They offer communication assistance during the investigation. Intermediaries can explain the answers or questions for easy understanding. 

Final Thoughts 

People are being pushed into slavery and exploitation in the world. While it takes different forms, it should be the commitment of everyone to end slavery. 

Slavery is a problem in the whole world. Many people experience bonded labor, human trafficking, and forced labor. Individuals in forced labor make many products on shelves, but complex supply chains in business have made it hard for firms to spot abuses and exploitation in the supply chain. They may also hide behind this to avoid responsibility.