International Day For The Abolition Of SLavery: All You Need To Know.

This day was initiated by the United Nations General Assembly on 2nd December 1949.

The main focus of this day is eliminate present-day forms of enslavement such as sexual exploitation, human trafficking, child labour, forced/early marriage and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

Enslavement has evolved in different ways throughout history. Today some traditional forms of enslavement persevere in their earlier fashion while others have been modified into new ones. Most occurence of slavery are the result of aged long discrimination against vulnerable people in the society, such as people of tribal minorities, indigenous people and people of low class.

Major Forms Of Modern Slavery

Forced Labour- Migrant workers are mostly at the receiving end of this, they are usually sweet-talked or coerced into accepting the offers for economic exploitation in all parts of the world, some are later forced into prostitution, domestic help, construction work, food and clothing work and farm work all with low pay. This form of slavery is so rampant nowadays and it's mostly disguised as a professional occupation.

Human Trafficking- Human trafficking is the enlisting, transferring, transporting, hiding or receipt of persons by the means of threat, force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of ill treatment or exploitation which can include prostitution or other forms of sexual abuse, slavery or similar practices, forced labour, or the usage and removal of organs.

Child Labour- The convention on the rights of the child recognizes "the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. It's been reported that one in ten children works, and the majority of the child labour that occurs today is for economic exploitation. 

Did You Know:

An estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery, including 24.9 in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage.

There are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world.

1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.

Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labour, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million people in forced labour imposed by state authorities.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labour, accounting for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors.

As of 2018, the countries with the most slaves were: India (8 million), China (3.86 million), Pakistan (3.19 million), North Korea (2.64 million), Nigeria (1.39 million), Iran (1.29 million), Indonesia (1.22 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 million), Russia (794,000) and the Philippines (784,000) (reliefweb.int)

Source: un.org