30 million people are slaves, half in India: survey

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slavery a crime against humanitySome 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labor, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude, a global index on modern slavery showed on Thursday.

Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labor in quarries and kilns to commercial sex exploitation, although the scourge exists in all 162 countries surveyed by Walk Free, an Australian-based rights group.

Its estimate of 29.8 million slaves worldwide is higher than other attempts to quantify modern slavery. The International Labour Organisation estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour.

“Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report said.

“Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”

The Global Slavery Index 2013 defines slavery as the possession or control of people to deny freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, usually through violence, coercion or deception. The definition includes indentured servitude, forced marriage and the abduction of children to serve in wars.

According to the index, 10 countries alone account for three quarters of the world’s slaves.

After India, China has the most with 2.9 million, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000), Ethiopia (651,000), Russia (516,000), Thailand (473,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (462,000), Myanmar (384,000) and Bangladesh (343,000).

The index also ranks nations by prevalence of slavery per head of population. By this measure, Mauritania is worst, with almost 4 percent of its 3.8 million people enslaved. Estimates by other organizations put the level at up to 20 percent.

Chattel slavery is common in Mauritania, meaning that slave status is passed down through generations. “Owners” buy, sell, rent out or give away their slaves as gifts.

After Mauritania, slavery is most prevalent by population in Haiti, where a system of child labour known as “restavek” encourages poor families to send their children to wealthier acquaintances, where many end up exploited and abused.

Pakistan, India, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon have the next highest prevalence rates.

At the other end of the scale, Iceland has the lowest estimated prevalence with fewer than 100 slaves.

Next best are Ireland, Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Finland and Denmark, although researchers said slave numbers in such wealthy countries were higher than previously thought.

“They’ve been allocating resources against this crime according to the tiny handful of cases that they’ve been aware of,” said Kevin Bales, lead researcher and a professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at Hull University.

“Our estimates are telling them that the numbers of people in slavery – whether it’s in Great Britain or Finland or wherever – in these richer countries actually tends to be about six to 10 times higher than they think it is.”

Walk Free CEO Nick Grono said the annual index would serve as an important baseline for governments and activists in the anti-slavery fight.

“This kind of data hasn’t been out there before,” he said. “It’s a multi-year effort, and next year we’ll have a much better picture of where slavery is and what changes there are. If you can’t measure it, you can’t devise policy to address it.”

Countries with highest absolute numbers of slaves:
India 13.9 million China 2.9 million Pakistan 2.1 million Nigeria 701,000 Ethiopia 651,000 Russia 516,000 Thailand 473,000 D.R. Congo 462,000 Myanmar 384,000 Bangladesh 343,000

Ranking by prevalence of modern slavery per head of population .

1 Mauritania 151,000  slaves . Total  population   3.8 million

2 Haiti 209,000 slaves . Total  population 10.2 million

3 Pakistan 2.1 million slaves . Total  population  179.2 million

4 India 13.9 million slaves . Total  population 1.2 billion

5 Nepal 259,000 slaves . Total  population 27.5 million

6 Moldova 33,000 slaves . Total  population 3.6 million

7 Benin 80,000 slaves . Total  population 10.1 million

8 Ivory Coast 157,000 slaves . Total  population 19.8 million

9 Gambia 14,000 slaves . Total  population  1.8 million

10 Gabon 14,000 slaves . Total  population 1.6 million

Source: Global Slavery Index 2013, Walk Free

Photo: Senegal’s national assembly adopted a bill in 2010 declaring slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity, moving closer to becoming the first African nation to pass such legislation.

Reuters

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28 responses to “30 million people are slaves, half in India: survey”

  1. Hannibal Avatar

    What a shame… The biggest sin of the superpowers, who directly or indirectly benefit from these labourers, is to do nothing about it.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      ANY who are ‘forced’ to work below a ‘minimum-living-wage’ are slaves. Just because ‘Big-Business’ loves the cheap labour and no-benefit-environment (not even well-constructed factories), doesn’t mean it’s their fault. Even in ‘super-power’ states it exists … now.
      Too many humans on the planet – unless everyone is willing to support those who cannot work.
      Too few educated to a minimum level.
      I’m surprised they haven’t divided it into figures here for male-female division … although I would also bet that females are the larger portion. Even when they are called wives and not slaves, in many cases it is the same thing. After all, if you want the work out of the slave you still need to provide some minimum sustenance.
      And whether ‘business-owners’ or ‘slave-owners’, there are good and bad.

