Scourge of slavery increases amid new range of global issues, says UN expert
GENEVA (9 September 2019) – In a world where over 40 million people are enslaved and one in four victims is a child, the
scourge of modern day slavery is only likely to increase as a result of environmental degradation, migration and
demographic shifts, a UN expert said on Monday.
The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila Bhoola, said in a report presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva that over 60 percent of those in forced labour work in the private
sector and 98 percent of women and girls subjected to forced labour have experienced sexual violence.
“These numbers, four years after States committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, must serve as a wake-up call,”
Bhoola said. “The number of people at a risk of being exploited or enslaved is likely to increase based on several
factors. In the wake of climate change, people may lose their livelihoods, young people who don’t have access to decent
work may migrate through unsafe channels and changes in the world of work such as automation may push already vulnerable
people out of their jobs. Such scenarios can increase people’s vulnerability to slavery.
“We cannot afford to stand by while more and more people are driven into forced labour, servile marriage or child
labour. States and businesses must act now to end slavery, also as it is economically unprofitable. Slavery leads to
increased public health costs, productivity losses, negative environmental externalities and lost income.”
Bhoola said that the global networks and systems that make people vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery such as
the global financial, production and trading systems need to be tackled.
“By 2030, some 85 percent of the more than 25 million young people entering the labour force globally will be in
developing and emerging countries. Their perspectives to access jobs offering decent work will determine their level of
vulnerability to exploitation, including slavery. To be prepared for such challenges and to tackle slavery more
effectively, it is imperative that anti-slavery efforts are systematic, scientific, strategic, sustainable,
survivor-informed and smart,” said Bhoola.
“Current efforts to end slavery have been insufficient. States and businesses must take more decisive action to end
slavery by committing more resources to this effort and by adopting and implementing public policies which address
contemporary forms of slavery effectively.”
ENDS