September 14, 2022

"The number of people currently enslaved in the world has grown by 10 million in the last five years..."

"... researchers from Geneva reported Monday. The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration partnered with the International Labor Organization and the Walk Free Foundation, a human rights group, to produce the latest estimates of modern slavery. That term refers to a spectrum of exploitative practices like forced labor, forced marriage and human trafficking. As of 2021, 50 million people were estimated to endure such conditions.... The report also estimated roughly 22 million people were living in forced marriages in 2021. The number of people involuntarily wedded grew by 6.6 million compared to 2016. Nearly two-thirds of all forced marriages were found to be in Asia and the Pacific, followed by Africa, the survey found. One of the drivers of forced and child marriages is poverty — oftentimes financially desperate families see marriage as a means to secure a stable future for their children, according to the report...."

47 comments:

Joe Smith said...

This has always been the case.

But only certain, mostly Western societies, seem to want to do anything about it...

Jupiter said...

I assume the lying vermin at NPR had nothing to say about the slave labor camps in China.

Yancey Ward said...

Damn Mega MAGAs! Biden was right- we put them back in chains.

henge2243 said...

Is that including the NY Times employees?

Enigma said...

But don't ever, ever, ever talk about cultural superiority. It's discriminatory and might hurt the feelings of the slavers.

tim maguire said...

America's "peculiar institution" not so peculiar after all.

I think it's misleading to lump child marriage in with slavery. IMO, it's a human rights violation, but other than the denial of their ability to choose their own mate, they lead normal lives. And even that may be normal in their culture. What percentage of this 50 million slavery estimate is just arranged marriage?

Lucien said...

If you define “modern slavery” broadly enough, then you can avoid saying slavery is most prevalent in Muslim countries.

tim maguire said...

Oops, I see that they are separate statistics. I didn't catch the word "also" in there.

Readering said...

Japan immune, apparently.

Mike Sylwester said...

An excerpt from Mike Sylwester's Style Guide:

Do not write "enslaved person". Instead, write "slave".

john burger said...

If you asked my wife, she might contend that she is living in a "forced marriage."

jvb

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

They should ask China for reparations. If our CIA had any smart assets left that is exactly what they would be agitating for.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Damn those white supremacists

Drago said...

I imagine many of Hunter Biden's underage trafficked prostitutes are in sexual slavery conditions.

Or, as Inga might put it, "spark of divinity" conditions.

Mike Sylwester said...

Wikipedia has an article about Conflation, which includes the following passages:

Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, opinions, etc., into one, often in error. ....

In logic, it is the practice of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one, which produces errors or misunderstandings as a fusion of distinct subjects tends to obscure analysis of relationships which are emphasized by contrasts. ....

The result of conflating concepts may give rise to fallacies and ambiguity, including the fallacy of four terms in a categorical syllogism. For example, the word "bat" has at least two distinct meanings: a flying animal, and a piece of sporting equipment (such as a baseball bat or cricket bat). If these meanings are not distinguished, the result may be the following categorical syllogism, which may be seen as a joke (pun):

* All bats are animals.

* Some wooden objects are bats.

* Therefore, some wooden objects are animals.

Enigma said...

@Readering: "Japan immune, apparently."

Point 1: Japan is incredibly homogenous. They are all literally cousins and very reluctant to allow other groups into Japan, be they neighbors in China and Korea or non-Asians.

Point 2: Japan has organized crime (Yakuza) and a history of outcasts (Burakumin). You don't need slaves per se in any society with an underclass that cleans up the trash, takes care of sewage, etc. Also see India's caste system and bathing in a river filled with sewage and dead bodies and general sewage issues.


https://www.thoughtco.com/who-are-the-burakumin-195318

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/aug/01/india-cities-drown-sewage-waste

Achilles said...

The United States and Great Britain are the only 2 countries that every really abolished slavery by word and deed.

Everyone else just ignores it when they know it is happening.

Lebron James, the Billionaire, has his shoes made by slaves in China today. He is a modern slave owner. They have slaves, they just pretend that they don't.

The Democrat party was founded to protect slavery.

And to this day the goal of the democrat party is to destroy one of the 2 countries that ended the practice.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

. . . roughly 22 million people were involved in forced marriages in 2021.

Does that include both partners, I wonder? (Or all partners in a polygamous marriage?) Or just the marriage partner who was forced? Obviously that makes a huge difference to the total numbers.

