30 million people are slaves, half

in India
Reuters: Akhtar Soomro
Lalee Kolhi, center, a freed bonded laborer turned activist, sits with her family members at her home on the outskirts of the city of Hyderabad
in Pakistan's Sindh rovince on !eb" #" Kolhi worked for more than $% years for a landlord in slave&like conditions before she was freed" She
has since worked as an activist to lobby the courts and olice to rescue other bonded laborers"
'( hr a)o *y +imothy Lar)e of Reuters
http://news.msn.com/world/30-million-people-are-slaves-half-in-india
Almost half of the people enslaved worldwide are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded
labor to commercial sex exploitation, a new srvey shows.
!"#$"# % &ome 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, traffic'ed into brothels, forced
into manal labor, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitde, a global index on modern
slavery showed on (hrsday.
Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labor in )arries and 'ilns to
commercial sex exploitation, althogh the scorge exists in all *+, contries srveyed by -al'
.ree, an Astralian-based rights grop.
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Its estimate of ,/.0 million slaves worldwide is higher than other attempts to )antify modern
slavery. (he International !abor "rganisation estimates that almost ,* million people are victims
of forced labor.
1(oday some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering bt harsh reality,
particlarly in parts of -est Africa and &oth Asia,1 the report said. 1"ther victims are captred
or 'idnapped before being sold or 'ept for exploitation, whether throgh 2marriage2, npaid labor
on fishing boats, or as domestic wor'ers.
"thers are tric'ed and lred into sitations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good 3ob
or an edcation.1
(he 4lobal &lavery Index ,0*3 defines slavery as the possession or control of people to deny
freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, sally throgh violence, coercion or deception.
(he definition incldes indentred servitde, forced marriage and the abdction of children to
serve in wars. According to the index, *0 contries alone accont for three )arters of the
world2s slaves.
After India, 5hina has the most with ,./ million, followed by 6a'istan 7,.* million8, #igeria
790*,0008, :thiopia 7+;*,0008, <ssia 7;*+,0008, (hailand 7=93,0008, $emocratic <epblic of
5ongo 7=+,,0008, >yanmar 730=,0008 and ?angladesh 73=3,0008.
(he index also ran's nations by prevalence of slavery per head of poplation. ?y this measre,
>aritania is worst, with almost = percent of its 3.0 million people enslaved. :stimates by other
organisations pt the level at p to ,0 percent.
5hattel slavery is common in >aritania, meaning that slave stats is passed down throgh
generations. 1"wners1 by, sell, rent ot or give away their slaves as gifts.
After >aritania, slavery is most prevalent by poplation in @aiti, where a system of child
labor 'nown as 1restave'1 encorages poor families to send their children to wealthier
ac)aintances, where many end p exploited and absed.
6a'istan, India, #epal, >oldova, ?enin, Ivory 5oast, 4ambia and 4abon have the next highest
prevalence rates.
At the other end of the scale, Iceland has the lowest estimated prevalence with fewer than *00
slaves. #ext best are Ireland, ?ritain, #ew Aealand, &witBerland, &weden, #orway,
!xemborg, .inland and $enmar', althogh researchers said slave nmbers in sch wealthy
contries were higher than previosly thoght.
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1(hey2ve been allocating resorces against this crime according to the tiny handfl of cases that
they2ve been aware of,1 said Cevin ?ales, lead researcher and a professor at the -ilberforce
Institte for the &tdy of &lavery and :mancipation at @ll Dniversity.
1"r estimates are telling them that the nmbers of people in slavery - whether it2s in 4reat
?ritain or .inland or wherever - in these richer contries actally tends to be abot six to *0
times higher than they thin' it is.1
-al' .ree 5:" #ic' 4rono said the annal index wold serve as an important baseline for
governments and activists in the anti-slavery fight.
1(his 'ind of data hasn2t been ot there before,1 he said. 1It2s a mlti-year effort, and next year
we2ll have a mch better pictre of where slavery is and what changes there are. If yo can2t
measre it, yo can2t devise policy to address it.1