You are on page 1of 8

Modern Day Slavery

What should the developed nations do in order to help third world


countries eliminate slavery?

By Ahmed Elsharnouby

Modern day slavery is an issue that should not be irking all the nations of the
world today. It is a trifling matter for both the developing nations and the developed
nations. Though both nations suffer from this predicament, the developed nations,
being the ones with most of the resources and power, should take the lead by using
their resources in infiltrating this illegal business and, ultimately, toppling it from the
inside; the destruction of the slave trade/ human trafficking in the developing world
will cripple any human trafficking in the developed world.
Since the start of civilization slavery has been present. From the Ancient
Egyptians who used slaves to build their monuments to the Americans who use slave to
plant their fields, slavery has been a big part of history, and it is still important to this
day. Many people think slavery has ended but the truth is that it is still a growing
business in todays society. But while this momentous act in 1865 did eliminate the
legal form of slavery that dominated Americas first 75 years, it did not end the practice
of one person forcing others to work - commercially or privately - against their will and
for the profit of another. This refers to the end of slavery in America after the civil war.
Though many people think slavery has ended, only one type of slavery has ended. That
slavery is chattel slavery. Its when a person owns a human legally as if that human was
property. As the quote indicates that is but one type of slavery; forcing another human
2

to work against their will has not ended. This is not only in the U.S but also in many
other parts of the world; there are numerous types of slavery going happening in these
areas.
Modern day slavery, commonly known as human trafficking, has several forms:
domestic servitude, sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor, and child labor. Each
type of slavery takes place in different places of the world and each has its own unique
characteristics. Domestic servants are forced to work in private homes or convinced that
they cannot leave. People who are sex trafficked are threatened or tricked to work in
places like brothels, prostitution rings, etc. Bonded labor is when people who are in
debt are forced to work until their debt is payed of, which it often is not. Finally child
labor is when children are forced to commit any of the acts previously mentioned above.
These are but many type of human trafficking that exist in the world today. The
International Labor Organization estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is
a $150 billion industry worldwide. The industry is very lucrative; it makes the slavers
millions. As an industry grows it changes and evolves. It is only natural that this illegal
business has so many different branches and types. Because of its widespread reach in
the world, modern day slavery is very influential and powerful. It has the ability to hide
itself from the world behind closed doors of private businesses or just normal homes. It
is a problem that is slowly devastating nations around the world, developed or not.

Modern day slaver is also happening because of its low risk and high demand
situation. human trafficking does not exist solely because many people are vulnerable
to exploitation. Instead, human trafficking is fueled by a demand for cheap labor,
services and for commercial sex. Human traffickers are those who employ force, fraud,
or coercion to victimize others in their desire to profit from the existing demand. The
slavers are only in this line of work because it is profitable. Huge demand for goods
services and commercial sex holds potential in reaping profit.. Slavers who employ
slaves in factories and workplaces will continue to do so if and only if there are people
buying the goods they produce or use their services. The same situation occurs with sex
trafficking; as long as there are people willing to pay for commercial sex then the slavers
will continue forcing people to work there. There is no risk in doing so. The positives far
outweigh the negatives. This is also nurtured by the ignorance of the people. Many
people dont know how powerful the slave market is, and many others dont even know
it exist in the first place; the slavers can continue with their illegal work without
worrying of global backlash. All these factors contribute to the spread and strength of
modern day slavery.
Many nations are affected by this market negatively. It does not only occur with
developing nation but also with strong and stable developed nations as well. There is
no official estimate of the total number of human trafficking victims in the U.S. With
100,000 children estimated to be in the sex trade in the United States each year, it is clear
4

