Modern day Slavery in the contemporary World

Looking back on the material within our course lecture these past few weeks, after we analyzed the fundamental components of globalization and exclusively explored the ways in which globalization ensues crime behavior both regionally and trans-nationally, a major takeaway I procured from examining this facet of global activity is that the intensifying phenomenon of globalization can induce hope and opportunity for some...Yet on the contrary, it can make deprivation and oppression a constant reality for others.

These realities that millions of citizens continually endure day after day have detrimentally perpetuated into communities, cultures, and even countries. An example of this ever-growing dilemma can be seen within the informal economy. The informal economy or as some call it, "the hidden economy", is the widespread arena of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state. Because the informal economy is not included in the gross national product (GNP) and the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country (www.wiego.org), many of the jobs within it are unprotected and inherently dangerous. Jobs within the informal economy may include forced labor practices such as debt bondage, domestic servitude, and sex trafficking (class lecture). The informal economy also includes the dispersal of guns, drugs, and a number of other illegal entities (class lecture).



One of the reasons why the informal economy is able to persist under the radar is due to the lack of regulation from law enforcement authorities. Take human smuggling for example, every year millions of people are smuggled from around the world and our inability to stop it represents one of the greatest policy failures of modern history (Khalid Koser's ted talk). Countless lives are brutally affected by these unjust practices and many people have little knowledge about how it works, let alone that it even exists. This insufficient civilian awareness not only surmounts to human smuggling, but it transverses to a multitude of modern day slavery practices whether is human trafficking, debt bondage, or domestic servitude. Speaking from personal experience, throughout my education experience in learning about slavery, I was taught that slavery was an abolished practice of humanity. Until I looked into world issues, I never really understand that there are various shapes and forms of slavery that take place. At times, I feel like some people tend to view slavery in context to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade because the embers from that disheartening fire burned deeply within the roots of America's history. So when some people think about slavery, they immediately picture that specific type since it's inevitably ingrained within American society/culture. This dilemma connects to an idea we learned about earlier in the quarter, the danger of a single story. In this case, the danger is that when someone fails to conceptualize that slavery is a widespread issue expanding internationally, it makes the overarching push to enact positive change insurmountably harder.



Now that I've given a personal anecdote on my own experience with learning about slavery, I'd like to take this time to shift our focus to how slavery has intensified on a global scale.

Here is what I found:

- In terms of profit, Human Trafficking is ranked as the 3rd largest international crime industry just behind Drugs and Arms Trafficking. (theworldcounts.com) 

- Two of the ten largest slave-holding countries — China and Russia — are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. (www.natinoalreview.com)

- According to the Global Slavery Index (GSI), there are an estimated 45.8 million slaves in the world today (www.natinoalreview.com).

Our awareness to instill change amidst this issue begins with awareness to how its happening. Like Khalid Koser stated in his Ted Talk we watched in class, one of the major reasons why human smuggling, modern day slavery, and other unjust practices take place is because it is fundamental understood.

Slavery has formulated into a major cross-border crisis injuring citizens into the upmost forms of suppression, and i'ts important in this moment that we take a look into how countries can play a role in not just contributing to this heart-breaking complication, but also to how they can provide means to putting an end to it. 

In chapter 5 of our textbook, Globalization; The transformation of Social Worlds, we learned that the world is divided into nation states, and each nation state has their own sovereign government. In essence, this means ultimately that each individual country has their own specific way of operating socially, economically, and politically. This can be beneficial because nations are in control and have the ability to make their own decisions within their region. However, this diversified cross border stipulation can also engender some countries of the world to establish corrupt political agendas and impose various forms of persecution amongst its people. For example, Human Trafficking and Slavery generates $150 billion dollars in illegal profits a year, and the highest profits are generated from the Asian-Pacific regions of the world. (class lecture). Countries like India, China, and Pakistan within this region are members of the United Nations (un.org), yet they still produce the highest numbers of modern day slaves today which totals to an estimated 11.7 million (class lecture).

Its alarming to see that even though countries can be connected within the United Nations and affiliated with contemporary social justice movements, that still the greater good of the people within these countries still bears the burden of fighting these extreme inequality practices.



As we've come to a closure in examining the internal elements of how slavery operates and explored the ways in which this fight has continued to prolong for years on end, I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you some research regarding to what can be done to combat this problem and how change can be constituted.

An article on restavekfreedom.org titled, " 7 Ways You Can Stop Slavery", stated that when taking action against this dilemma, citizens have the ability to...

- Gain Knowledge in how it impacts the lives of millions worldwide- Shop Informed and invest in ethical businesses
- Support Anti-Slavery Organizations
- Speak Up and raise awareness
- Be Social and advocate for the voiceless
- Volunteer at a local anti-trafficking organization
- Sponser a Child

For one to understand the magnitude and importance of putting an end to modern slavery, one must have the willingness to take a step in someone else's shoes. There is an African proverb that states, "if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together'. Connecting this idea to fighting modern day slavery, when we come together communally across various waters, far away borders, and diverse cultures, we can go far and instill growth, benevolence, and prosperity for the millions of world citizens that deserve every right to live happy, live free, and live life.