Modern Slavery

Definition

Modern slavery covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices, and human trafficking. Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term that focuses attention on commonalities across these legal concepts. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.

Forms of modern slavery

Purposes of exploitation can range from forced prostitution and forced labour to forced marriage and forced organ removal. Here are the most common forms of modern slavery.

• Forced labour – any work or services which people are forced to do against their will under the threat of some form of punishment.
• Debt bondage or bonded labour – the world’s most widespread form of slavery, when people borrow money they cannot repay and are required to work to pay off the debt, then losing control over the conditions of both their employment and the debt.
• Human trafficking– involves transporting, recruiting or harbouring people for the purpose of exploitation, using violence, threats or coercion.
• Descent-based slavery – where people are born into slavery because their ancestors were captured and enslaved; they remain in slavery by descent.
• Child slavery – many people often confuse child slavery with child labour, but it is much worse. Whilst child labour is harmful for children and hinders their education and development, child slavery occurs when a child is exploited for someone else’s gain. It can include child trafficking, child soldiers, child marriage and child domestic slavery.
• Forced and early marriage – when someone is married against their will and cannot leave the marriage. Most child marriages can be considered slavery.

Ending modern slavery: road forward to 2030

Ending modern slavery will require a multi-faceted response that addresses the array of forces – economic, social, cultural and legal – that contribute to vulnerability and enable abuses. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution; responses need to be adapted to the very diverse environments in which modern slavery still occurs. It is nonetheless possible to identify some overarching policy priorities in the lead-up to 2030 from the Global Estimates and from experience to date.

• Extending social protection systems, including floors: Stronger social protection systems, including social protection floors, is necessary to offset the vulnerabilities that can push people into modern slavery. Cash transfer schemes, public employment programmes, health protection, maternity protection, disability benefits, unemployment protection, and income security in old age are all relevant within a well-designed social security system in helping offset vulnerabilities that can lead to forced labour and forced marriage.  
• Ensuring fundamental rights for all: Extending labour and social rights in the informal economy – where modern slavery is most likely to occur – is needed to protect workers from exploitation.
• Ensuring fair and effective migration governance: Given that a large share of modern slavery can be traced to migration, improved migration governance is vitally important to preventing forced labour and protecting victims. 
• Addressing gender-related vulnerabilities: Additionally, the risk and typology of modern slavery is strongly influenced by gender, and this must also be taken into account in developing policy responses. 
• Addressing debt bondage: Addressing the root causes of debt bondage, a widespread means of coercion, is another necessary element of forced labour prevention, while improved victim identification is critical to extending protection to the majority of modern slavery victims who are currently unidentified or unattended. 
• Addressing the risk of modern slavery in situations of state fragility, conflict, and crisis: Finally, we know that much of modern slavery today occurs in contexts of state fragility, conflict, and crisis, pointing to the need to address the risk of modern slavery as part of humanitarian actions in these situations. 
• Strengthening policies, legislation, and enforcement: Policies and measures in all of these priority areas should be evidence-based and informed by research and statistics on the specific profile of modern slavery in the countries concerned. 
• The complex, global, and a multi-dimensional phenomenon of modern slavery cannot be resolved by national governments or other stakeholders acting on their own. It requires an integrated, coordinated strategy to address root causes, consequences, and impacts, with a focus on cross-border strategies and bilateral, regional, and international cooperation. 
• Need for more and better data, improved capacity of national data collection, and refinement and improvement in the measurement of modern slavery.

Conclusions and way forward

Ending modern slavery will require a multi-faceted response that addresses the array of forces – economic, social, cultural, and legal – that contribute to vulnerability and enable abuses. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution; responses need to be adapted to the diverse environments in which modern slavery still occurs. But it is nonetheless possible to identify some overarching policy priorities in the lead-up to 2030 from the Global Estimates and from experience to date. 

Stronger social protection floors are necessary to offset the vulnerabilities that can push people into modern slavery. Extending labour rights in the informal economy – where modern slavery is most likely to occur – is needed to protect workers from exploitation. Given that a large share of modern slavery can be traced to migration, improved migration governance is vitally important to preventing forced labour and protecting victims. 

Additionally, the risk and typology of modern slavery is strongly influenced by gender, and this must also be taken into account in developing policy responses. Addressing the root causes of debt bondage, a widespread means of coercion, is another necessary element of forced labour prevention, while improved victim identification is critical to extending protection to the vast majority of modern slavery victims who are currently unidentified or unattended. Finally, we know that much of modern slavery today occurs in contexts of state fragility, conflict, and crisis, pointing to the need to address the risk of modern slavery as part of humanitarian actions in these situations. 

Further efforts are needed to improve the evidence base on modern slavery in order to inform and guide policy responses in all of these areas. Key measurement priorities identified through the preparation of the Global Estimates include the improved measurement of modern slavery affecting children and specifically cases of sexual exploitation involving children and child marriage. There is also a need to more effectively capture specific subpopulations such as adult victims of forced sexual exploitation and victims in conflict contexts. The ability to track changes in modern slavery over time will be critical for monitoring progress in the lead-up to 2030. But perhaps the most important priority is to strengthen and extend national research and data collection efforts on modern slavery to guide national policy responses. 

International cooperation in addressing modern slavery is essential given its global and cross-border dimensions. Alliance 8.7, a multi-stakeholder partnership committed to achieving Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, has an important role to play in this regard. The Global Estimates indicate that the majority of forced labour today exists in the private economy. This underscores the importance of partnering with the business community – alongside employers’ and workers’ organisations, and civil society organisations – to eradicate forced labour in supply chains and in the private economy more broadly. Cooperation should be strengthened between and among governments and with relevant international and regional organizations in areas such as labour law enforcement, criminal law enforcement, 13 and the management of migration in order to prevent trafficking and to address forced labour across borders. 

References

ILO