Do we have the courage to fight a thriving slavery?

Have you looked closely at your neighbours recently? Under the veneer of education, sophistication and wealth, many people remain committed to slave-driving. Many households in middle-class urban India, are perpetuating one of the worst crimes against humanity. Modern slavery lives.

It’s not just a result of human trafficking by cold-blooded criminals in neglected corners of earth, modern slave owners are educated elite and global corporations across brightly lit regions of the world.

Consider the recent case of a well-paid corporate professional in an upscale neighbourhood in Delhi who was arrested for keeping a maid under slave-like conditions. While the city was shocked, most preferred to think that it was an exception not the rule. But that’s not true. A sickeningly high percentage of middle-class homes still employs domestic help in slave-like conditions. This busts the myth that slavery exists only in rural areas hidden from the eyes of law.

Not surprising then that the first ever Global Slavery Index developed by Walk Free Foundation finds India on top of the list of countries with maximum modern slaves. Pakistan, China and Russia are next with highest number of enslaved people. There are close to 30 million modern slaves in the 162 countries studied. The countries with the highest numbers of enslaved people are India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Taken together, these countries account for 76 per cent of the total estimate of 30 million in modern slavery.

Slavery is defined as treating people as products where they are bought, sold or destroyed, says the report by the Foundation. People work in forced conditions where they have few or no rights and suffer inhuman conditions.

The index has measured prevalence of child marriage, modern slavery and human trafficking. It is especially critical of global corporations who nurture slavery, albeit indirectly. Many MNCs sub-contract manufacturing to vendors who offer the cheapest cost of production. Within countries like India, domestic corporations hire similar local vendors who maintain quality, but at a high human cost.

“India is estimated to have about 14 million people enslaved. The report says that while this involves  exploitation of some foreign nationals, by far the largest proportion of this problem is the exploitation of Indians citizens within India itself, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labour. China is next with about 3 million and Pakistan with about 2 million people in slavery.

Unfortunately, society continues to be tolerant of this scourge in most parts of the world. Thus many people think nothing of keeping domestic slaves. These people don’t even begin to think about slaves that shed blood to make consumer products.

While most countries have laws in place, the social pressure is still weak. An aggressive effort by the people who are disgusted by slavery will be needed to fight it. Shunning and shaming companies that don’t take responsibility for allowing slavery is necessary.

While global business leaders have been seeking government help to revive the global economy, few are worried about issues of slavery. Most see these as irritating issues that should be ignored. The business leaders remain confident that maintaining modern slaves in sweat shops will have little effect on consumers.

Since these workers are employed by vendors and contract manufacturers, the government finds it tough to prosecute global companies. At an institutional level, loopholes in laws will have to be plugged to ensure that companies take responsibility for the entire chain of manufacturing and supply of products.

At a personal level, individuals like us should overcome polite behaviour and publicly expose people and companies in cities, whether Mumbai or Moscow, who employ slaves. Do we have the courage to do so?

The author tracks India’s political economy.