Slavery

Even during the old times, slavery was considered a great evil and purely unacceptable worldwide
making the right against slavry a peremptory norm by which no derogation is permitted. The 1926
Slavery Convention provides the first international definition of slavery as: "the status or condition of a person
over whom any or all the powers attaching to the right ownership are exercised and included all acts
involved in the capture, acquisition, or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to slavery; acts
involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all acts of disposal by sale
or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and in general, every act of trade
or transport in slaves”.
Traffickers and slavers claim ownership over other people for trade and other activities which endanger
the human dignity. In its report, Walk Free Foundation (WFF) expanded the term ‘Modern Slavery’ to
include forced labor, prostitution and child marriage. These acts are clearly gross violation of human
rights and through the years, there had been laws and treaties which addressed the issue with the end
view of eliminating slavery. One of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) is the right against slavery. Article 4 of said declaration provides that “No one shall be held in
slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”. From its words,
it clearly shows that this right is absolute and unrestricted. Sadly, even though all humans are afforded
with such right, it is not being experienced equally in all countries since violations are still rampant.
In the recent years, the Philippines tallied an embarrassing number of cases involving slavery. Majority
of which are from forced labor. Significantly, those working overseas are of main concern in this area
especially those who are working as domestic helper. They have a high-risk of being maltreated and
subject of modern slavery by finding abusive employers who make them work for long hours and low
salary in return. There are also cases where their passports were being confiscated so they would not be
able to escape.
Another alarming fact is the number of sexual exploitation for prostitution in clubs, bars, massage
parlors and even online. These are often used by organized criminal syndicates as businesses for profit.
Worse is that women and children are often the subject of these violative acts. Various reports involving
sex workers have been circulating in the country. Having cited the aforementioned instances of slavery,
I came to realize that one of the factors why it persists is poverty. Because people are in dire need of
money to cover their needs, they resort or submit to offers of employment regardless how poor the
terms and conditions are.
Notably, there are several laws enacted in our country to provide protection against slavery in all its
forms. In the country, slavery is regarded as a crime against liberty as provided by Articles 272, 273 and
274 of the Revised Penal Code. Special laws are also enacted to protect especially women and children
against human trafficking, child pornography and child labor. The government, as part of its duty to
protect its people should exert more of its resources in order to eliminate this. There must be a firm and
established efforts to implement these existing laws in order to eliminate this oppressive condition
among Filipinos. All in all, what’s vital is proper governance and implementation of laws.