Slaves and slave owners of capitalism. Human trafficking in the modern world

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

July 30 was World Day against Trafficking in Human Beings. Unfortunately, in the modern world, the problems of slavery and human trafficking, as well as forced labor, are still relevant. Despite the opposition of international organizations, it is not possible to cope with human trafficking to the end.

Especially in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where the local cultural and historical specifics, on the one hand, and the colossal level of social polarization, on the other hand, create fertile ground for the preservation of such a terrible phenomenon as the slave trade. In fact, the slave trade networks in one way or another capture almost all the countries of the world, while the latter are divided into countries that are mainly exporters of slaves, and countries where slaves are imported for their use in any spheres of activity.

Only from Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe "disappear" every year at least 175 thousand people. In total, at least 4 million people in the world become victims of slave traders every year, most of whom are citizens of underdeveloped Asian and African countries. Traders in "living goods" make huge profits, amounting to many billions of dollars. On the illegal market, "live goods" are the third most profitable after drugs and weapons. In developed countries, the bulk of the people who fell into slavery are women and girls illegally held in captivity, who were forced or persuaded to engage in prostitution. However, a certain part of modern slaves are also people who are forced to work for free in agricultural and construction sites, industrial enterprises, as well as in private households as domestic servants. A significant part of modern slaves, especially those from African and Asian countries, are forced to work for free within the framework of the "ethnic enclaves" of migrants that exist in many European cities. On the other hand, the scale of slavery and the slave trade is much more impressive in the countries of West and Central Africa, India and Bangladesh, Yemen, Bolivia and Brazil, the Caribbean islands, and Indochina. Modern slavery is so large-scale and diverse that it makes sense to talk about the main types of slavery in the modern world.

Sexual slavery

The most massive and, perhaps, widely publicized phenomenon of trade in "human goods" is associated with the supply of women and girls, as well as young boys in the sex industry. Given the special interest that people have always had in the field of sexual relations, sexual slavery is widely covered in the world press. The police in most countries of the world are fighting illegal brothels, periodically freeing people illegally held there and bringing to justice the organizers of a profitable business. In European countries, sexual slavery is very widespread and is associated, first of all, with the coercion of women, most often from economically unstable countries of Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, to engage in prostitution. Thus, only in Greece 13,000 - 14,000 sex slaves from the CIS countries, Albania and Nigeria work illegally. In Turkey, the number of prostitutes is about 300 thousand women and girls, and there are at least 2.5 million people in the world of "priestesses of paid love". A very large part of them were forced into prostitutes and are forced into this occupation under the threat of physical harm. Women and girls are delivered to brothels in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, other European countries, the USA and Canada, Israel, Arab countries, Turkey. For most European countries, the main sources of income for prostitutes are the republics of the former USSR, primarily Ukraine and Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Albania, as well as the countries of West and Central Africa - Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon. A large number of prostitutes arrive in the countries of the Arab world and Turkey, again from the former republics of the CIS, but rather from the Central Asian region - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. Women and girls are lured to European and Arab countries, offering jobs for waitresses, dancers, animators, models and promising decent sums of money for performing simple duties. Despite the fact that in our age of information technology, many girls are already aware that abroad many applicants for such vacancies are enslaved, a significant part is sure that they will be able to avoid this fate. There are also those who theoretically understand what can be expected of them abroad, but have no idea how cruel the treatment of them in brothels can be, how ingenious clients are in humiliating human dignity, sadistic bullying. Therefore, the influx of women and girls to Europe and the Middle East is unabated.

