A range of factors can contribute to the survival of slavery into the modern day.
Why slavery persists
Why slavery persists
Why slavery persists
Even as laws banning slavery and its prohibition are enshrined in international instruments, notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is still practised in many forms: traditional chattel slavery, bonded labour, serfdom, child labour, migrant labour, domestic labour, forced labour and slavery for ritual or religious purposes.
Kofi Anan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1999
Despite a widely held belief to the contrary, slavery in its various forms remains prevalent as the world enters a new millennium.
Michael Dottridge, David Weissbrodt, Abolishing Slavery and Its Contemporary Forms, 2002
Some of the factors that contribute to the survival of slavery may be:
Poverty in the areas where slavery occurs
- Lack of financial institutions for the extreme poor can push them towards unregulated money-lenders who charge high interest rates or insist on large loans that leave the poor vulnerable to debt bondage
- Poverty can trap people in debt bondage, because interest may add to the debt burden as fast as the person in debt can pay it off
- Money-lenders may deliberately structure credit arrangements to trap people into long term debt bondage
- Poverty can make it impossible for the poor to move to an area where they can get employed as free workers
- Poverty may make it impossible for a worker to challenge an 'illegal' labour situation
Lack of alternatives
- If the alternative to slavery is starvation, then slavery will be seen as the least bad choice for a family - this may be why some people enter bonded labour, and where that is illegal, choose to enter a similar working relationship with the same employer
- Employers may join forces to restrict employment opportunities
- Caste and similar institutions may restrict the labour choices of a person
Barriers to the free movement of labour
- Poverty can make it impossible for the poor to move to an area where they can get employed as free workers
- People may be prevented by law or by force from moving to new areas to find work
Population growth
- This has produced a vast pool of people in need of work
International anti-slavery law is not effectively enforced
- There is a lack of institutions and procedures to enforce it
Some countries don't effectively enforce anti-slavery laws
- This may not always be done for completely unethical reasons - if the alternative is wholesale starvation, then a government may choose not to enforce the law against slavery
Corruption and crime
- Corruption and crime are thought to be significant obstacles to the enforcement of anti-slavery laws some countries
Global sales of goods using slave labour in the supply chain
- Increasing public pressure makes this less likely, and many multinational corporations insist on proper labour practices by their suppliers
- Most child labour, at least, is used to produce goods that are not internationally traded, so only a small proportion of slave labour is directly affected by the actions of multinational companies
Do redemption campaigns encourage slavery?
There is much controversy over whether redemption campaigns - in which slaves are bought and set free - also contribute to the persistence of slavery. The argument is that buying slaves - even in order to free them - increases demand for slaves and makes slavery profitable.
Redemption campaigns do, however, benefit the individuals who are freed - unless, of course, they have been enslaved for the specific purpose of being redeemed.
But slave redemption may be a textbook case of good intentions gone awry.
The financial incentives of slave redemption in Sudan, one of the word's poorest nations, encourage the taking of slaves. Moreover, the knowledge that foreigners with deep pockets are willing to pay to redeem slaves reduces the incentive for owners to set them free without payment.
The extent to which redemption has promoted slave-taking is difficult to document, but there is growing evidence of fraud in the redemption process, as unscrupulous chiefs, middlemen and rebel leaders alike ''borrow'' children who have never been abducted for the purpose of enlarging groups of slaves and increasing the proceeds from their redemption.
New York Times, 27/04/2001
See also
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