that the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands
when estimates of both adults and minors and sex trafficking and labor trafficking are
aggregated.The U.S is a nation that is considered one of the most powerful and
advanced nations in the word. It has an extensive security system and a very powerful
intelligence network. It has many resources at its disposal but it still cannot effectively
deal with the human trafficking problem in its own territory. If the U.S cant handle the
situation then nations like the U.K and Japan cant handle similar problems that occur
within their own nations. Then there are nations like China and India where forced
labor is widespread. Many people in these nations work for hours on end to produce
products that are ultimately sent outside the nations to be sold abroad These problems
are irking these nations and hindering their economic growth and social security. Then
developing nations are in a much worse state. They are economically weaker and often
less politically less stable then the first world. This means they are the perfect place for
slavery to thrive because the political instability will allow the slaver to bypass many
laws and the economic weakness will allow them to tempt new victims with promises of
large amounts of money. This means both the developed and the developing world
would benefit from a plan taking place and working to stop modern day slavery: the
developed nations would no longer be hindered and the developing nation might be
able to grow and prosper politically and economically.

Precautions, regulations, support groups, and laws have been made to combat
modern day slavery. For example: Polaris is a group that helps save victims through the
use of hotlines and call. These hotlines allow the victims to call the group and ask for
aid. After being saved the group helps the victim by supporting him/her and helping
him/her to recuperate. The problem with this is that many people are isolated to a
certain extent when tricked into slavery. Victims face many challenges in accessing
help. Their traffickers may confiscate their identification and money. They may not
speak English. They may not know where they are, because they have been moved
frequently. They are often not allowed to communicate with family or friends. And they
may have trouble trusting others, due to their traffickers manipulation and control
tactics. As mentioned in the quote the slavers use a variety of techniques to isolate the
slaves they have acquired. The victims become afraid or distrusting; they wont choose
to put themselves in danger and call for help. They might not be able to either. The
slavers would have them isolated or unable to use a phone. Help wont arrive
immediately either. It would at the very least take a day for help to come and rescue the
slave. By that time the slaver could have changed locations, and the victims life would
be in great danger. Other solutions such as laws and regulations are not helpful either.
These laws and regulations are detailed and entail what should be done to prevent the
illegal act, how it should be monitored, how the victims should be helped, but resources
are not being allocated efficiently to enforce these laws thus making them somewhat
6

useless. The UKs Modern Slavery Act 2015, for example, goes into detail about what are
the penalties for the crime, how the victims should be compensated, where are the
paces to be monitored etc. That is a good plan, but because the resources arent being
allocated and the laws not enforced properly, the act is not helpful. Factors that add to
low risk include: lack of government and law enforcement training, low community
awareness, ineffective or unused laws, lack of law enforcement investigation, scarce
resources for victim recovery services, and social blaming of victims. As seen by this
quote the growth of slavery industry is not hindered by these solutions. The laws and
groups are in place but because of the carelessness of the governments involved these
solution will prove futile to solving the situation. The slavers know about the laws and
groups; they know their weaknesses and have bypassed the laws and groups with ne
tactics.
The solution proposed here, on the other hand, will solve the problem. All
nations are plagued by the problem of human trafficking, but the developed nations
have more resources to combat this number. They should take charge. These nations
should employ their intelligence agencies to infiltrate the slave industry and topple it
from the inside. For example: the US has the CIA and the U.K has MI6. These agencies
have immense amounts of resources and operatives at their disposal. Nations like the
U.S should trains their operatives to infiltrate the organization as slavers or as the slaves
themselves. These infiltrations will let the governments see the inner working of these
7

illegal organizations and who runs them. They will also be able to confirm the victims
and their exact look, safety, and health. This plan will likely take 10 years to fully be
implemented. The operatives must be trained and the infiltrations need to e slow and
meticulously planned out. After the operatives gain access they must work their way
into a high position, and gain the trust of the other slavers. Then the plan when finished
will annihilate the majority of the slave trade and the developed nation can easily defeat
the remainder sprinter group
When put into motion this plan will slowly but surely save the lives of so many
people. When the operatives infiltrate the organization, they will slowly gain the trust of
the operatives inside. Then after several years the organization will be toppled. The
operatives would, as of that time, be holding high positions in the slave trade. Then the
other governments would simultaneously blitzkrieg many factories hideouts ect because
the info will be reported by the infiltrating operatives. Then after it is over the nation
can easily crush the rest of the splinter groups.

You might also like