Photo by Andres Molina on Unsplash
In 2017, Nigerian migrants who came to Libya were captured by the government and sold in modern-day slave markets for 300 USD per person. Some of these migrants ended up in their owner’s field in Libya, having to pull tomatoes from the soil, bent over, having no freedom, which they so desperately craved. That action by the Libyan government had prompted global outrage, backlash, and activists had demanded that these people be given their fair access to rights, which they were denied. This situation has reflected the abuse and exploitation of migrants, which currently remains a brutal and normalised society, despite the ongoing “progressiveness” our world has been framed in, compared to the traditional realm.
When most people hear the term “slavery,” though, they will never think of these horrible things that continue to occur in modern-day society. Instead, they will think of history, colonialism, and past injustice. Most of us grew up thinking that slavery ended a long time ago. But the undeniable truth is that slavery didn’t exactly stop. It just changed how it looked through evolution, adaptation, and so forth. There are more than 50 million people right now who are hurting, working, and forgotten by the general public, who have “greater needs” to deal with. The astonishing thing is that there are more people chained by modern slavery/slaves than at any single time in history.
What do these people look like?
They suffer every single day, for money (bear in mind that they are born into poor economic conditions, thus are more prone to exploitation from danger) or, for their need to rights (nations like Saudi Arabia that deny women the right to make their own decisions, needing a male to control them, for instance). The majority of these people are based in poor, least developed countries (LDCs), or even in current developing countries that hold a lot of traditional beliefs, which means that they have less protection over the choice of their rights; some are children who have to work due to family or financial burdens, some are women who have to follow cultural expectations of a “tradwife”, in other words, traditional wife, and still juggle 1-2 jobs every day. They pick our fruit, sew and weave our clothes, and simply do not have access to international human rights. For some unlucky people, their lives are harsher; this is to say that they mine the metal found in our phones, or work for the government in resource extraction projects, etc. The media tends to depict them as invisible, because (1) non-transparent organisations, governments would get incredible backlash from consumers and citizens, but (2) ordinary people put in effort to ignore the painful reality some workers have to deal with, although the truth is right in front of them.
Why doesn’t the majority of people know about modern slavery?
The simplest explanation is to say that it doesn’t, and has never, looked like the past. Instead? It is crowding factories with degrading environments, underage children working in sweatshops, forced marriages where girls are married before their childhood ends, and teenagers promised “jobs” and waking up in a nightmare they can’t escape. Modern slavery doesn’t chain such people as property. It controls them.
The second thing to note is that this isn’t just a problem in poor countries.
It also occurs in wealthy countries where the elite do not bother to take a look around. In homes where domestic workers literally have their passports taken away. In 2022, the International Labour Organization reported that nearly 1 in 150 people worldwide is trapped in modern slavery — a number that includes over 12 million children. These are probably young children, the age of teenagers. Teens who are forced to do such things for the benefit of a random stranger somewhere in the global north.
The world was never built with the purpose of protecting young people, or those who are especially vulnerable, in mind. This is especially true for those who are marginalized—such as those living in impoverished regions, the orphaned, the displaced, undocumented individuals, and girls facing systemic discrimination. Because in our society, classism and sexism continue to perpetuate, especially in contexts where traditional beliefs continue to persist over progressive ones. Modern slavery targets the most vulnerable groups since it knows that they won’t be heard.
We are all involved in modern slavery (even if it isn’t in a bad sense). It is in us, around us, surrounding us. It excludes the vulnerable from their freedom, their lives. We ignore where our food was produced. We ignored where our products were manufactured. We ignored where our clothes were sewn. The shirt you probably purchased for $15, which was manufactured in Bangladesh, likely resulted from a person weaving clothes tirelessly for hours while still receiving a low wage. In this situation, they are being exploited and manipulated. Many of these workers do not speak out because they fear losing their jobs and pay. They prioritise survival over justice. Globalisation, as quick and convenient as it is, is a factor in the problem we witness. Capitalism without morality creates slavery. That is the reality that vulnerable communities have to face.
What do we observe in society today?
We witness countless individuals working relentlessly, often in grueling conditions, without any form of compensation or recognition from the general public. Many of these workers, including those in industries such as agriculture, textiles, and domestic work, face major exploitation, but they stay quiet with the need to survive. Meanwhile, we see the efforts of activists who have major incentives to stop this issue of “modern” slavery—a vague term that includes human trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of coercive exploitation. While these activists are passionate and dedicated, they still face huge challenges, such as systemic indifference, insufficient resources, and a lack of awareness in the general public regarding these human rights violations.
How genuine are government attempts to solve modern slavery?
Governments with promises to fight against modern slavery are non-transparent. Let’s look back at the Libyan government’s capture of immigrants example at the beginning of this article. EU countries that have promised to fight modern slavery lawfully, eventually end up returning migrants to overcrowded Libyan prisons, which is not under the scrutiny of the public eye. This goes on to show that governments do not care about justice for the vulnerable, but they hold on to untrue promises for societal approval.
Even if governments are working on solving modern slavery, they are still misleading us about their fight.
In October 2019, there were 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lobby. Governments blamed human traffickers and criminals who used coercion to exploit those people, even though their own policies let the issues perpetuate.
Governments uses modern slavery to justify tough immigration policies; this is a moral fail for immigration plans. The Trump administration, which held millions of migrants (and children), pointed towards parents and traffickers for not following policy, even though it was his own law and system that had separated parents and their children.
What can we conclude about modern slavery?
We do not need to save the world now, but we do need to start somewhere. We can act on things like conscious consumerism, which typically includes making responsible purchasing decisions that prioritize ethical brands. We can also actively boycott products that are closely related to “modern” slavery, such as those produced through exploitative labor practices in industries like fashion, electronics, and food production. By raising awareness and supporting companies that uphold fair labor standards, we can change the norms that create human trafficking and forced labor. The most important thing, though, to make the change, is for governments to make institutional and systemic changes across the system. This is hard to achieve in the current status quo, continued to be perpetuated with governments failing to act, but hopefully, in the near future, modern slavery will be solved.
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