The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) on September 12 released its ‘Global Estimates of Modern Slavery’ report. Modern slavery, as defined for the report, is comprised of two principal components – forced labour and forced marriage.
Key highlights of report
- As per the report, the number of people forced to work or in a marriage against their will has surged in recent years to around 50 million. Out of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.
- Compared to the last count for the year 2016, the number of people in modern slavery has risen by around 9.3 million.
- It said, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change have led to unprecedented disruption to employment and education.
- According to the latest figures, forced labour accounted for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery in 2021, including 3.3 million are children and 22 million forced marriage.
- Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world, and cuts across ethnic, cultural and religious lines. More than half (52 per cent) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries.
- Most cases of forced labour (86 per cent) are found in the private sector. Forced labour in sectors other than commercial sexual exploitation accounts for 63 per cent of all forced labour, while forced commercial sexual exploitation represents 23 per cent of all forced labour.
- Almost four out of five of those in forced commercial sexual exploitation are women or girls.
- An estimated 22 million people were living in forced marriage on any given day in 2021. This indicates an increase of 6.6 million since the 2016 global estimates.
- The true incidence of forced marriage, particularly involving children aged 16 and younger, is likely far greater than current estimates can capture; these are based on a narrow definition and do not include all child marriages.
- Child marriages are considered to be forced because a child cannot legally give consent to marry. Forced marriage is closely linked to long-established patriarchal attitudes and practices and is highly context specific.
Suggestions
- The report proposes a number of recommended actions which, taken together and swiftly, would mark significant progress towards ending modern slavery.
- They include: improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections; ending state-imposed forced labour; stronger measures to combat forced labour and trafficking in business and supply chains; extending social protection, and strengthening legal protections, including raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exception.
- Other measures include addressing the increased risk of trafficking and forced labour for migrant workers, promoting fair and ethical recruitment, and greater support for women, girls and vulnerable individuals.
