Modern-day slavery

UNDER Unesco’s definition, modern-day slavery is characterised by “an element of ownership or control
over another’s life, coercion and the restriction of movement” and “by the fact that someone is not free
to leave or to change an employer”. Under this terminology fall all acts of coerced services and
exploitative labour — from human trafficking and debt bondage to forced marriage. Modern-day slavery
goes against the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically Article 4, which
states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in
all their forms”. Regrettably, this ideal is far from being a reality for tens of millions of people around the
world. Human bodies are callously reduced to objects of capitalist value — and only that — to be used,
abused and bartered in the pursuit of profit. As Europe marked its Anti-Trafficking Day last Friday, the
secretary general of the Council of Europe made an appeal to the governments of the continent to
ensure justice for the victims of human trafficking, along with reparations. In the past several years, the
European Union has struggled to contain the menace of human trafficking within its borders. While it is
difficult to give exact figures on the scale of such illicit activities, the UN estimates that approximately
40.3m of the world’s population can be classified as modern-day slaves, with many trapped in the
human trafficking web through the use of coercion, deceit or violence. Unlike smuggling, trafficking is
always carried out without any form of consent of the victim. Furthermore, the vast majority of victims
are women and girls, while nearly 25pc of all victims are children.

With some of the highest rates of slavery in the world, Pakistan is no stranger to the evils of modern-day
slavery. Approximately, 3.19m Pakistanis are classified as modern-day slaves. Many become imprisoned
in trafficking rings and forced marriages — a practice so common, it barely causes a stir and remains
underreported — while others get tricked into organ mining and debt bondage — a contract so cruel, it
is often passed down several generations, and is especially rampant in the agriculture and brick kiln
industries, with entire families working to pay off the debt. It bears repeating: slavery is not a problem of
the past.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2019