      1. MekensehParty Avatar
        MekensehParty

        You should not confuse cheap labor with slavery. You can always quit a cheap job, you can’t get out of slavery. The problem is cultural rather than economic at this point in time. Countries where a human life is not worth much have a higher slavery rate, dwindling down to countries with high moral values where slavery is totally clandestine.
        There are villages and their inhabitants in India that are still owned by higher casts, why? because it’s accepted, it’s common, it’s still deep in the culture. Freeing a sex slave makes news in France…
        As for cheap labor, it exists in all countries, but that is a different kind of “slavery”, the slavery to our human condition.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          True Mekenseh … a slavery of the mind which can’t see, or worse, even imagine, any way out of it’s condition – unless willing to die.
          And yet, although not beaten into it or chained physically, the economic ‘low’ is, i think, similar in producing the mind-set. And it can become a generational habit too – especially if education is withheld. The past decade or so of lowing a large volume of the middle-class to the ‘working-poor’ level hasn’t helped the feeling.

          Why I add the ‘increased population’ shots is simply this. We put the planet into industrial and technological ‘ages’ – not simply to make wars, but to lighten the work loads and extend the lives of many humans. For a time, it worked well that there were more people, because they could ‘buy’ increasingly improved products. But now, finding there is only so much really necessary junk in a life (or a garage), and almost everything is done so much more efficiently by robots, the ‘industry’ is on a slide downwards. And thus also, the income possibility. No-one is ‘spreading the wealth’ – or lowering the work-hours as ‘we’ had hoped.
          For instance:
          The general quality of some materials has increased greatly, thanks to science. How many higher-quality shirts or pants do I really need, no matter where the materials are put together? Nike made ‘splashy’ shoes for $6 in Pakistan, sold them in North America for $250, and I can tell you I wasn’t running out of them in 2 months. But as income went down, I also decided on a ‘lesser’ shoe the next time – although having found out boys under 18 were making them finished the quest for sure. (over-18’s asked for more money – so got ‘laid off’)
          But there is, in ‘banking minds’ and others, the need for increased work-forces.
          Why? … If 20% can’t find a job and millions starve. Tax the Business, some say, and feed the people. But ‘fair’ overall would be a flat-tax-rate on ALL.
          And a hell of a lot shorter tax-form for business and individual.
          (How much did you make? Send us 15%. No deductions. Thanks. 😉

      2. You are totally screwed in Your head, how you dare to call wives “slaves” You are including Your own mother, a Wive is a respectable Mother dedicated to educate Her Children for the benefit of society, But I can see that wasn’t Your case.

      3. this subject seems to bypass peoples thinking abilities… working for money period is slavery heres why: slaves collect money, masters print money,if u cant see this by now in 2013 there really is no hope for the future! money itself is created by a alien/witchcraft/demonic based group of individuals who stripped away the populous ability to govern themselves and create things themselves, at one point in time we all used what is now called magic today, we are bound to training, schooling, and being pushed along like sheep, in a system designed for us to be slaves some try to escape using drugs, joining secret societies, or suicide…ask yourself this? why are humans considered the most intelligent creatures on the planet but need schooling and training? while everything else on the planet naturally has its fit here and needs no artificial help? cats don’t need school, trees don’t need school the most high already allows them to be what they are….but once they are trained then they become slaves….and the crutch is MONEY or in the animals case treats….THINK ABOUT IT

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          I’ve missed some responders .. wow. Hmmmm … and I’m sure I addressed this too somewhere along the way. Basically, it’s EVOLUTION. And it’s effects.
          Not all animals evolved quite the same way … but do you know that crows ‘learn’ by watching – after being cared for by a parent until they could fly out on their own of course. Racoons teach their young too – and city Racoons search out food differently than country cousins.
          Sometimes I talk to a tree … but I don’t think they respond well. However, they learn to bend with the wind, or break. (Growth rings show the weather-side.) And plants listening to Brahms do much better than those beaten by Acid-Rock.

