SLAVERY - A SUMMARY! 1. What is slavery? Slavery is when a person is forced to work against their will. They have no freedom to leave their ‘job’ and re ce iv e li tt le or no be nefi ts [e.g mone y] fr om working. The common image is of a black slave working in the fields of the USA in the nineteenth century, or the men from Roman times forced to row ships or fight as gladiators. Howeve r, there are more sla ves tod ay (fr om ser van ts in pri vate hou ses to children working in factories) than ever before - a massive 27 million according to a recent report! 2. Wha t i s th e ‘ sl ave tra de ’? This is literally the buying and selling of people. The slaves have no choice in the matter and cannot refuse. They are often sold from one country to another and often do not even know where they will end up. This is illegal in every country in the world (and has been since 1930). Despite this, it is estimated that 4 million slaves ar e sold in the world ev ery ye ar. They come mainly form Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South America (but may end up anywhere in the world - even in countries like the UK and Japan). Another term for the slave trade is ‘Human Trafficking’. 3. T ypes of slavery: a) DEBT BON DA GE: Whe re peo ple get int o deb t [owe money] with gangsters. When they cannot afford to repay with money, the criminals take a member of the family to work off the debt. The person taken often has no idea about the situation and nothing to do with it. ‘Bondage’ is another word meaning slavery. b) MARRIAGE: In some countries women ha ve ver y little sa y in the ir mar riag e. However, when this is taken to extremes it can be thought of as slavery. This is the case if the woman is forced into a marriage against her will or if they are inherited [passed on to someone else] by another person after the death of their husband.
