This month, the Walk Free Foundation published the first comprehensive report on modern slavery, the Global Slavery Index. The study, the first of its kind, gives an encyclopedic analysis of 162 countries, highlighting a depressing reality that 29.8 million people are enslaved around the world today. Many people falsely assume that slavery was eradicated long ago — however, slavery still exists and must be addressed.
The study found that India has approximately half the world’s slave population, totaling over 14 million. Or to put it another way, over one-and-a-half times the size of the population of New York City. India has a long list of modern forms of slavery, including debt bondage, dubious so-called house workers, child trafficking, and forced marriage and prostitution. India has an entrenched problem with slavery, with much of it caused by social, ethnic and hereditary factors. India’s caste system is a primary source of the continuance of slavery in modern times. The lower castes of society, primarily the Dalit community, are most at-risk. Also known as “the untouchables,” many of the Dalits are born into bonded servitude, the majority of whom are women and children.
India’s government theoretically outlawed modern forms of slave labor in 1976 with the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, but since then has done little to stem the rise of modern slavery. Only since April 2013 has the criminal code made all forms of human trafficking in India a punishable offense. It is unclear whether anything will come of this amendment to the law, though. Much of the problem results from the poor implementation of government policy and the slow and haphazard administration of justice with a terribly inefficient and at times, corrupt legal system.
India is still one of only eight countries out of 182 nations not to have ratified the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, which is specifically designed for countries to commit to ensuring all forms of child labor, from debt bondage to using children in armed conflicts, never occur. Ratifying this convention would be a first step the Indian government should take at eradicating the scourge of slavery.
For many years, the Western media has shied away from highlighting that slavery still exists in the world, preferring less resonating terms such as “forced labor” and “human trafficking” — terms that desensitize us to continued enslavement. It is a crime that remains underreported and even more rarely stopped. Nations purporting democratic ideals must stamp out slavery if they are to be viewed as actual democracies. Many of those at the top of the list for modern slavery are developing nations with whom the West is seeking to forge deep political and economic partnerships, including India and China. The UN and the West must face up harsh reality of modern slavery and put pressure on nations who still allow this practice to go unabated.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 28 print edition. Harry Brown is a columnist. Email him at [email protected].
