Fact sheet Modern

Slavery didn’t end with abolition in the 19th century. It still exists today in every country in the world. There are estimated nearly 21 million people in slavery across the world.

Modern slavery is the severe exploitation of people for personal or commercial gain. Victims are deceived or coerced into a situation which they cannot leave.

Slavery is closer than you think. It happens all over the world, Photo: Every year over 1 million people are forced to pick cotton by the government of Uzbekistan including the UK and the rest of Europe. In the UK alone there is an estimated 13,000 victims of modern Someone is in slavery if they • - involves people slavery. are: being transported into a situation of exploitation through the use of • forced to work - through mental violence, deception or coercion. or physical threat; Purpose of exploitation can range from and forced • owned or controlled by an labour to and forced 'employer', usually through mental organ removal. or physical abuse or the threat of abuse; • Descent-based slavery – where Story of Fasika, from Ethiopia people are born into slavery due to • dehumanised, treated as a belonging to a 'slave class', caste or a When I was sixteen I decided to go commodity or bought and sold as group. A of a mother in slavery to Lebanon to work as a domestic 'property'; is automatically enslaved too. worker. Soon I realised it wasn’t the good life I hoped for. • physically constrained or has • Child slavery – defined as the restrictions placed on his/her delivery of a child by its parents or a I had to clean, cook and look after freedom of movement. guardian to someone else for the two grandchildren of my employer. I purpose of exploitation. Child worked eighteen hours a day, seven slavery can include child trafficking, days a week, without any rest. Forms of modern slavery child soldiers, child marriage and child domestic slavery. I worked like a slave and was • - any work or services treated like one. They beat me which people are forced to do • Forced marriage – when someone regularly. I wasn’t allowed to call my against their will under the threat of is married against their will and mother, she thought I was dead. some form punishment. cannot leave the marriage. Most child marriages can be considered slavery. They always kept me locked inside • - the world’s most the flat on the 13th floor. I couldn’t widespread form of slavery, when • The exploitation of migrant go out for three years! people borrow some money and are workers in conditions amounting to required to work to pay off the debt, slavery Finally, after becoming so tired I then losing control over the couldn’t work anymore, Madame conditions of both their employment Many forms of slavery involve more allowed me to go home. and the debt. than one element listed above. Fact sheet: modern slavery

Facts about slavery What we do to end slavery In partnership with local 20.9 million people are in organisations we tackle the root modern slavery across the world causes of slavery to achieve sustainable change to build a world 5.5 million children are in free from slavery. slavery across the world Together, we: people are in 11.7 million • investigate and expose current slavery in the Asia-Pacific region, cases of slavery mostly in bonded labour • the best ways to stop Photo: Child bonded labourer in India’s stone quarry identify 3.7million people are in Credit: Bharat Patel these abuses and influence policymakers to take action How to end slavery? • press for effective implementation 1.6 million people are in Slavery is a complex problem that of laws against slavery requires complex solutions, addressing all its root causes. • support victims of slavery in their struggle for freedom 1.5 million people are in Poverty and the lack of access to slavery in developed economies sustainable livelihood opportunities • empower individuals and must be addressed to minimise the communities vulnerable to slavery 14.2 million slavery victims vulnerability of people to slavery. to demand respect for their human rights and obtain protection are exploited in economic activities Discrimination and social exclusion are also big factors contributing to • work with the private sector to 4.5 million people are in making people more vulnerable to identify and address slavery in forced into sexual exploitation slavery, so anti-discrimination global supply chains. policies must be at the heart of anti- 98% of people trafficked for slavery work. sexual exploitation are women and Our impact “You work like a slave from girls 2016: We achieved the first ever morning till night, not enough conviction by the Special Courts food, [we] sleep and wake up 2.2 million people in for . hungry again.” slavery are exploited by A student from Uzbekistan, forced to 2015-16: We reached out to over governments pick cotton by its own government. 50,000 brick kiln workers in India and assisted 1,484 workers to be - illegal released from bondage US$ 150 billion We must consider the wider picture profits forced labour in the private of the political economy and other 2015: We helped obtain the economy generates per year power structures. We need to inclusion of slavery eradication as *All estimates by ILO change the way we conduct a target in the UN’s Sustainable business, as well as trade, aid, Development Goals development, migration and other policies. 2015: We lobbied the ‘When I started having children parliamentarians to significantly they separated them from me. New social norms repudiating slavery improve the UK Modern Slavery Act They started working as soon must be adopted, so exploiting as they could walk. Life was all people is no longer acceptable. Only 2014: We obtained a commitment about work’. then can strong laws and policies be from the government of Senegal to Choueida mint Mbowrick, born into implemented effectively to protect end forced child begging in the slavery in Mauritania. people from slavery. country’s “daara” schools

Anti-Slavery International, Thomas Clarkson House, The Stableyard, Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL, UK UK Registered charity no. 1049160 and Company Registered in England and Wales No. 3079904 www.antislavery.org