Modern slavery – a topic hidden to the eyes of the public
- Chiara Haegelsteen
- Feb 6, 2022
- 2 min read
A lot of people nowadays think that slavery is mainly an issue left in the past, that it occurred the most during the time of the transatlantic trades, but many would be surprised that there are more people working in terms of slavery nowadays than at any other point of history. With about 25 million individuals being forced to labour, 15 million sold in forced marriages and many others working as a slave either to simply be able to live, or for other reasons, there are amount 40.3 million victims to this issue, but because many companies work hard to hide these actions, it is highly probable that there are far more people affected by this problematic.
Although male slaves are the most demanded for hard work, a lot of slavery scenarios mostly include women and children, usually working on easier tasks, but that are under unsafe conditions, underpaid, or not at all, and usually these people are found to be working more than what is secure for their health. The reason for more than 71% of modern slaves being women, and about of a fourth of them being children is usually cultural, as there are many cultures and religions that perceive women and children as inferior humans, and therefore their inferior worth makes them expendable.
You could also notice a common opinion and misconception that modern slavery only occurs in Eastern or economically poor countries, and although it is true that a majority of modern slavery happens in these regions, the issue also concerns western countries that are perceived as more ‘developed’, which is why many people would be quite surprised to know the amount of slavery cases happening near them. The reason for the massive number of common misconceptions and general misinformation about that topic is that if people were exposed to the truth about this issue, a lot of companies and even governments would be under the pressure of massive protests and court cases, which is why there is such an effort put into the hiding of the situation to the eyes of the public and coverage to conceal the truth.
In between forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, child slavery, forced marriages, forced domestic servitude, fast fashion industries, inherited slavery, exploited seasonal farm workers, and slavery in the construction industry, modern slavery is all around, and could easily bring up the question : What happened to our human rights ?
Chiara Haegelsteen
image source – the guardian, 2018
http://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/4937.jpeg - image two link
image source – Statista, 2021
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