We all know the stories of African slaves: torn apart form their families and homes, sold to cruel owners, often whipped or worked to death.
We all know about the rape of liberties and pure cruelty of the 18th century slave trade.
And we all know of the movements to end it.
And yet, in the 21st century, slavery still exists. An estimated 27 million people are working as slaves right now.
How is it still happening? What about the UN?
The UN has rules against slavery- of course. The first law passed against slavery was a product of the UN in 1926. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was agreed in 1948, slavery was declared illegal in all forms everywhere.
But, as awful as it is, the UN just doesn't have the fiscal power to deal with slavery. If the five permanent council members in the UN (Britain, China, Russia, France and the US) were to commit themselves to the abolition of slavery, they probably could. But there are so many deserving problems in the world; how do you split funding?
(on a side note- China is a permanent council member in the UN? Jesus...)
Basically, slavery doesn't happen (as much) the way it used to: people aren't so much bought and sold. People are lured to different countries with the promise of a better life. Of course, the reality is totally different; it's one of blackmail, pressure and stockholm sydrome.
Here's the story of one girl:
A man of about thirty was watching my cousin Jenya and me while we waited for the bus. The man listened closely to our conversation and then he walked up to us and started up small talk, asking us questions like "What time is it?" and "Will bus twelve take me to Coach Park?"
He invited us to a café and we accepted. He treated us to a beer. He told us that he was from Moscow, and he was visiting some friends. We didn't have a clue that our new acquaintance had planned that meeting for a long time. The encounter seemed totally accidental.
Before he had met us, the man had already learned almost everything about Jenya and me. His girlfriend lived in my village, and she told him about our families, what we did, who our friends were, how much our parents made, and what our thoughts were about sex.
"You are so sexy," he said as he held our hands under the table in the cheap café. "Girls like you are being bathed in gold in Moscow. Let's go and you won't regret it. You'll be able to live on your own, afford to get whatever you want, and you'll depend on no one. You will also throw away the stuff you're wearing now and dress like famous actresses. And believe it or not, while living the high life, you'll be earning money for your family," he kept repeating.
Sometimes children are given to slave owners by their own families- the family feels they literally have nothing to offer the children. The slave owners promise a better life for the child.
There was no way to refuse to go with a client. Nobody dared to do it. The girls would be beaten violently and given no money for food. A prostitute was ‘to have a ride' for as many times as had been purchased. Once I was forced to serve twenty-four clients in twenty-four hours. I never got the promised ‘hundred dollar bill from a client.' The client directly paid the Mommy who kept track of all the ‘ridden away' girls. The Mommy later paid the pimp who had delivered the prostitutes to the Point. The pimp gave me and his other girls a hundred Russian rubles each (a bit more than three US dollars) for every ‘ride away.'
Another massive probem is that people don't know their own rights: how can they? If you haven't had an education, you don't know anything more than your daily life. You certainly wouldn't learn about legal protections and entitlements, especially not international ones. And if you don't know about your rights, how can you fight for them?
And street children are also massively at risk. They're forced into begging rings. Children are sometimes intentionally disfigured to attract more money from passersbys. Victims of organized begging rings are often beaten or injured by their traffickers if they don't bring in enough money. They're are also vulnerable to sexual abuse.
What can I do?
-> Educate yourself. Educate others. The problem of contemporary slavery is massive. 27 million people. Some are sex workers, some are made to work manual labour, some work as restavecs (French for "stay with"- basically domestic workers. They're children a lot of the time- for example in Haiti. When a child reaches 15 and they legally must be paid, they're either kicked out onto the street or kept as slaves. Both are awful situations).
-> Buy the book or get it out of the library. Read it.
-> Stop being so casual with the word "slave" and "prostitute". Honestly, the way we use the words minimises their effect and degrades from the suffering that is innately in their definition, and consequently gives them different connotations.
-> Visit this website. They know far more than me.
