Question

Why is it difficult to eradicate slavery? Does law enforcement do enough to eradicate slavery? Whose responsiblity is it to end slavery? What are some comming tactics and strategies used to combat slavery?

Answer 1

“Slavery persists because we let it persist,” the United Nations University, a U.N. General Assembly think tank, and the private anti-slavery Freedom Fund said in one of two joint reports. This taboo seems to be weakening, not strengthening. Existing efforts in the battle against slavery that affects some 21 million people are fragmented and disconnected, the two bodies said.

Nations must boost prosecution at the domestic as well as the international level to reinforce the prohibition against forced labor, sex trafficking and other forms of slavery, they said.

“Fighting Modern Slavery” cited Boko Haram, the Islamist militants in Nigeria, and ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq as actively sponsoring and promoting chattel slavery, organizing slave markets and advocating for the revival of slavery as their official policy.

Slavery and trafficking take advantage of millions of vulnerable people, and the practice persists “from local kiln operators in South Asia to major multinational construction firms involved in sporting mega-events” due to an absence of enforcement, it said.

The U.S. State Department estimates that worldwide there are about 9,000 prosecutions a year for human trafficking-related offenses, including sex trafficking, it said. While companies are under growing pressure to eradicate slavery from their supply chains, criminal enforcement is rare. Statutory and regulatory measures encouraging companies to engage in ‘due diligence’ to eradicate slavery from their supply chains will lack real force until such criminal prosecution occurs. Ending slavery calls for a global partnership to address indifference by some governments and corporations, weak coordination by various arms and agencies of the United Nations and scant or incomplete data, said the second report entitled “Unshackling Development.” It is the responsibility of every citizen to wipe slavery from the society. Everyone should take action to inform the authority if something illegal has found. Then only slavery can be eradicated completely.

“What is required is not a radical reinvention of the wheel, but a strategic initiative designed to bring the wheels together, so they all work together,” it said.