Thursday, October 17, 2013
30 million people are slaves, half in India
Lalee Kolhi, center, a freed bonded laborer turned activist, sits with her family members at her home on the outskirts of the city of Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province on Feb. 4. Kolhi worked for more than 20 years for a landlord in slave-like conditions before she was freed. She has since worked as an activist to lobby the courts and police to rescue other bonded laborers.
Almost half of the people enslaved worldwide are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labor to commercial sex exploitation, a new survey shows.
LONDON — Some 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 Labor Organisation estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor.
"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 labor 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).
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By Timothy Large of Reuters
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