Modern Day Slavery and the Slave Trade - Essay Example

MODERN DAY SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE Introduction The word slavery has been used to describe a number of related conditions which involves the control of a person against their will or forcing a person to do or to live against their will. Slavery has been expressed in many ways but the most common means of enforcing slavery has been through violence or any other form of coercion. In the historical context and in the modern days, slavery has existed in the context of providing labour for a person. Chattel form of slavery has been the specific form of slavery in which and individual provides labour to another person. Speaking in a straight and expressive language, slaves can be considered as individuals who are not given any right to do what they want or to deicide for themselves. However slavery has found broad usage and it has also been associated with other relationships like marriage or any other forms of family relations, military service, debt relationships and many other forms of relationships which all entail coercion or force in some aspects. Therefore slavery can be defined as a status or a condition of a person over whom powers attaching to the rights of ownership are exercise. This means that a slave is controlled by another person who acts as a mater or the owner of that person. The only way that someone who is considered a slave can leave the master is through escape or straying. (Lewis, 2007) In all countries in the world, slavery is considered illegal and there have been many campaigns in the world all directed towards ending slavery of any forms. The UN conventions outlaw any form of slaves. However there is still some existence of slavery in the modern world which may be directly or indirectly practices. For example, there is direct practice of slavery in Myanmar and Sudan which have been shown to facilitate some institutions of slavery. Most of these has been expressed as unfree labour where someone is told that they are working off a debt but they cannot account for that debt. In other cases it ahs been low paying or less supervise employment. Most of these slaves cannot leave these condition unless through the use of force. (Anti-slavery, 2008) This paper will look closely at the forms of slavery that is evident in the modern society. It will present various points of discussion which will be aimed at arguing against the modern slavery. Modern forms of slavery It has been shown that society which are characterised by poverty, population pressure, cultural and technology backwardness are more prone to exportation of slave trade. They are mostly exported to the developed nations where they are given promise of better life but once they reach there they end up living as slaves. In the modern practice of slavery, the rural people have been at the centre of the target for slave traders. There is coordinated trade between those in the rural areas who sell people to those in the urban areas who in turn sell them to their masters. The above mention factors which lead to economic hardships to most people have been shown to directly be the cause for slave trade. Therefore slavery can be taken as a matter of economic effect which affects those with bad luck in the society. It in turn favours those who have power in the society who are likely to enjoy free services from other people. Let us look at some forms of slaverly that are practiced in the modern days. (UNESCO, 2005) Slavery today The British Anti-Slavery Society says that, “Although there is no longer any state which recognizes any claim by a person to a right of property over another, there are an estimated 2.7 million people in the world, mainly children, in conditions of slavery.” They also note that the rate of slavery especially for children can be on the increase as per the 2003 data. The same data also shows that this represent the largest group of people in slavery in the history of the world. The report has shown that the price of mailing a young adult labourer from Mali to US at a rate of US$40 to as a high price of US$1000 or so in Thailand ahs been reordered. This money is given either to the parent or to the person who is selling that person. (Havens, 2008) But unlike in the past slavery in the modern world is not seen as a long term investment. Instead slaveholders see slaves as cheap requiring little care who is supposed to be disposed at the end. This is because the salve holders understand that they are living in fear since they know it is an illegal trade. For this reason, slaves are not treasured like in the past since their masters understand that they can be disposed at any time. Human trafficking Human trafficking can be said to be recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receiving a person by use of coercion means of force, abduction, fraud, deception or any other abuse of power or position of vulnerability. It is receiving of payment of benefits in order to achieve the consent of a person who has control over another person mainly for the purpose of exploitation. This is the description of human trafficking according to UN protocol which is aimed at preventing and suppressing human trafficking. Although there have been changes in the way in the forms under which traditional and modern slavery is conducted, the fact remains that human trafficking is violation of human rights and should be condemned by all means possible. The 1948 UN convention states clearly human right issues that any country should observe and hence the issue of human trafficking is a violation of human rights and should not be used as an economic activity under which circumstance. According to the International Organization for Migration, there are millions of women and children who are subjected to the tragic fate of human trafficking which underscore the imperative of all countries to address