- prostitutes in a Bombay brothel

By the way, a large number of foreign prostitutes also work in the Russian Federation. It is prostitutes from other states, whose passports are taken away and who are on the territory of the country illegally, who are most often the real "living commodity", since it is still more difficult to force the citizens of the country to engage in prostitution. Among the main countries - suppliers of women and girls to Russia, one can name Ukraine, Moldova, and recently also the republics of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. In addition, prostitutes from non-CIS countries - primarily from China, Vietnam, Nigeria, Cameroon - are also transported to brothels of Russian cities that function illegally, that is, those who have an exotic appearance from the point of view of most Russian men and therefore are in a certain demand. However, both in Russia and in European countries, the position of illegal prostitutes is still much better than in the countries of the Third World. At least, the work of law enforcement agencies is more transparent and effective here, the level of violence is less. They are trying to fight against such a phenomenon as trafficking in women and girls. The situation is much worse in the countries of the Arab East, in Africa, in Indochina. In Africa, the largest number of examples of sexual slavery is noted in the Congo, Niger, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Liberia. Unlike European countries, there are practically no chances of freeing themselves from sexual captivity - in a few years women and girls fall ill and die relatively quickly or lose their "presentation" and are thrown out of brothels, filling the ranks of beggars and beggars. There is a very high level of violence, criminal murders of women - slaves, whom no one will look for anyway. In Indochina, Thailand and Cambodia are becoming the centers of attraction for trade in "living goods" with a sexual connotation. Here, given the influx of tourists from all over the world, the entertainment industry is widely developed, including sex tourism. The bulk of the girls supplied to Thailand's sex industry are natives of the backward mountainous regions of the north and northeast of the country, as well as migrants from neighboring Laos and Myanmar, where the economic situation is even worse.

The countries of Indochina are one of the world's centers for sex tourism, and not only female but also child prostitution is widespread here. The resorts of Thailand and Cambodia are known for this among American and European homosexuals. As for sexual slavery in Thailand, it is most often girls who are sold into slavery by their own parents. With this, they set the task of somehow lightening the family budget and getting a very decent amount for the sale of the child by local standards. Despite the fact that the Thai police are formally fighting the phenomenon of human trafficking, in reality, given the poverty of the hinterland, it is virtually impossible to defeat this phenomenon. On the other hand, the dire financial situation forces many women and girls from South-East Asia and the Caribbean to engage in prostitution voluntarily. In this case, they are not sex slaves, although elements of compulsion to labor of a prostitute may be present even if this type of activity is chosen by a woman voluntarily, of her own free will.

A phenomenon called bacha bazi is widespread in Afghanistan. It is a shameful practice of converting male dancers into de facto prostitutes serving adult men. Boys of pre-pubertal age are kidnapped or bought from relatives, after which they are forced to act as dancers at various celebrations, wearing a woman's dress. Such a boy should use women's cosmetics, wear women's clothes, please the man - the owner or his guests. According to researchers, the phenomenon of bacha bazi is widespread among residents of the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan, as well as among residents of some northern regions of the country, and among the fans of bacha bazi there are people of various nationalities in Afghanistan. By the way, no matter how you treat the Afghan Taliban, they had a very negative attitude to the Bacha Bazi custom, and when they took control of most of the territory of Afghanistan, they immediately banned the Bacha Bazi practice. But after the Northern Alliance managed to defeat the Taliban, the practice of bacha bazi was revived in many provinces - and not without the participation of high-ranking officials, who themselves actively used the services of boy prostitutes. In fact, the practice of bacha bazi is pedophilia, which is recognized and legitimized by tradition. But it is also the preservation of slavery, since all bacha bazi are slaves, forcibly kept by their masters and expelled upon reaching puberty. Religious fundamentalists see the practice of "bacha bazi" as a godless custom, which is why it was banned during the rule of the Taliban. A similar phenomenon of using boys for dancing and homosexual entertainment also exists in India, but there boys are also castrated into eunuchs, who constitute a special despised caste of Indian society, formed from former slaves.

