UN report states that 50 million people worldwide are subjected to modern slavery even in the 21st century.
Slavery plagues human history. A situation where people were held by those in power and made to work, treated as objects that existed without any privileges, let alone rights. It comes as a surprise to many that slavery still exists out there in the world and is not a thing of the past. The United Nations (UN) calls it “modern slavery”.
The most recent Global Estimates of Modern Slavery estimates that fifty million people were victims of modern slavery in 2021. 28 million of these people were subject to forced labor, while 22 million were coerced into forced marriages. This was announced by the UN’s Internation Labour Organization on Monday, 12th September.
50 million people are subjected to modern slavery
There exist 50 million people out there who are still subjected to “modern slavery” and the UN states that the number has increased drastically over the years. According to their estimates above, almost one in every 150 people worldwide is a victim of modern slavery.
According to the survey, one in five people who are forced to labor are children, and more than half of them are involved in commercial sexual exploitation.
Nearly all nations in the world are affected by modern slavery, which transcends racial, cultural, and religious boundaries. The majority of forced labor (52%), as well as a quarter of all forced marriages, occur in upper-middle-income and high-income nations.
According to the research, women and children are by far the most vulnerable categories. Additionally, estimates indicate that forced labor can extend for years, and forced marriage is typical “a life sentence,” so this is a continuous problem, the report cautioned.
22 million people suffer from forced marriages
In 2021, there were an estimated 22 million individuals suffering forced marriages every day. This shows a rise of 6.6 million since the global figures from 2016.
The ILO found that domestic employees were less likely than migrant workers to be subjected to forced labor, with more than half of all cases taking place in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.
Concerns about forced labor in a few Chinese regions were also raised in the ILO investigation.
Guy Ryder, the head of the International Labour Organization said, “Nothing can justify the persistence of this fundamental abuse of human rights.”