          The Yeux-tree below (above) thinks I talk about all women – barely worth a response – but at one time in history, he would have used his club to claim one.
          😉
          As humans (which it seems barely survived getting into the scene in that African beginning) developed the brain, (in a skull that allowed early-growth expansion) they became less able to survive at younger ages simply because more could be provided longer by superior ‘hunter-gatherers’ with expanding abilities. ALL ANIMALS LEARN. The instincts are something humans buried a little to allow some ‘social living’ which also benefitted the young. (And lazier. 😉

          Although, as you note, some still allow the instincts to rise to the surface – and will club anyone who comes too close to their cave. 😉

    2. The problem, is if superpowers get involved, they are accused of being warmongers. It seems there is a great ideological struggle going on in the middle east, between those who want a free secular government, with no religion being pushed on the people, and people who want a muslim state with sharia law imposed on everyone. That in a nutshell is the problem. And until that changes, war and chaos will continue……..

    3. Yes they do, they have a whole army of slaves paying taxes in the UK and USA, to promote more slavery.

  2. Hannibal Avatar

    What a shame… The biggest sin of the superpowers, who directly or indirectly benefit from these labourers, is to do nothing about it.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      ANY who are ‘forced’ to work below a ‘minimum-living-wage’ are slaves. Just because ‘Big-Business’ loves the cheap labour and no-benefit-environment (not even well-constructed factories), doesn’t mean it’s their fault. Even in ‘super-power’ states it exists … now.
      Too many humans on the planet – unless everyone is willing to support those who cannot work.
      Too few educated to a minimum level.

      1. MekensehParty Avatar
        MekensehParty

        You should not confuse cheap labor with slavery. You can always quit a cheap job, you can’t get out of slavery. The problem is cultural rather than economic at this point in time. Countries where a human life is not worth much have a higher slavery rate, dwindling down to countries with high moral values where slavery is totally clandestine.
        There are villages and their inhabitants in India that are still owned by higher casts, why? because it’s accepted, it’s common, it’s still deep in the culture. Freeing a sex slave makes news in France…
        As for cheap labor, it exists in all countries, but that is a different kind of “slavery”, the slavery to our human condition.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          True Mekenseh … a slavery of the mind which can’t see, or worse, even imagine, any way out of it’s condition – unless willing to die.
          And yet, although not beaten into it or chained physically, the economic ‘low’ is, i think, similar in producing the mind-set. And it can become a generational habit too – especially if education is withheld. The past decade or so of lowing a large volume of the middle-class to the ‘working-poor’ level hasn’t helped the feeling.

      2. You are totally screwed in Your head, how you dare to call wives “slaves” You are including Your own mother, a Wive is a respectable Mother dedicated to educate Her Children for the benefit of society, But I can see that wasn’t Your case.

      3. this subject seems to bypass peoples thinking abilities… working for money period is slavery heres why: slaves collect money, masters print money,if u cant see this by now in 2013 there really is no hope for the future! money itself is created by a alien/witchcraft/demonic based group of individuals who stripped away the populous ability to govern themselves and create things themselves, at one point in time we all used what is now called magic today, we are bound to training, schooling, and being pushed along like sheep, in a system designed for us to be slaves some try to escape using drugs, joining secret societies, or suicide…ask yourself this? why are humans considered the most intelligent creatures on the planet but need schooling and training? while everything else on the planet naturally has its fit here and needs no artificial help? cats don’t need school, trees don’t need school the most high already allows them to be what they are….but once they are trained then they become slaves….and the crutch is MONEY or in the animals case treats….THINK ABOUT IT

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          I’ve missed some responders .. wow. Hmmmm … and I’m sure I addressed this too somewhere along the way. Basically, it’s EVOLUTION. And it’s effects.
          Not all animals evolved quite the same way … but do you know that crows ‘learn’ by watching – after being cared for by a parent until they could fly out on their own of course. Racoons teach their young too – and city Racoons search out food differently than country cousins.
          Sometimes I talk to a tree … but I don’t think they respond well. However, they learn to bend with the wind, or break. (Growth rings show the weather-side.) And plants listening to Brahms do much better than those beaten by Acid-Rock.

