

New global index exposes 'modern slavery' worldwide - xan92
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24560937

======
rurounijones
I looked at their FAQ but even with their answer to "How did the researchers
define modern slavery when they were estimating prevalence country by
country?" I cannot parse if they should count people in US Prisons that are
forced to work on things like license plates and cleaning beaches of oil
spills (among other things.)[1]

I wonder what the US ranking would be then.

[1] [http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-
unit...](http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-
states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery) Any linguistic-types care to
have a shot?

(Sorry if this is construed as an anti-US post. It was just something that
stood out to me since I read that article recently)

~~~
vacri
_‘Slavery’ refers to the condition of treating another person as if they were
property – something to be bought, sold, traded or even destroyed._

Prisoners in the US aren't treated as property. Not to say they aren't _mis_
treated, but they're generally not considered to be a commodity.

~~~
rurounijones
I am not entirely sure.

Some of the quotes like: “there won’t be any transportation costs; we’re
offering you competitive prison labor (here).”

Private prisons and opening of new prisons in counties so that they can get
prisoners assigned to them and a "share of the profits" undermines that stance
somewhat in my mind.

It is tricky because there are aspects of their situations which match the
list of "slavery" factors but are because they are convicted criminals serving
their sentences so should be discounted.

It is the splitting of punishment for crime vs coerced labour which is
difficult.

------
timje1
Does anyone know where I can find details, or a good article, about all of
these slaves in India and Pakistan?

edit: the report itself lists the details.

 _Bonded labour is the greatest problem in Pakistan. The Asian Development
Bank estimates that 1.8 million people are bonded labourers, though many NGOs
place the estimate much higher._

 _India exhibits the full spectrum of different forms of modern slavery, from
severe forms of inter-generational bonded labour across various industries to
the worst forms of child labour, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced
and servile marriage._

~~~
unfasten
Al Jazeera also did a series on modern slavery
([http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/](http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/)).
The Bonded Slaves episode covers Pakistan and the use of slaves in brick kiln
factories. If you're outside the U.S. you can watch it online (from their site
or on their YouTube channel). If anyone inside the U.S. wants to watch it,
then I'm afraid you're out of luck since we lost online access when Al Jazeera
America launched.

~~~
derleth
> Al Jazeera also did a series on modern slavery

Doesn't look like they include the slaves held in Qatar. Al Jazeera has also
been very light on what's been uncovered about the Doha World Cup and
everything related to that.

------
schappim
Summary:

\- New index shows that nearly 30M people around the world are living as
slaves

\- India has the highest number (14M)

\- Mauritania has highest % (4%)

\- index was compiled by (Aussie) rights org WFF (Walk Free Foundation)

\- WFF's estimate of 29.8 million slaves worldwide is higher than other
attempts

\- Another org, "International Labour Organisation" previously estimated 21M

\- India, China, Pakistan and Nigeria have highest numbers and account for 3/4
of slavery

\- Wikipedia Article on Present Day Slavery:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery#Present_day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery#Present_day)

~~~
Someone
_" India, China, Pakistan and Nigeria have highest numbers"_

That part isn't that surprising as they are #1, #2, #6, and #7 on the
population count scale
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population))

#3, #4, and #5 are the USA, Indonesia, and Brazil.

The USA and Brazil is way richer in GDP per capita than Pakistan and Nigeria,
Indonesia about 40% richer.

I guesstimate that explains why they rank lower on the absolute numbers
slavery scale.

------
kabouseng
Of course it is in the researchers best interest to produce a report with as
high as possible slave count...

These kinds of reports, which places a definitive number I always take with a
pound of salt.

~~~
mansigandhi
Umm, how is it in their best interest to show higher number exactly?

And wrt the definitive number - "Mrs Clinton said that although the index was
not perfect, it provided a starting point, according to the Associated Press."

~~~
dublinben
They're an organization that works to end slavery. They're also trying to
raise $100m towards their efforts. The bigger they can make the issue, the
more support they'll garner.

[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/100-million-
freedom-...](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/100-million-freedom-fund-
to-combat-modern-day-slavery-225397722.html)

------
ZirconCode
Googles Cache of globalslaveryindex.org is a GoDaddy place holder -_-

Also during the trans-atlantic slave trade, around 13 million slaves were
estimated. These estimates would amount to around the same without India (and
we have much larger population today).

------
xan92
The Irony is that most of the slaves of Pakistan and India are shipped to Gulf
to work on infrastructure projects with very harsh living conditions and less
to no pay. I am baffled that there is no mention of countries like Saudi
Arabia, Qatar.

------
Sagat
I took a look at the comments and people still seem to be blaming Europeans
for the entirety of slavery, which is ironic considering that they were the
first ones to abolish it.

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CmonDev
Based on title, I thought it was about mortgages...

------
vacri
[http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/](http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/)

This is the site it references, and probably would have been the better link.
It's pretty to look at, but it's not particularly informative if you're
looking for a mildly detailed breakdown of what's going on.

They have a faq section which describes what they mean by slavery.

