What is Modern Slavery?

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• An estimated 49.6 million people are in modern slavery all over the world. This generates an estimated $150 billion in illegal profits every year, making forced labor the second largest international crime.
• Bonded labour or debt bondage is when a workers’ labor is demanded to repay a loan. The person is usually coerced into working long after the loan is repaid. Often, the debt is passed on to the next generation.
• Forced labor is any work which people are forced to do against their will. 16 million, or 64% of of people in forced labor are in the private economy, exploited by individuals or enterprises. According to the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) there are 24,900,000 people in forced labour.
• Child slavery is one of the most shocking forms of slavery. Worldwide it is estimated that that one in four victims of slavery are children. Children’s labour is exploited in many jobs, including physical labor and domestic slavery.
• Live-in migrant domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because, confined to a private home, they are isolated from protections offered in a regular workplace.
• Child marriage can be another form of slavery, if the following three elements are present: if either party hasn’t given their free and informed consent, if either party is being subjected to control and a sense of ownership, and if either party cannot realistically leave or end the marriage. Servile marriage can affect adults too.
• Human trafficking is the act of recruiting or transferring a person by means of coercion, abduction or deception for the purpose of exploitation. Although most people assume sexual exploitation to be the most common reason for trafficking people, it is in fact for forced labor.

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