Who is involved in slavery

Including yours. Modern slavery is the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain. Modern slavery is all around us, but often just out of sight. People can become entrapped making our clothes, serving our food, picking our crops, working in factories, or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies. From the outside, it can look like a normal job. But people are being controlled — they can face violence or threats, be forced into inescapable debt, or have had their passport taken away and are being threatened with deportation.

Many have fallen into this oppressive trap simply because they were trying to escape poverty or insecurity, improve their lives and support their families. Most are migrating in search of decent employment and a better livelihood. Migrant workers who borrow money from third parties face an increased risk of being in forced labour.

About Some million children are in child labour, about half in its worst forms, primarily hazardous work. Alliance 8. Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and end child labour in all its forms. The new legally-binding ILO Protocol on Forced Labour aims to strengthen global efforts towards combating forced labour, trafficking and slavery-like practices. Of the Slaves clean houses and flats ; produce the clothes we wear ; pick the fruit and vegetables we eat ; trawl the seas for the shrimp on our restaurant plates ; dig for the minerals used in our smartphones , makeup and electric cars ; and work on construction jobs building infrastructure for the Qatar World Cup.

Another 4. Statistically, modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific, according to the Global Slavery Index , which publishes country-by-country rankings on modern slavery figures and government responses to tackle the issues.

But the ILO and Walk Free warn that these figures are likely skewed due to lack of data from key regions. Forced marriage is most prevalent in Africa. Slavery is big business. Whereas slave traders two centuries ago were forced to contend with costly journeys and high mortality rates, modern exploiters have lower overheads thanks to huge advances in technology and transportation. Modern migration flows also mean that a large supply of vulnerable, exploitable people can be tapped into for global supply chains in the agriculture, beauty, fashion and sex industries.

According to slavery expert Siddharth Kara, modern slave traders now earn up to 30 times more than their 18th and 19th century counterparts would have done.

Human trafficking is just one way of enslaving someone. Trafficking involves the recruitment, transfer or obtaining of an individual through coercion, abduction, fraud or force to exploit them. That exploitation can range from forced labour to forced marriage or commercial sex work — and the exploiter can be anyone, including strangers, neighbours or family members.