          The Yeux-tree below (above) thinks I talk about all women – barely worth a response – but at one time in history, he would have used his club to claim one.
          😉
          As humans (which it seems barely survived getting into the scene in that African beginning) developed the brain, they became less able to survive at younger ages simply because more could be provided longer by superior ‘hunter-gatherers’ with expanding abilities. ALL ANIMALS LEARN. The instincts are something humans buried a little to allow some ‘social living’ which also benefitted the young.

          Although, as you note, some still allow the instincts to rise to the surface – and will club anyone who comes too close to their cave. 😉

    2. CrossWinds Avatar
      CrossWinds

      The problem, is if superpowers get involved, they are accused of being warmongers. It seems there is a great ideological struggle going on in the middle east, between those who want a free secular government, with no religion being pushed on the people, and people who want a muslim state with sharia law imposed on everyone. That in a nutshell is the problem. And until that changes, war and chaos will continue……..

    3. Yes they do, they have a whole army of slaves paying taxes in the UK and USA, to promote more slavery.

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar

    Quick. Name one of the countries that doesn’t hand out condoms.

    1. How are you 5th Drawer……….God Bless…….

      ……..2 Thessalonians 2:8-12….

      ………. Evil is already insidiously at work but its activities are restricted until what I have called the “restraining power” (of God) is removed. When that happens the lawless man will be plainly seen—though the truth of the Lord Jesus spells his doom, and the radiance of the coming of the Lord Jesus will be his utter destruction. The lawless man is produced by the spirit of evil and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise. To those involved in this dying world he will come with evil’s undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them. God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil’s delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their play-fellow.

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar

    Quick. Name one of the countries that doesn’t hand out condoms.

    1. CrossWinds Avatar
      CrossWinds

      How are you 5th Drawer……….God Bless…….

      ……..2 Thessalonians 2:8-12….

      ………. Evil is already insidiously at work but its activities are restricted until what I have called the “restraining power” (of God) is removed. When that happens the lawless man will be plainly seen—though the truth of the Lord Jesus spells his doom, and the radiance of the coming of the Lord Jesus will be his utter destruction. The lawless man is produced by the spirit of evil and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise. To those involved in this dying world he will come with evil’s undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them. God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil’s delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their play-fellow.

  5. Assad is Khamenei’s slave

  6. Heraclitus Avatar
    Heraclitus

    Assad is Khamenei’s slave

  7. Jesus sets us free……………

    …….Romans 6:16-22………

    16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
    19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
    20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life…

  8. CrossWinds Avatar
    CrossWinds

    Jesus sets us free……………

    …….Romans 6:16-22………

    16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
    19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
    20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life…

  9. maborlz ez hari Avatar
    maborlz ez hari

    What about the slaves that Dont realize they are slaves. The ones who work on behalf of the devil and they Dont know it. All these cross eyed, smelly bearded men memorizing pages out of the hate book and imposing their rules on their families, society, children, wives and so on. Free your selves from the shackles that your religion has in place to bind you to continuous error and slavery to the devil. Be Gods slaves instead by denying yourself worldly pleasures and lustful thoughts, that is so dominant in Islam.

  10. maborlz ez hari Avatar
    maborlz ez hari

    What about the slaves that Dont realize they are slaves. The ones who work on behalf of the devil and they Dont know it. All these cross eyed, smelly bearded men memorizing pages out of the hate book and imposing their rules on their families, society, children, wives and so on. Free your selves from the shackles that your religion has in place to bind you to continuous error and slavery to the devil. Be Gods slaves instead by denying yourself worldly pleasures and lustful thoughts, that is so dominant in Islam.

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