Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report: United Nations Estimates 50 Million People Across World Stuck In ‘modern Slavery’

Source: The post is based on the article “United Nations Estimates 50 Million People Across World Stuck In ‘modern Slavery’” published in NDTV on 14th September 2022.

What is the News?

International Labour Organization (ILO) has released a report titled Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report.

What are the key findings of the report?

Modern Slavery: Modern Slavery includes two forced labour and forced marriage, both referring to the situation of exploitation when a person cannot refuse to comply or cannot escape owing to threats, violence, deception and abuse of power. 

– Around 50 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.

– The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.

Forced Labour: It accounts for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery. Around 86% of forced labour cases are found in the private sector. Almost one in eight of all those in forced labour are children.

Forced Marriage: 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.

What are the recommendations given by the report?

The report proposes a number of recommended actions which include: 1) Improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections, 2) ending state-imposed forced labour, 3) stronger measures to combat forced labour, 4) extending social protection, 5) strengthening legal protections, 6) addressing the increased risk of trafficking and forced labour for migrant workers and 7) greater support for women, girls and vulnerable individuals.