Temujin said...

I was reading and wondering how they were going to pin this on Donald Trump.

BTW- do these numbers include people who thought they married a man or a woman only to find out one day that their wife is their husband, or their husband is their wife? Asking for a friend.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Sorry, the above should say "living in forced marriages." I still maintain that the language is (purposely?) unclear.

As for

One of the drivers of forced and child marriages is poverty — oftentimes financially desperate families see marriage as a means to secure a stable future for their children, according to the report,

what this actually means is that poor families essentially auction off their daughters (never their sons) for as much as they can get. This is what they call "a stable future for their children." Sons at home, daughters far away.

tommyesq said...

A little less than 600,000 slaves were transported to the United States between 1620 and 1865, and less than half of these following the American Revolution. These made up 5% of the twelve million slaves taken from Africa. The first census in 1790 counted just under 700,000 slaves (a result of both importation of slaves from Africa and population growth among slaves already in America), while the 1860 census counted just under 4 million slaves.

The modern world just added 50 million slaves, or 12.5 times the number of slaves in the U.S. at the time of the Civil War and more than 83 times the number of slaves brought to the United States in total, in a single year.

But let's all ignore that and continue to flagellate ourselves over an institution that was abolished in this country about 155 years ago.

Dave Begley said...

Chinese slaves are critical to the American solar and wind industries. Biden's IRA encourages slavery

stutefish said...

A serious issue, no doubt muddied by fudging the metrics to make it seem even more serious than it already is.

Jamie said...

This is genuine curiosity, Mike S - why do you object so strongly to "enslaved people" vs "slaves"? Of all the neologisms of the left, this is the one that I can get behind, as it acknowledges that a human being's natural rights include not being enslaved - owning one's labor.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Let's see... Illegals working under the table? Filipinos working in middle east, surrendering passports. Hell, a Lebanese engineering student told me of Muslim slavery in the middle east back in 1977. A best kept secret... like Afghan men's sex with boys.

gilbar said...

GOD DAMN these white people!! i'm TIRED of white people and their slavery!!
Ever since 1619 (the year slavery 1st started), white people have been enslaving Blacks worldwide.
Now, the whites are trying to hide it, by pretending to be Asian or Arab.. But; we KNOW
we KNOW that ONLY whites commit slavery!
Also, the whites are trying to hide it, by pretending to enslave Asians or Arabs.. But; we KNOW
we KNOW that ONLY Blacks can be enslaved.
DAMN THOSE wHITES!!!

Mike Sylwester said...

Jamie at 1:08 PM
why do you object so strongly to "enslaved people" vs "slaves"?

I do not object strongly to the expression "enslaved person".

I do think that "slave" should be an acceptable word -- just like:

* serf

* servant

* conscript

* mercenary

* convict

and so forth and so on.

gspencer said...

Islam - the mother lode of bad ideas. Hard to believe but the dunce who turned that phrase actually disavowed it.

Mike Sylwester said...

Jamie at 1:08 PM
why do you object so strongly to "enslaved people" vs "slaves"?

Do you say "employed person" instead of "employee"?

If not, then please state your reason.

n.n said...

Slavery, diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), planned populationhood, and practical and actual slavery including redistributive change.

Leland said...

Our open southern border is part of the problem, yet most Americans and politicians don’t care unless it arrives on their doorstep.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

When I’ve debated reparations this has been my opening topic: in a world that has hosted slaves for the entirety of human existence how do you decide where to draw the lines regarding when where to whom from whom etc?

Michael said...

How many of the slave owners are POC?

Jamie said...

Jamie at 1:08 PM
why do you object so strongly to "enslaved people" vs "slaves"?

Do you say "employed person" instead of "employee"?

If not, then please state your reason.


Because slavery is an abomination to which no person ought to be subject, and paid work is not.

I can see it going either way. "Enslaved person" emphasizes the humanity - the "personhood" - of the person, so that the outrage of being enslaved is set in contrast to the person's humanity. "Slave" directly emphasizes the outrage of the state of slavery. Depending on your irrespective, either could be seen as including the dehumanizing effect on the enslaver of enslaving others. This is why I asked what your reason was, Mike S.

My husband had an interesting take. When I explained what this little debate was about, he said "slave" implies a societally acceptable condition - that a particular society is OK with slavery. "Enslaved person," he said, implies to him that a particular person or entity is doing the enslaving, outside the bounds of societal acceptability.

