The word ‘slavery’ conjures up images of abuses that many believe were consigned to history by the victories of the 19th century abolitionist movement. But in reality, slavery continues today.

Millions of women, children and men throughout the world are forced to work through the threat or use of violence, are denied freedom or are physically constrained, dehumanised and treated as property, or bought and sold. No region is free from this abuse and slavery is found in most countries, even though it is illegal under international law.

Slavery takes many forms and affects people of all ages and race. Boys as young as four years old are abducted from their families in South Asia to be used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates; in West Africa young girls are used as domestic slaves; young men in Brazil are used as forced labour to clear the Amazon making way for cattle farms; and women are trafficked to western Europe and forced into prostitution.

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One of the fastest growing forms of slavery is human trafficking. Traffickers prey on people in impoverished areas who are excluded from opportunities or are in societies destroyed by war and other turmoil. They promise well-paid work, education and training that is unobtainable at home. Desperate to improve their lives, people are lured, tricked or coerced away from their homes into conditions they have not agreed to.

Leela’s experience is characteristic of this. She was taken from India to the United Kingdom with promises of well-paid work as a domestic servant. On her arrival the reality was quite different. She was made to work from 6.30am to 11.30pm every day, with only one hour off each week. She was forced to sleep on the kitchen floor and her ‘employers’ locked her in the house when they went out. They took her passport, telling her that if she left her job, she would be deported back to India. Even though she was promised £150 per week, she received nothing.

A 2004 United States Government report estimates around 800,000 people are trafficked across borders each year — this figure, however, does not include those who are trafficked within their own country.

Trafficking is only one of many forms of slavery in the world today. In Niger at least 43,000 people are enslaved as a result of being born into an established slave class. They are used as herders, agricultural labourers and as domestic servants. Everything that a highborn nomadic household needs to have done is carried out by slaves. Many are subjected to torture and other forms of humiliating and degrading treatment, including rape, physical abuse and threats.

Regardless of their age, they work every day without pay and are denied the freedom to make choices, whether it is deciding when to eat and sleep or whom they marry.

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