Question

1. Investigate contemporary institutional slavery or human trafficking around the globe, using a specific example. What societal dynamics do these situations have in common with slavery in the United States?

2. Do you believe that slavery is fundamentally wrong? Explain yes or no. Many commodities would be considerably more expensive without the people who work for near to nothing around the world. Would you be willing to pay higher prices if it meant an end to such poor wages and conditions for labor? What about how this affects prices around the world, such as in developing countries?

Answer 1

Answer.

Human trafficking refers to all forms of nonconsensual exploitation when people are forced or lured into exploitation regardless of the actual movement of victims. Across the globe, human trafficking has taken several forms including child labour, prostitution, underground organ transplants, forced beggary etc. within South Asia, the problem of child labour has been a rampant concern for international organisations such as the UNICEF as it violates the UN charter on Human rights as it violates the childrn’s Right to a safe and dignified life. For instance, The socio-economic hardships of many poor families in India and a long history of debts compel many families to offer the services of their children as indentured labour who in turn work for the money lender as ‘bonded labour’ to pay off their family’s debt. In this regard, child labour in the form of bonded labour presents a similar pattern as slavery in the United States till late 19th century.

In both these cases, there is a large overlap with consensual exploitation, namely when economic vulnerabilities force victims to accept exploitative work arrangements just as African American populations were once bought as properties for use by the upper class White Americans for their labour in return for lodging and food, children within the system of bonded labour work as possessions of their debtors for indefinite periods till they can allegedly extricate the money owned in exchange for their time and manpower.