Household slavery

Another type of slavery that is still widespread in the modern world is forced free labor in the household. Most often, residents of African and Asian countries become free domestic slaves. Domestic slavery is most widespread in West and East Africa, as well as among the diaspora of people from African countries living in Europe and the United States. As a rule, large households of wealthy Africans and Asians cannot do with the help of family members and require a servant. But the servants in such households often, in accordance with local traditions, work for free, although they receive not so bad maintenance and are viewed more as younger members of the family. However, of course, there are many examples of mistreatment of domestic slaves. Consider the situation in Mauritanian and Malian societies. Among the Arab-Berber nomads who live in Mauritania, the caste division into four estates is preserved. These are warriors - "hasans", clergy - "marabuts", free communes and slaves with freedmen ("haratins"). As a rule, victims of raids on sedentary southern neighbors - Negroid tribes - were turned into slavery. Most of the slaves are hereditary, the descendants of captive southerners or bought from the Saharan nomads. They have long been integrated into Mauritanian and Malian society, occupying the corresponding levels of the social hierarchy in it, and many of them do not even bother with their position, knowing full well that it is better to live as a servant of a status owner than to try to lead an independent existence of an urban pauper, marginal or lumpen. Basically, house slaves act as domestic helpers, caring for camels, keeping the house clean, guarding property. As for the slaves, it is possible there to perform the functions of concubines, but more often also housework, cooking, cleaning the premises.

The number of domestic slaves in Mauritania is estimated at about 500 thousand people. That is, slaves make up about 20% of the country's population. This is the largest indicator in the world, but the problematic nature of the situation also lies in the fact that the cultural and historical specificity of Mauritanian society, as mentioned above, does not preclude such a fact of social relations. Slaves do not seek to leave their masters, but on the other hand, the fact of having slaves stimulates their owners to the possible purchase of new slaves, including children from poor families who do not at all want to become concubines or house cleaners. In Mauritania, there are human rights organizations that fight against slavery, but their activities are faced with numerous obstacles from the slave owners, as well as from the police and special services - after all, among the generals and senior officers of the latter, many also use the labor of free domestic servants. The Mauritanian government denies the fact of slavery in the country and claims that domestic work is traditional for Mauritanian society and the bulk of domestic servants is not going to leave their masters. A roughly similar situation is observed in Niger, in Nigeria and Mali, in Chad. Even the law enforcement system of European states cannot serve as a full-fledged obstacle to domestic slavery. After all, migrants from African countries bring the tradition of domestic slavery with them to Europe. Well-to-do families of Mauritanian, Malian, Somali descent are discharging servants from their countries of origin, who, more often than not, are not paid money and who may be subjected to cruel treatment by their masters. More than once, the French police released from domestic captivity immigrants from Mali, Niger, Senegal, Congo, Mauritania, Guinea and other African countries, who most often fell into domestic slavery as early as childhood - more precisely, they were sold into the service of wealthy compatriots by their own parents perhaps wishing the children well - to avoid total poverty in their native countries by living in rich families abroad, albeit as a free servant.

Domestic slavery is also widespread in the West Indies, primarily in Haiti. Haiti is perhaps the most disadvantaged country in Latin America. Despite the fact that the former French colony became the first (other than the United States) country in the New World to achieve political independence, the standard of living of the population in this country remains extremely low. In fact, it is precisely the socio-economic reasons that motivate Haitians to sell their children to wealthier families as domestic workers. According to independent experts, at least 200-300 thousand Haitian children are currently in "domestic slavery", which is called "restavek" on the island - "service". The way the life and work of the "restorek" will go depends, first of all, on the prudence and benevolence of his owners or on their absence. Thus, “restaek” can be treated like a younger relative, or they can be turned into an object of bullying and sexual harassment. Ultimately, of course, most child slaves are abused.

