Modern slavery

Hi !

I chose this topic "Modern slavery", becase slavery has been abolished since the nineteenth century, but there are still different forms of modern exclaves.

Hi !
I will talk about the history of salvery. I will make it short.

Slavery existed for millennia until it was abolished in the nineteenth century.The earliest forms of slavery can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia in the sixty-ninth century BC. Slavery was closely connected to building empires in the ancient world. It was a common feature among ancient societies and superpowers such as Babylon, Egypt and the Roman Empire, which made intensive use of slaves in achieving political and economic expansion.
Did you know that the Roman Empire was made up of 40% slaves and that they had no legal status as a person?
Slavery continued in the Middle Ages. In Europe. In the late fourteenth century, the slave trade operated within the ‘triangle’ – traders’ ships were leaving Europe for West Africa, where African slaves were bought in exchange for goods from Europe. Enslavement in the New World continued until the nineteenth century and the emergence of the abolition movement.

If you want to access the online course on modern slavery here is the link :

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/people-politics-law/the-law/modern-slavery/content-section-1.1.1

Gendry Marceline wrote:Hi !
I will talk about the history of salvery. I will make it short.

Slavery existed for millennia until it was abolished in the nineteenth century.The earliest forms of slavery can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia in the sixty-ninth century BC. Slavery was closely connected to building empires in the ancient world. It was a common feature among ancient societies and superpowers such as Babylon, Egypt and the Roman Empire, which made intensive use of slaves in achieving political and economic expansion.
Did you know that the Roman Empire was made up of 40% slaves and that they had no legal status as a person?
Slavery continued in the Middle Ages. In Europe. In the late fourteenth century, the slave trade operated within the ‘triangle’ – traders’ ships were leaving Europe for West Africa, where African slaves were bought in exchange for goods from Europe. Enslavement in the New World continued until the nineteenth century and the emergence of the abolition movement.  

I did know that but I'm interested in hearing about the justifications of modern slavery.

Hi !

Today my course is about human trafficking and the profile of the victims.

Human trafficking involves the recruitment and often the displacement of the victims.The main form of human trafficking is the sexual exploitation of women and girls. But there are others like: work in sweatshops,domestic labour, work in agriculture, mines, factories and fishing, forced marriage, organ transplants, adoption, begging.
Victims of trafficking are subjected to various forms of exploitation that often vary according to their age and gender.
There are many misconceptions about THB (Trafficking in human beings), especially regarding the perception of victims. THB is a crime, which has a strong human rights dimension. And it's extremely hard to believe that anyone could give real consent to forced labour, exploitation, being subjected to extreme violence, ill treatment and blackmail, which are often associated with the reality faced by the victims of THB.
According to a 2009 UNODC study on the profile of victims of modern-day slavery, 59% are women, 27% are children and 14% are men. Between 2007 and 2010, the region of the world where there are the most child victims is East Africa with 68%, and it is in Europe and Central Asia that there is a predominance of climbing adults with 84%. In Africa slave men represent 79%, compared to 77% of women in Europe and Central Asia.

John patience, the justifications of modern slavery will come in the next courses

Hi Marceline! 

This is a very interesting subject! It's true that we very often think that slavery has completely disappeared while there are plenty of new forms of slavery everywhere in the world! 

It may be stupid but I want to ask you a question : what do you think about the labor of Chinese workers in Apple's factories for example? Yes, they are "paid" (I mean, they receive something in exchange for their work) and they have a bed and something to eat, but their work conditions are terrible, it is not surprising to see that many of them committed suicide.Do you think this kind of work could be associated with a kind of modern slavery?

Hi Marceline,

your subject is an abomination on the modern world...
I rode an article about deliveroo.
Deliveroo drivers in paris, who lease their delivery license, to imigrated people against money.
I think that is the perfect example of modern slavery, and in a part, we participe to this kind of situation, because everyone is using ubereat or deliveroo...

[quote="Elsa RAUCHE LUCAS"]Hi Marceline! 

This is a very interesting subject! It's true that we very often think that slavery has completely disappeared while there are plenty of new forms of slavery everywhere in the world! 

It may be stupid but I want to ask you a question : what do you think about the labor of Chinese workers in Apple's factories for example? Yes, they are "paid" (I mean, they receive something in exchange for their work) and they have a bed and something to eat, but their work conditions are terrible, it is not surprising to see that many of them committed suicide.Do you think this kind of work could be associated with a kind of modern slavery?[/quote


In my opinion, of course it is and there are so many more example of it. Slavery didn't disapear, it just took an other form more "acceptable". The society think the children who work for Apple are not slaves cause they eran "money" and that Apple is not a slavers because it provides jobs to a poor country. It just such a bad thinking

Hi !

Thank you Elsa for your question, it very intresting. I am not yet an expert on the subject, because I have not finished my courses. But I can try to answer you.

So given the deplorable working conditions. The work of Chinese workers who work in factories like Foxconn can be likened to human exploitation.The suicide rate at Foxconn is overworked by employees. Often workers from the countryside work to send money to their families. And in order not to disappoint their families, they are ready to work overtime and work conditions. It may be like modern slavery, because the workers suffer from economic servitude, an addiction that prevents them from leaving.
For one of the forms of slavery is defined by the fact of keeping a person in a state of continual subjection by forcing him to work. Nevertheless, some workers manage to get rid of this economic bondage and manage to leave the factory.

I hope I answered your question Elsa

Hi Joachim !

I havn't read this article. If you have the link, I will be interested to read it.
But yes the forms of modern slavery take different forms, and unfortunately slavery still exists today. It's very sad !

Hi !

So as I said to Elsa, modern slavery can take many forms. Forced labor is one of them. The term ‘forced labour’ describes work or services that a person is forced to do against their will or under the threat of punishment.
The legal definition of forced labour is set out in the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention, (no. 29) 1930. This Convention has been ratified by over 170 states and obliges them to ‘suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period’. Forced labour is also prohibited by the key international human rights instruments( for example, Article 8 of the ICCPR 1966 also prohibits the use of forced labour). Most states in the world have ratified at least one (if not both) of these instruments. China is the only country in the world, which has not ratified either of these international standards.(This may explain why the Chinese government does not sanction factories like Foxconn because of their working condition).
The ILO estimates that nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide today.

In my class 3 examples of forced labor are described :
Bonded labour (also known as debt bondage), which entails the imposition of forced labour on one individual by another person. The example of courses talk about the bonded labour of adults and children in brick kilns in Afghanistan.
Forced labour imposed by businesses, in order to produce or obtain certain products (ex: cotton). (a production sometimes made for famous brands of well-known clothes)
And the last exemple talk about Magdalene laundries in Ireland, which illustrate the use of forced labour by the Catholic Church.

Has the course touched on the modern slavery of immigrants in the West?

Hi John !

This course doesn't really touched on the modern slavery of immigrants in the West. this course explored the historical origins and forms of slavery from ancients times to the twenty-first century. This course explord also the international legal instrument regulating the prohibiytion of salvery. But it would be interesting for me to look into this subject, maybe for an other free course !

Thanks. It would seem an interesting and logical next step.