With over 14.2 million in India being involved in forced labour and being victims of trafficking - for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, the country is home to the largest number of people trapped in modern slavery. Globally, 35.8 million people are enslaved across the world. Of them, 23.5 million people are in Asia, two-thirds of global total in 2014 (65.8%).
The Global Slavery Index 2014 announced on Monday that India and Pakistan alone account for over 45% of total global enslaved population and have highest prevalence in Asia.
The Index said, “Particularly in countries such as India and Pakistan, nationals - often including entire families - are enslaved through bonded labour in construction, agriculture, brick making, garment factories and manufacturing.”
The report this year found 23% more people across the world are involved in modern slavery than previous estimate.
Modern slavery exists in all 167 countries with five countries accounting for 61% of the world’s population living in modern slavery.
The 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI) has been published by the Walk Free Foundation, a global human rights organization with a mission to end modern slavery in a generation.
The report looks at prevalence (the percentage of a country’s population that is enslaved) as well as the total number of people living in modern slavery in each country.
It estimates that over 23.5 million people in Asia are living in modern slavery. This is equivalent to almost two-thirds of the global total number of people enslaved. Of these, over 14.2 million are in India and over 2.05 million are in Pakistan, which demonstrate the highest prevalence of modern slavery in Asia (1.141% and 1.13% of their populations respectively).
In South Asia, these countries are followed in prevalence by Nepal (0.823% of the population, 228,700 people), Bangladesh (0.435%, 680,900), Afghanistan (0.435, 132,800) and Sri Lanka (0.359%, 73,600).
“Some countries with the biggest challenges are also taking important steps to tackle the problem. India for example has strengthened its criminal justice framework through legislative amendments and has established 215 Anti- Human Trafficking Police Units. Much more needs to be done,” said the report.
The report says, “India’s modern slavery challenges are immense. Across India’s population of over 1.2 billion people, all forms of modern slavery, including inter-generational bonded labour, trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, exist. Evidence suggests that members of lower castes and tribes, religious minorities and migrant workers are disproportionately affected by modern slavery. Modern slavery occurs in brick kilns, carpet weaving, embroidery and other textile manufacturing, forced prostitution, agriculture, domestic servitude, mining, and organised begging rings. labour is particularly prevalent throughout India with families enslaved for generations.”
Call for action
Walk Free says it found evidence of slavery in all 167 countries it surveyed.
The report says Africa and Asia face the biggest challenges in eradicating slavery, while the practice is least prevalent in Europe.
According to the report, more than 14 million people live as slaves in India. Next in the index comes China, with more than 3 million slaves, followed by Pakistan, Uzbekistan.
Russia is ranked fifth. The country’s economy is said to rely on enslaved migrant workers in the construction and agricultural sectors.
Mauritania meanwhile has the highest number of slaves as a proportion of the population, at 4%. Many people in the African country inherit their slave status from their ancestors.
The report calls for much wider international cooperation on slavery. It wants governments to increase penalties for trafficking and to put pressure on businesses to clamp down on the use of slaves in their supply chains.
The Global Slavery Index was first published last year. The rise in the overall figure from 2013 was attributed by the report’s authors to better data and methodology, rather than to an exponential rise in the numbers enslaved.