the issue of human trafficking. (Ejioufor, 2007) Cases of human trafficking have been evidenced mostly in Africa. UNESCO has been working on various projects that are aimed at adr4essing the issue of human trafficking in Africa which have continued to undermine observation of basic human rights. There has been trafficking of humans in North African countries who cross over the sea risking their life to nearby European and Asian countries like Spain and other. There have been many deaths that have been recorded as a result of boasts of illegal immigrants capsizing in the sea. This is one of the reasons why we should condemned human trafficking. But trafficking of human has also assumed other means which appear more legal. Just recently, there almost erupted an international law where some nurses tried to smuggle children to France from Chad in the name of assisting them. The issue of illegal human trafficking does not only affect Africa but there is also a bitter conflict on human trafficking in America-Mexican border that have been going for decades. But human trafficking should be condemned on the ground that every human have their own rights and should not be subjected to any form of trade. Slavery is a violation of human rights and therefore should be condemned on all grounds. Prostitution Prostitution has been identified as the other modern form of slavery that has affected many people in the world. Prostitution is a form of sexual violence and exploitation which include rape, incest, intimate violence, sex trafficking, sex tourism, mail order bride markets, pornography, and many other forms of sexual violence all which marks a form of slavery. Sexual exploitation has been defined as one of the modern form of slavery. This is because this is a violation of human rights, human dignity, equality and physical and mental integrity. In most instances women are the one who suffer sexual slavery but in the recent past, there has been increasing incidence of men especially children who are used in sex tourism. In other instances, some people mostly men have been found to work to achieve power and domination over others mostly women and children. Statistics indicate that for a long time, sexual slavery has been practiced in our homes where women and children act as slaves of men. However his is difficult to define it as slavery due to the diverse nature of the cultural set up of different societies. But sexual exploitation and slavery is evident in the society which keeps women and children under the shadow of men. (Salgado, 1998) In the modern slavery, prostitution in major of the cases is represented in the ownership of women and children by pimps, brothel owners and in some case even customers own them it is mostly practiced with an aim of having financial gain, sexual gratification and in some case for power domination. However the definition of prostitution as slavery has been challenged by the fact that there are a number or women who volunteer to work as commercial sex workers voluntarily. But even for them, the way they are used by men cannot escape our attention definition of the world prostitution. One way in which prostitution has been used as slavery has been the use of children or the minors for sexual activities. In most countries where sexual tourism is practice4d, the minors are always the target to those who come for the activity. In many cases these children are paid very little and all the proceedings from such activity is enjoyed by their masters who own the brothels. Sex trafficking has also been evidenced in many cases. This again affects those from the developing countries. Sex trafficking and prostitution are connected in the sense that all are used as a way to gain economic advantage and are a form of salve. This should be condemned on the ground that is it the woman and children of the third world countries whoa suffer from such forms of slavery. The fact that some society accepts prostitution as a sex work makes it difficult for authorities to fight the vice and hence there is need for the society to change the moral values. (Hugher and Roche, 1999) Conclusion The above analysis if the most common forms of modern prostitution reveals that the issue of slavery is still practiced in the modern world. The underlying fact is that slavery where it is practiced at home or in commercial set is a violation of human rights. it is still difficult to understand why slave which was abolished many centuries ago is still practiced in the world today. The UN convention defines the rights of every person which means that people have right that need to be observed no matter the race or their ethnic background. This paper therefore condemns the act of slavery and strongly argues that it should not be practiced at this time in our history when the world has made strides in recognising basic human rights. Slavery should be considered as a crime and those perpetrating it should face the law accordingly. References Hugher, D. & Roche, C. (1999). Prostitution as a form of slavery. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, February 1999 Anti-slavery, (2008). What is modern slavery? Retrieved on 4th April 2008, from http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/modern.htm Lewis, J. (2007). Congressional commissions on the abolition of modern slavery act. Available at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2522 Havens, P. (2008). The modern slave trade just cheaper. Retrieved on 4th April 2008 from http://www.litwc.com/2008/03/23/the-modern-day-slave-trade-has-just-gotten-cheaper/ Salgado, S. (1998). The New Slavery. Subway Guitars, Berkeley California Ejioufor, C. (2007). Racism is a modern slavery. BBC, April 2007 UNESCO, (2005). Modern forms of slavery. Retrieved on 4th April 2008, from http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26958&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Read More