Child labor in industry and agriculture

One of the most common forms of free slave labor in Third World countries is child labor in agricultural work, factories and mines. In total, at least 250 million children are exploited worldwide, with 153 million children being exploited in Asia and 80 million in Africa. Of course, not all of them can be called slaves in the full sense of the word, since many children in factories and plantations still receive wages, albeit beggarly. But there are often cases when free child labor is used, and children are bought from their parents specifically as free workers. For example, child labor is used on cocoa and peanut plantations in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Moreover, the bulk of the children - slaves come to these countries from the neighboring poorer and problematic states - Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. For many small inhabitants of these countries, work on plantations where they provide food is at least some opportunity to survive, since it is not known how their life would have developed in parental families with a traditionally large number of children. It is known that Niger and Mali have one of the highest birth rates in the world, and most of the children are born in peasant families, who themselves can hardly make ends meet. Droughts in the Sahel region, destroying agricultural yields, contribute to the impoverishment of the peasant population in the region. Therefore, peasant families are forced to attach their children to plantations and mines - only to "throw" them off the family budget. In 2012, the Burkina Faso police, with the help of Interpol officials, freed the slave children who worked in the gold mine. The children worked in the mines in dangerous and unsanitary conditions, receiving no wages. A similar operation was carried out in Ghana, where the police also released child sex workers. A large number of children are enslaved in Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, where their labor is used primarily in agriculture. Nestle, one of the largest producers of cocoa and chocolate, is accused of using child labor. Most of the plantations and businesses owned by this company are located in West African countries that actively use child labor. So, in Côte d'Ivoire, which gives 40% of the world harvest of cocoa beans, at least 109 thousand children work on cocoa plantations. Moreover, the working conditions on the plantations are very difficult and are currently recognized as the worst in the world among other options for using child labor. It is known that in 2001, about 15 thousand children from Mali became victims of the slave trade and were sold on a cocoa plantation in Côte d'Ivoire. More than 30,000 children from Côte d'Ivoire itself also work in agricultural production on plantations, and an additional 600,000 children on small family farms, both of which are relatives of the owners and acquired servants. In Benin, at least 76,000 child slaves are employed on plantations, including natives of that country and other West African countries, including the Congo. Most of Benin's slave children are employed in cotton plantations. In the Gambia, there is a widespread compulsion of underage children to beg, and more often than not, children are forced to beg by … teachers of religious schools, who see this as an additional source of their income.

Child labor is widely used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other countries in South and Southeast Asia. India has the second largest child laborer population in the world. Over 100 million Indian children are forced to work to earn their living. Despite the fact that officially child labor is prohibited in India, it is widespread. Children work on construction sites, in mines, brick factories, agricultural plantations, semi-handicraft factories and workshops, in the tobacco business. In the state of Meghalaya in northeastern India, in the Jaintia coal basin, about two thousand children work. Children from 8 to 12 years old and adolescents 12-16 years old make up ¼ of the 8000th contingent of miners, but receive half as much as adult workers. The average daily salary of a child in a mine is no more than five dollars, more often three dollars. Of course, there is no question of any observance of safety precautions and sanitary standards. Recently, Indian children have been competing with arriving migrant children from neighboring Nepal and Myanmar, who value their labor even less than three dollars a day. At the same time, the socio-economic situation of many millions of families in India is such that they simply cannot survive without the employment of their children. After all, a family here may have five or more children - despite the fact that adults may not have a job or receive very little money. Finally, we must not forget that for many children from poor families, working at an enterprise is also an opportunity to get some kind of shelter over their heads, since there are millions of homeless people in the country. In Delhi alone, there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people who have no shelter over their heads and live on the streets. Child labor is also used by large multinational companies, which, precisely because of the cheapness of labor, move their production to Asian and African countries. So, in the same India, at least 12 thousand children work on the plantations of the notorious Monsanto company. In fact, they are also slaves, despite the fact that their employer is a world famous company created by representatives of the "civilized world".

In other countries of South and Southeast Asia, child labor is also actively used in industrial enterprises. In particular, in Nepal, despite a law that has been in force since 2000 prohibiting the employment of children under 14, children actually make up the majority of workers. Moreover, the law implies the prohibition of child labor only in registered enterprises, and the bulk of children work on unregistered agricultural farms, in artisan workshops, housekeepers, etc. Three quarters of young Nepalese workers are employed in agriculture, with the majority of girls employed in agriculture. Also, child labor is widely used in brick factories, despite the fact that brick production is very harmful. Children also work in quarries, sorting garbage. Naturally, safety standards at such enterprises are also not observed. Most working Nepalese children do not receive secondary or even primary education and are illiterate - the only possible life path for them is unskilled hard work for the rest of their lives.