Drago said...

Michael: "How many of the slave owners are POC?"

Kamala Harris' family were slave owners.

n.n said...

Kamala Harris' family were slave owners.

Kamala "take a knee" Harris, really.

Obama's families of privilege were slavers on both sides of the Atlantic. He still dwells in dreams of redistributive change, diversity [dogma], and "burdens".

B. said...

“The greatest prevalence of forced labor was in Arab countries, followed by Europe and Central Asia.” says the UN, but NPR doesn’t actually link to the report. They’re also counting “ forced marriage” as slavery, and “ forced labor” without defining that.
Report: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_854733.pdf

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Slavery is alive and well with human trafficking across our open border.
thank a democrat.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Slavery is alive and well in the form of human trafficking coming across our open border.

Thank a pro-slave democrat.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Slavery is alive and well in the form of human trafficking coming across our open border.

Thank a pro-slave democrat.

Mike Sylwester said...

Jamie at 5:22 PM
"Enslaved person" emphasizes the humanity - the "personhood" - of the person, so that the outrage of being enslaved is set in contrast to the person's humanity. "Slave" directly emphasizes the outrage of the state of slavery. Depending on your irrespective, either could be seen as including the dehumanizing effect on the enslaver of enslaving others.

Then go ahead and say "enslaved person" instead of "slave".

Keep in mind, though, that many people consider this language-policing to be gratuitous guilt-tripping.

If I use the ordinary word "slave", then does that mean I should be shamed for supposedly not feeling outraged about the slavery that existed two centuries ago?

This language-policing never ends.

You could say "colored", but then you had to say "Negro", but then you had to say "Black", but then you had to say "Person of Color". Soon you will have to say something else.

You could say "Oriental", but then you had to say "Asian". Soon you will have to say something else.

Don't think you always be able to say "enslaved person" in polite society. Soon that expression will be denounced too. You will have to say something else to prove your outrage about slavery.

Mike Sylwester said...

Jamie at 5:22 PM
... "slave" implies a societally acceptable condition - that a particular society is OK with slavery. "Enslaved person," he said, implies to him that a particular person or entity is doing the enslaving, outside the bounds of societal acceptability.

Slavery was a societally acceptable condition. Some people were in the legal status of being slaves.

When we talk now about such a society -- for example, the South before the Civil War -- there were people who were in the legal status of being "slaves". Even the abolitionists used the word "slaves".

"Slaves" was -- and still is -- a correct word.

But if you want to use the expression "enslaved persons", then be my guest.

======

In feudal society, there were people in the legal status of being "serfs".

If I am talking about that society and if I use the word "serfs", then should I be shamed because I supposedly am not outraged enough now -- several centuries later -- by their social condition in the Middle Ages?

What new, politically-correct expression must we all use now instead of the ordinary word "serfs"?

"Enserfed persons?"

Mike Sylwester said...

Jamie at 5:22 PM
"Enslaved person," he said, implies to him that a particular person or entity is doing the enslaving ..

The enslavement happened in Africa, not in the USA.

After the person was enslaved in Africa, then his legal status was being a "slave".

A slave could be sold legally and could be transported legally to the USA. He already was a slave when he arrived in the USA.

The slaves were not "enslaved" in the USA. They were slaves when they arrived in the USA, and their children were slaves when they were born in the USA.

That was the legal system throughout the entire world at that time.

Kirk Parker said...

Jamie,

For my part, I find the progressive neologisms objectionable per se: who died and made them God, that they are entitled to tell us what language we can use? Just another brick in their wall of totalitarianism.

Tim said...

I do not believe that forced marriage should be counted as slavery. It is a separate issue, and should be addressed separately. I do have a question though. In a forced marriage, are we counting both partners as enslaved? Because in India at least, the pressure is on both parties to conform. As far as slavery, it has been going on since the first asshole started a fire and enslaved those who wanted to be warm. I do not know how to fix it, and it seems only white people, and not all of them, care one way or the other.

Rusty said...

Mike Sylvester.
Interesting fact. The French traders who settled in Illinois brought their slaves with them. However if that slave married and if their spouse was not a slave before marriage they were not a slave after and their children were not slaves. Even if both partners were slaves their children weren't slaves. That was the law the French settlers brought with them.

Anthony said...

No region is immune, but those regions populated primarily by white Christians are a whole lot less infected, and most of the infection is from foreigners bringing their slaves and their customs.