Experts have counted more than 12 million slaves in the world
16 August 2007According to the International Labour Office, forced labour remains today the destiny of more than 12 million people in the world.
“These people are exposed to the most brutal exploitation, live in inhuman conditions, are deprived of the basic rights and, as a matter of fact, are slaves”, - marked special ILO report. According to experts of the organization, on the number of modern slaves the next are in the lead: Asian - Pacific region (9,5 million people), Latin America and countries of Caribbean Basin (1,3 million), Africa (920 thousand). In the developed countries and countries with transition economy there are 570 thousand of them.
If earlier forced labour has been peculiar mainly to the developing and poorest countries, today it has spread to the richest countries of the world where the number of exploited people has reached 300 thousand. In particular, the question is about East European natives, who are used as a cheap, and sometimes nonreimbursable labour force in an agriculture of Western countries, and also about girls who are forced to prostitute. The majority of them appeared victims of mafia structures which have turned them into slaves without any rights, by promising good work and a worthy payment.
Forced labour spreading is closely connected to process of economy globalization. “It is evident that, the increased competition and struggle for output cost saving along with the weak control over the observance of labour legislations contribute to exploitation of the most vulnerable groups of the population”, - marks leading ILO expert Patrick Belser.