In Bangladesh, 56% of the country's children live below the international poverty line of $ 1 a day. This leaves them no choice but to work in heavy production. 30% of Bangladeshi children under the age of 14 are already working. Almost 50% of Bangladeshi children drop out of school before they finish elementary school and go to work - in brick factories, hot air balloon factories, agricultural farms, etc. But the first place in the list of countries most actively using child labor rightfully belongs to neighboring India and Bangladesh, Myanmar. Every third child between the ages of 7 and 16 works here. Moreover, children are employed not only in industrial enterprises, but also in the army - as army loaders, subjected to harassment and bullying by the soldiers. There have even been cases of children being used to "clear" minefields - that is, children were released into the field to find out where there were mines and where there was a free passage. Later, under pressure from the world community, the military regime of Myanmar went on a significant reduction in the number of children - soldiers and military servants in the country's army, however, the use of child slave labor at enterprises and construction sites, in the field of agriculture continues. The bulk of Myanmar children are used to collect rubber, in rice and reed plantations. In addition, thousands of children from Myanmar migrate to neighboring India and Thailand in search of work. Some of them end up in sexual slavery, others become free labor in the mines. But those who are sold to households or to tea plantations are even envied, since working conditions there are incomparably easier than in mines and mines, and they pay even more outside Myanmar. It is noteworthy that children do not receive wages for their work - for them it is received by parents who do not work themselves, but act as supervisors for their own children. In the absence or minority of children, women work. Over 40% of children in Myanmar do not attend school at all, but devote all their time to work, acting as the breadwinners of the family.

Slaves to war

Another type of the use of virtually slave labor is the use of children in armed conflicts in third world countries. It is known that in a number of African and Asian countries there is a developed practice of buying and, more often, kidnapping children and adolescents in poor villages for the purpose of their subsequent use as soldiers. In West and Central Africa, at least ten percent of children and adolescents are forced to serve as soldiers in the formations of local rebel groups, or even in government forces, although the governments of these countries, of course, in every possible way hide the fact of the presence of children in their armed forces. It is known that most of the children are soldiers in Congo, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia.

During the Civil War in Liberia, at least ten thousand children and adolescents took part in hostilities, about the same number of children - soldiers fought during the armed conflict in Sierra Leone. In Somalia, teenagers under 18 make up almost the bulk of the soldiers and government troops, and the formations of radical fundamentalist organizations. Many of the African and Asian "child soldiers" after the end of hostilities cannot adapt and end their life as alcoholics, drug addicts and criminals. There is a widespread practice of using children - soldiers forcibly captured in peasant families - in Myanmar, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and the Philippines. In recent years, child soldiers have been actively used by religious fundamentalist groups fighting in West and Northeast Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, as well as by international terrorist organizations. Meanwhile, the use of children as soldiers is prohibited by international conventions. In fact, the forcible conscription of children into military service is not much different from turning into slavery, only children are at an even greater risk of death or loss of health, and also endanger their psyche.

Slave labor of illegal migrants

In those countries of the world that are relatively developed economically and are attractive to foreign labor migrants, the practice of using free labor of illegal migrants is widely developed. As a rule, illegal labor migrants who enter these countries, due to the lack of documents permitting them to work, or even identification, cannot fully defend their rights, are afraid to contact the police, which makes them easy prey for modern slave owners and slave traders. The majority of illegal migrants work in construction projects, manufacturing enterprises, in agriculture, while their labor may not be paid or paid very poorly and with delays. Most often, the slave labor of migrants is used by their own tribesmen, who arrived in the host countries earlier and created their own business during this time. In particular, a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan, in an interview with the Russian Air Force Service, said that most of the crimes related to the use of slave labor by immigrants from this republic are also committed by natives of Tajikistan. They act as recruiters, intermediaries and human traffickers and supply free labor from Tajikistan to Russia, thereby deceiving their own compatriots. A large number of migrants who seek help from human rights structures, not only did not earn money for the goals of free work in a foreign land, but also undermined their health, up to becoming disabled due to the terrible working and living conditions. Some of them were subjected to beatings, torture, bullying, and cases of sexual violence and harassment against women and girls - migrants are not uncommon. Moreover, the listed problems are common to most countries of the world in which a significant number of foreign labor migrants live and work.

