Maseru, Dec. 03 — “Slavery is a horror from the history books and a relentless contemporary crisis.” This was said by Secretary-General (SG) of the United Nation (UN) António Guterres as the UN commemorated the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, marked annually on December 02.
Guterres said more than 15 million men, women, and children were captured, chained, and forced into slavery across oceans and many lost their lives during the harrowing journey.
“Today, an estimated 50 million people are trapped in contemporary forms of slavery, many of them women and children and this day is devoted to raising awareness and mobilising action to end slavery and its modern manifestations, including human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage, and the recruitment of children into armed conflict,” said the UN SG.
He also noted that forced labour generates an estimated 236 billion US Dollars in annual global profits, representing wages effectively stolen from workers, particularly affecting those already struggling to support their families.
“Contemporary forms of slavery are perpetuated by crime rings that prey on people struggling to cope with extreme poverty, discrimination or environmental degradation, and by traffickers who exploit people fleeing armed conflict or migrating in search of safety and opportunity. It robs people of their rights, and their humanity,” said Guterres.
It has been recorded that no region is exempt from the problem, with Asia and the Pacific having the highest number (15.1 million), followed by Europe and Central Asia (4.1 million), Africa (3.8 million), the Americas (3.6 million) and the Arab States (0.9 million).
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