Is Slavery Abolished: From Slave Trading to Human Trafficking - Report Example

Is Slavery abolished? From Slave trading to Human Trafficking In the history of mankind, perhaps the single most heinous concept that has been passeddown through generations of people is that of slavery (Ghaban, 2006: 528). It is a practice that gives one human the complete power over another, allowing him to do anything and everything possible with no intervention from the outside. To be a slave means to be owned by another individual. A slave would be killed and no one could lift a finger. That is the basic idea of how slavery worked. Today, we call our society the “champion of freedom”, having abolished all acts of slavery through democracy and freedom of speech. Today, we consider all people to be free, to do as they wish. Today, we think that we have abandoned our centuries old custom and have started to respect each other as equals with equal rights. But have slaves really vanished from the face of the Earth? Even though slavery was officially abolished in the 19th century, it still exists in number of ways including human trafficking, child labour, and domestic workers. The one that poses the greatest problem is that of human trafficking (Parreñas et al, 2012: 1015). As the name implies, it involves the transport of humans across borders to new areas and regions. However, is hard to define exactly. For simplicity, it involves two basic steps. Firstly, the transport of individuals across different regions and, secondly, the working of these transported people in a manner similar to the slaves of the 19th century (Ghaban, 2006: 528).. Slavery, and slave trade, had always existed in one form or the other. While it flourished with the rise of the Roman Empire, it did not fade away with the Empire’s fall and continued to grow in many countries of Europe. Even though it decreased to some extent in the northern parts, having slaves was a norm in the southern regions of Europe. Slave transport flourished in the Arab countries in the late 8th century. In America, the story started in the 17th century in the tobacco producing regions of Virginia and Maryland. These were home to many tobacco producing farms that employed the services of British laborers. However, over time, these workers started to rebel and proved troublesome and were subsequently replaced with black African slaves who were not only working for free, but also were obedient and dependant on the owning family. These African slaves were captured and then transported through the Atlantic Ocean to work in alien environment, without pays, completely at the mercy of the owners (Jones, 2009: 11). With the further growth of agriculture in the region, the demand for labour grew and slavery became ever more prevalent in the region. Over the years, a picture similar to the slavery observed in the Arab and European countries came into being in the United States. Salves would arrive on port from Africa where they would be bought and sold to the highest bidders to work in farms and mills (Solow, 1991: 55). At the workplace, they had poor working conditions with no regard to their own health and safety. Many would die of various diseases with no medical care whatsoever, resulting in hundreds of deaths in a single region. It was an example of utter disrespect and disregard for the human life. Slavery may be abolished but people are still transported across regions for similar gains. Today, this transport is called human trafficking. To date, people are captured and then transferred to different countries to work as forced labour. Perhaps the most prominent industry to utilize such transport is that of prostitution, where such transported humans form the supporting pillar for one of the most profitable illegal trades of our time. In the process, they generate huge sums of money for the people that control them. This transport of women across regions is thoroughly investigated by Kara, who is reported to have seen countless such examples while working in several continents including America, Europe and South-East Asia. Women, young and old, would be tricked, kidnapped (Kara, 2009: 135), seduced or forced to leave their home and go to a foreign land where they would “serve” their customers. Similarly, women in Africa are tricked in hopes for better jobs and lives and then transported to countries like Germany and Italy where they are made to work as prostitutes (Ngwa, 2007: 287). Moreover, their movements are monitored and even blindfolded while on their way to work so as to prevent anyone from escaping. Many of them were under a “debt” from their traffickers for paying for their transportation while moving them across different countries. This was a debt which had to be paid in full before they could be free to work in more respectful professions. With the meager wages for which they worked, paying this debt meant service of a lifetime. The manner of transport and the working conditions seems particularly similar to those of slaves, before slavery was”abolished”. Another feature that is common to both is the systematic disadvantages that both groups had to face in their respective regions. The black slaves in America were were not allowed to purchase land, or, own a house of their own to stay in (Zanca, 1994: 160). They were prevented from learning to read and write in case they become independent and revolt in the process as well. Most of them were denied medical care to the point that several members of the same family would die in a single outbreak of disease. They could have families, but their offspring would then have to work as “slave children” for the same family. Even after the abolition of slavery, in his book Brooks states that the black community never really progressed because of the same thinking of the people from whom they were freed. They were denied basic rights resulting in them remaining a part of the lower class of the community (Brooks, 1996: 58). Similarly, the transported individuals for the sake of prostitution and labour had similar rights issues. As Green stated that women had no rights in the countries where they were made to work as prostitutes (Green, 2006: 40). They had minimum wages with no rights to social funds and would be kept on tight watches by their group pimps so that they don’t wander off far away or try to escape. Once they have serviced enough people, which can range in hundreds and are of no further use, are they discarded. Both the black slave community and the trafficked women faced similar issues with little support from the local governments. The basic concept of slavery has always been forced work, without the privilege of wages. Slaves provided a great source of labour, as documented in the start of the slavery period in America at the start of the 17th century. For farm owners and their problem of increasingly problematic English workers, these Africans presented as the most appropriate solution in the face of growing demand for labour. With no rights whatsoever, and no demand for pay, they were forced to work in demanding conditions forcibly, day in and day out. With all the limitations and restrictions that were in order, these slaves had nowhere to go but work as their masters pleased. The story is not too different with respect to their modern day counterparts. To use an example, the women transported to European countries had a similar tale to tell. With promises of better work, they found themselves in a place where “working” meant to live and any refusal meant death. Forced to work in brothels, they could not rebel, leave or ask for any wages from the pimps and supervisors. It is a fate not too different from that of the slaves of the 18th century. To conclude, we may have abolished slavery in the 19th century, but, sadly, the concept still remains. The main idea of stopping the slave trade was to put an end to the horrendous process which degrades and disrespects life it’s self. While we may be content with our achievement in this field, the ground reality is quite different. To date, such atrocities occur that stain our history today. With technological advancements, slavery has developed too achieving a new form known as human trafficking. The story continues and will continue until human trafficking is recognized as the new face of slavery and steps should be taken to stop this entire process. There should be government involvement and that too on a global scale, if this process is to be stopped. Such involvement could take the shape of formation of dedicated anti-human trafficking cells. These would be closely monitoring any suspicious activity in countries that have a higher rate of such activities. Call centers should be made that cater for emergency calls with this regard. Additionally, public awareness should be raised. This would allow the general public to take part in stopping the transport of humans across borders by reporting any abnormal behavior in their community and region. All this could be supported by holding fund raisers throughout the globe that would help in supporting all those organizations that are actively taking part in this process. Only by carrying out these steps and limiting or even abolishing human trafficking can we safely say that we have indeed abolished slavery from our current society. References Brooks, R. L. (1996). Integration or separation?: A strategy for racial equality. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: Harvard Univ. Press Gabhan, S. N. (2006). Human Trafficking: A Twenty-First Century Slavery. The Furrow, 57(10), 528-537. Green, C. A. (2006). What we dragged out of slavery with us. West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity Pub. Jones, J., (2009). Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women , Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present. Basic Books. Kara, S., (2009). Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Columbia University Press. Ngwa, W. (2007). From Dust to Snow: the African Dream?. Gardners Books. Parreñas, R. S., Hwang, M. C., & Lee, H. R. (2012(. What Is Human Trafficking? A Review Essay. Signs, 37(4), 1015-1029 Solow, B. L. (1991). Slavery and the rise of the Atlantic system. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press [u.a.. Zanca, K. J. (1994). American Catholics and slavery: 1789-1866 ; an anthology of primary documents. Lanham, Md. [u.a.: Univ. Press of America. Read More