Modern slavery

[This is the penultimate Substack from me in 2023. The next one (posted at the weekend, or just after) will be a special one for me, and hopefully a VERY useful one for you. Please encourage colleagues to subscribe – they may like it.]

‘It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name - modern slavery.’ President Barack Obama, 25 September 2012

In 2021, it was believed that up to 50 million people in the world were subject to human trafficking or are living in slavery. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage. More than half (52%) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries. Women and children are disproportionately vulnerable.
According to Anti-Slavery International, a person is in slavery if they are:

·       forced to work, by coercion or mental or physical threat

·       owned or controlled by an ’employer’, who uses abuse or the threat of abuse

·       de-humanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’

·       physically constrained or not allowed freedom of movement.

Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for the purposes of forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan have the highest absolute numbers of people in slavery, but the countries with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by the proportion of their population are North Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, India, and Qatar.

Forced marriage.

The estimated 22 million people living in forced marriage on any given day in 2021 represents an increase of 6.6 million since the 2016 global estimates. The true incidence of forced marriage, particularly involving children aged 16 and younger, is likely far greater than current estimates can capture; these are based on a narrow definition and do not include all child marriages. Child marriages are considered to be forced because a child cannot legally give consent to marry.
Forced marriage is closely linked to long-established patriarchal attitudes and practices and is highly context specific. The overwhelming majority of forced marriages (over 85%) is driven by family pressure. Although two-thirds of forced marriages are found in Asia and the Pacific, when regional population size is considered, the prevalence is highest in the Arab States, with 4.8 people out of every 1,000 in the region in forced marriage.

Combating forced modern slavery

In the UK, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is designed to combat slavery and trafficking of people. The international community addresses these issues of global governance and human rights through a variety of ways:

·       The United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

·       The UN Sustainable Development Goal 8, target 7, aims to end child labour by 2025 and end forced labour, human trafficking, and slavery by 2030.

·       The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998, commits signatories to freedom of association, elimination of forced labour, abolition of child labour and elimination of discrimination in work.

The strongest responses towards addressing modern slavery come from the Netherlands, USA, UK, Sweden. Australia, Portugal and Spain, all countries where there is political will, resources, and a strong civil society to push governments into action. Least action is taken by countries where there are high levels of conflict, political instability, and low political will, including North Korea, Iran, Eritrea, DRC, and South Sudan. Some wealthy countries have also taken very little action, notably Qatar, Kuwait, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea.

Modern slavery is associated with deeply hidden criminal activity and estimates of the numbers of people involved vary widely. Why does it happen? Trafficking for sexual exploitation has the highest profile but in fact most people are trafficked for their labour. People in poverty with limited opportunities for work are often desperate to improve the lives and prospects of their families, and this makes them vulnerable to exploitation. For instance, child labour (forced labour under 18) often begins when families experience a shock such as illness, unemployment, the effects of conflict, and as a result the head of household cannot support everyone. Child labour is then forced on them as a way of gaining some meagre income. Vulnerable people experience discrimination as well as intense competition for jobs, and lack of employment rights.

Forced labour in Uzbekistan

Over 1 million Uzbek citizens - teachers, doctors, students, and other public and private employees - are forced by the state to leave their jobs each autumn to pick the cotton harvest. If they refuse, they may be fined or lose their jobs. Wealthy elite groups earn £783 million from selling cotton on the global market. This ends up in the clothing supply chain. The Uzbek government claims that since 2012 child labour has ended, although there appears to be an increase in forced labour of teenagers and young adults.

Modern slavery in the UK

There are estimated to be over 12,000 people in slavery in Britain, and the UK ranks 52 out of 167 in the global prevalence index of slavery. Despite this, the UK government is seeking good governance of working practices and recruitment of labour. The Modern Slavery Act (2015) reflects a political will to reduce the number living in this country in slavery. Most forced labour in the UK comes from Albania, Vietnam, Nigeria, Romania, and Poland. It is concentrated in the agricultural, construction, manufacturing, and hospitality sectors. There are also considerable numbers of people forced to work in car-wash businesses, domestic slavery, or the sex industry. The Modern Slavery Act requires firms with an annual turnover of more than £36 million to make an annual statement about their efforts to reduce the risk of slavery. The UK has also established the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) with powers to investigate modern slavery across the whole labour market.

Furthermore, some major UK companies and their investors and shareholders are beginning to take an interest in the labour practices within their own supply chains in sectors such as cocoa, cotton, clothing, and mobile phone production. Some firms are prepared to take a strong stand, whereas others are reluctant to draw attention to poor employment, forced or bonded labour among their suppliers.

Migrant workers

Migrant workers are more than three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers. While labour migration has a largely positive effect on individuals, households, communities and societies, migrants are particularly vulnerable to forced labour and trafficking, whether because of irregular or poorly governed migration, or unfair and unethical recruitment practices.

How can we make significant progress towards ending modern slavery? Suggestions include:

·       improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections

·       ending state-imposed forced labour

·       stronger measures to combat forced labour and trafficking in business and supply chains

·       strengthening legal protections, including raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exception

·       promoting fair and ethical recruitment, and greater support for women, girls, and vulnerable individuals.