Many countries that supply consumer goods have high percentages of people working in conditions of slavery, enduring long shifts and exhausting conditions without the choice to leave. The fashion industry is notoriously marred by the use of forced labor, as is the tech sector.
But slavery didn't end there. According to the latest report by the Walk Free Initiative, presented today (July 17) at the UN Headquarters in New York, there were 40.3 million people living in conditions of slavery in 2018, most of them women.
There isn't an official legal definition of modern slavery, but the UN describes it as the condition of people whose work "is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty." Modern slaves can be coerced to work through explicit measures like violence, but also through subtler means like financial pressure, or by limiting someone's movement by retaining their identification.
While it's easy to believe that slavery is limited to poor or underdeveloped countries, or countries with a questionable human rights record, it is actually happening everywhere. Recently, for example, there was two cases where diplomats kept staff in their US residencies who were working in conditions of slavery.
The UN and its member states committed to eliminating slavery by 2030, along with human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor. The commitments are part of the UN's sustainable development goals — a set of ideals the world's governments pledged to tackle in 2015.
Comment: Interesting that foaming at the mouth liberals who busy themselves tweeting about racism and multiple 'phobias' don't choose to focus on this real problem affecting millions around the world.