For those of you who thought that slavery ended sometime during the 1800s, you are sadly mistaken. Despite the abolition of slavery formally, to date it is estimated that there are some 27 million slaves across the world and that number is climbing. But, what is different is that unlike the slavery which we knew about centuries ago, modern day slaveholders are exploiting persons, not of another race, but of their own. Human trafficking, child labour, forced labour, and debt bondage, among other new forms of slavery, exist in this day and age and, despite being prohibited by international law, is still going on.

This has indeed made slavery a growing business. Just as slaves were used in the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations, we have today persons being forced to work in industrialised factories and either being paid nothing for their labour or being paid what would not even amount to minimum wage. This happens because the number of people classified as poor and desperately poor is also growing, making it easier for these persons to be exploited. Some suggest that Haiti, a country right in our backyard is one of the bigger culprits and the victims, they say, are mainly children. Part of the reason is that there are no specific child labour laws in Haiti and in fact this is absent from many of our Caribbean countries and indeed across the world.

In Haiti these children are domestic servants who are forced to do the chores most adults do not want to perform. They are called “restaveks”, the Creole word that means “stay with” and according to the Restavek Foundation, there are more than 300 000 of these children living in Haiti today and being exploited. That foundation’s website explained that the children work as domestic servants in exchange for a roof over their head, some leftover food and supposedly the ability to go to school, but in fact many are beaten, sexually abused and most often denied that education. Now if that is not slavery I do not know what is.

Modern day slavery is not limited to developing countries, but is part of the landscape of the industrialised countries as well. Think about it. There are so many products that we use on a daily basis that were made by exploited persons. We pay an arm and a leg for those products, but none of that money even trickles down to those on who toiled to create them. Even though slavery is against every law known to man, it is still hard to eradicate because many countries have no specific laws in place with respect to child labour and there are countries that lack the teeth needed in the legislation to punish those who traffic in humans for example.

There are, in my opinion, two main things that can be used to combat modern day slavery – education and the creation and proper implementation of the law. If we can get countries to ensure that the they create strong legislation and enforce it we would be a step closer to giving these persons currently being exploited and those at risk of exploitation, a fighting chance. Education too is a step in the right direction as it would help persons to perhaps find alternative and better employment. We all have a part to play however. It calls for us to lobby our governments to step up and provide the requisite environment to make it a better world for us to live in.

By Janelle Riley-Thornhill