In the Russian Federation, free labor is used by illegal migrants from the republics of Central Asia, primarily Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as from Moldova, China, North Korea, and Vietnam. In addition, there are known facts of the use of slave labor and Russian citizens - both at enterprises and in construction firms, and in private subsidiary plots. Such cases are suppressed by the country's law enforcement agencies, but it can hardly be said that kidnapping and, moreover, free labor in the country will be eliminated in the foreseeable future. According to the 2013 report on modern slavery, there are approximately 540,000 people in the Russian Federation whose situation can be described as slavery or debt bondage. However, per thousand of the population, these are not so great indicators and Russia occupies only 49th place in the list of countries in the world. The leading positions in terms of the number of slaves per thousand people are occupied by: 1) Mauritania, 2) Haiti, 3) Pakistan, 4) India, 5) Nepal, 6) Moldova, 7) Benin, 8) Cote d'Ivoire, 9) Gambia, 10) Gabon.

Illegal labor of migrants brings many problems - both for the migrants themselves and for the economy of the country receiving them. After all, migrants themselves turn out to be completely unwarranted workers who can be deceived, not paid their wages, placed in inadequate conditions, or not ensure compliance with safety measures at work. At the same time, the state also loses, since illegal migrants do not pay taxes, are not registered, that is, they are officially “non-existent”. Due to the presence of illegal migrants, the crime rate is sharply increasing - both due to crimes committed by migrants themselves against the indigenous population and each other, and due to crimes committed against migrants. Therefore, the legalization of migrants and the fight against illegal migration is also one of the key guarantees of at least partial elimination of free and forced labor in the modern world.

Can the slave trade be eradicated?

According to human rights organizations, in the modern world tens of millions of people are in actual slavery. These are women, and adult men, and teenagers, and very young children. Naturally, international organizations are trying to the best of their strengths and capabilities to fight against the terrible for the XXI century fact of the slave trade and slavery. However, this struggle actually does not provide a real remedy for the situation. The reason for the slave trade and slavery in the modern world lies, first of all, in the socio-economic plane. In the same countries of the "third world" most of the children - slaves are sold by their own parents due to the impossibility of keeping them. Overpopulation of Asian and African countries, massive unemployment, high birth rates, illiteracy of a large part of the population - all these factors together contribute to the preservation of child labor, and the slave trade, and slavery. The other side of the problem under consideration is the moral and ethnic decomposition of society, which occurs, first of all, in the case of "westernization" without relying on one's own traditions and values. When it is combined with socio-economic reasons, there is a very fertile ground for the flourishing of mass prostitution. Thus, many girls in resort countries become prostitutes on their own initiative. At least for them, this is the only opportunity to earn the standard of living that they are trying to maintain in Thai, Cambodian or Cuban resort cities. Of course, they could stay in their native village and lead the life of their mothers and grandmothers, engaging in agriculture, but the spread of popular culture and consumer values even reaches the remote provincial regions of Indochina, not to mention the resort islands of Central America.

Until the socio-economic, cultural, political causes of slavery and the slave trade are eliminated, it will be premature to talk about the eradication of these phenomena on a global scale. If in European countries, in the Russian Federation, the situation can still be corrected by increasing the efficiency of law enforcement agencies, limiting the scale of illegal labor migration from the country and to the country, then in the third world countries, of course, the situation will remain unchanged. It is possible - only to worsen for the worse, given the discrepancy between the rates of demographic and economic growth in most African and Asian countries, as well as the high level of political instability associated, among other things, with rampant crime and terrorism.