Poverty, Illiteracy, Social Exclusion as the Roots of Contemporary Slavery - Essay Example

? THE BACKGROUND-SLAVERY The Background-Slavery Freedom of speech and freedom of practice form a basic human right. However, even in today’s world of modern ideas and liberalism, this basic human right is only a privilege to some people around the world. It would be, sadly a mistake to say that slavery has been completely abolished, because slavery still exists in the contemporary world. Slavery was a common practice in the ancient times and the 1815 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the Slave Trade was the first international voice against slavery. With the passage of time, different legal and social anti-slavery movements emerged in different parts of the world. Although, the extent, forms and magnitude of human slavery has reduced as compared to our past, but it has not been completely abolished. The evolution of human freedom as a basic human right was observed between mainly the time period of 1815 and 1957, when 300 different international agreements were implemented against slavery (Weissbrodt, 2002). Nevertheless, slavery exists among us in various parts of the contemporary world, in spite of the anti-slavery legislations. Slavery is observed in a plethora of forms and shapes including, forced labour, human trafficking, bonded labour, child labour and descent-based slavery. To understand the contemporary forms of slavery and the current legislations against slavery it is essential to familiarize with the evolution of this human right over the past decades. Slavery was defined by an international agreement in the League of Nations Slavery Convention as, “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised” (Weissbrodt, 2002). Slave trade was defined as, “all acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with view to being sold or exchanged and in general every act of trade or transport in slaves” (Weissbrodt, 2002). Several forms and types of slavery were also identified by the Temporary Slavery Commission in 1924. These forms consisted of domestic or predial slavery, acquisition of girls by purchase disguised as payment of dowry, adoption of children with the purpose of their enslavement and systems of compulsory labour either public or private and paid or unpaid (Weissbrodt, 2002). Down the history lane, slavery was practiced commonly and quite prominently in Greece and Rome, colonial Latin America and the Caribbean and the Southern states of the USA. Slavery emerged after the development of three basic ideas: the concept of personal property, the realisation that humans can also be used to improve an individual’s industry and the development of nations which led to the prisoners of war (Smith, 2013). In Greek culture, different forms of slaves were kept such as war slaves, household slaves and the common slaves. Subsquent laws protected the Greeks from enslavement, however it was followed by enslavement of non-Greeks. Similar cases of debt bondage and enslavement associated to it was observed in the Roman culture (Darren, 2003). The experience of enslavement, in the United States, of the Africans was a harsh and cruel one. According to historians, it was strongly connected to racial prejudice and the slaves were brutally treated, even killed without any action taken. Harsh punishments for small mistakes or acts of ‘disrespect’were given. Strong rebellions against the harsh dominance was observed in United States and it forms an important part of evolution of the human rights. The contemporary forms of slavery and the existance of enslavement practices highlights the ineffectiveness of the laws in various parts of the world. The ‘new’slavery is different from the ‘old’ slavery in many ways. There is no legal entitelement to ownership as slavey has been stated as illegal everywhere. Moreover, in old times buying a slave required huge investment, however now slaves are bought and sold at meagre amounts. In new slavery, ethnic differences are of least importance and short-term relationships are established, unlike the old practice of slavery. New slavery is practiced with a surplus amount of slaves and very high profits are gained by the enslavement (Darren, 2003). These slaves are disposed off when private or public needs are accomplished, unlike the old slavery where the salves were maintained for londer period of times or even passed down the family line. Forced labour is one of the forms of contemporary enslavement, that is practiced around the world. Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor which includes 11.4 million women and 9.5 men. Out of these, 19 million are exploited by private indivduals or enterprises. Out of the exploited indivduals, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation. Forced labour is performed in various sectors which include domestic work, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and entertainment (International Labor Organization, 2013). Adolscent girls and young women are forced into labour as factory workers in India for the manufacture of garments. These garments are sold in the international markets. Girls are used as factory workers in Southern India especially the spinning mills of Tirupur (Anti-Slavery International, 2012) Human trafficking is another form of slavery which has become easier with the globalisation of the world. Global organised crime has seen a rise after the end of cold wars and the weakened border controls between different countries. 190 million people have moved from their birth country to different areas as a result of economic migration and regional conflicts, since 2005 (Smith, 2013). This makes the act of human trafficking more easily practiced and highly profittable to the traffickers. Several legal efforts are taken to stop the acts of slavery around the world and therefore to protect the basic human right to freedom. The Commission on Human Rights on its sixtieth session decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur for a three year period on human trafficking and its victims. The purpose was to bring into observation any violation of laws and protection of the human rights of the victims. Article 4 of the UDHR states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”(United Nations Human Rights, 2012). It is important to eradicate the basic causes of slavery that lead to this practice. Poverty, unawareness, lack of education, social exclusion and racial discrimination lead to emergence of slavery and its wide practice. Slavery is a violation of freedom. Contemproray forms of slavery are seen in various parts of the world. Forced, labour, sexual slavery, child labour, human trafficking are only some of the types which are commonly practiced. Although legal acts and laws are present to keep a check on slavery but they have proved to be ineffective. It is important that human right protection should be signified and awareness regarding basic rights should be spread. Problems such as poverty, illiteracy, social exclusion should also be addressed as they form the roots of contemporary slavery. Bibliography ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL (2012) Slavery on the High Street – Forced Labour in the Manufacture of Garments for International Brands. [online]. Anti-Slavery International. Available at [last accessed 1 January 2014] INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION (2013) ‘Forced Labour’. [online]. Available at: [Last accessed 1 January 2014] O’BYRNE, D (2003) ‘Slavery’ Human Rights: An Introduction. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. pp. 263-298 SMITH, D. (2013) ‘180 years after abolition, why is it the slave trade is booming?’ [online] The Guardian. Available at: [Last accessed 1 January 2014] UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS. (2012). “Special Rapporteur on trafficking persons, especially in women and children.” [online]. United Nations Human Rights. Available at: [Last accessed 1 January 2014] UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS. (2012). “Special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery”. [online]. United Nations Human Rights. Available at: Read More