Modern Day Slavery: It Exists!

Slavery Is Everywhere: Slavery, though hidden within many different names, exists in every corner of the world. Regions include, but are certainly not limited to: Africa, the Caribbean, India (specifically the Punjab region), Latin America, New Zealand and the European Union. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, there are an estimated 11.7 million people in forced labor.

Child Labor: Exploiting the World's Children: The numbers associated with modern-day child slavery are staggering. Worldwide, there are about 215 million children laborers between the ages of 5 and 17. Of those, 115 million are working the worst possible child labor conditions. Furthermore, 53 million children under the age of 15 are in dangerous, even life-threatening work. Child labor work includes prostitution, forced begging and domestic work.

Bonded Labor: Taking Advantage of the Less Fortunate: Bonded labor is a type of slavery in which people are forced to labor because of an unpaid debt of loan. Beyond that, force is used to keep slaves in possession. This includes human trafficking and has existed for centuries. Those in bonded labor are very unlikely to be able to pay off a debt or loan, because the slave owners find ways to create more debt to be paid off, such as insisting that they had given the slaves more food one month and therefore that debt needs to be paid off.

Lack of Government Enforcement: Slavery is ruled illegal both by the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. However, governments in countries are rarely willing to enforce those laws, despite the fact that slavery is only beneficial to the slave owners, not the economy as a whole.

The Story of Maria Suarez: Maria Suarez was in some form of captivity for 28 years. At the age of 15, she was tricked into slavery. While she was a slave, her slave owner rented out an extra house. The couple that rented it was young. The slave owner ended up killing the man, and he told Maria to go and hide the stick. Knowing nothing but obedience, Maria did so, hiding it under the house. When the police came to make an arrest, Maria was the one taken into custody. She had no resources, and was forced to employ a bad attorney on his first case. Due to this, she was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. She was also hesitant to involve her family because her slave owner had threatened to hurt her family. However, Maria was eventually rescued from prison by the INS, though this doesn't erase the fact that she was not only bought as if she were property and not a human being, but she was also imprisoned for a wrong and crime she did not commit.

How to Conquer This Evil: Learn about and research the problem. This would help in knowing what you're up and fighting against. It would also be beneficial in speaking about the topic because one would gain enough information on the problem to speak on it. Another way to be on the way to stop slavery is to spread the word. This can be done through making posters, or talking to groups of people, or even starting fundraisers!