Poverty and Slavery

In our present day, slavery still exists and the exploitation of the poor and weak are deepening poverty ( financial poverty, spiritual poverty, and emotional poverty) around the world. Human trafficking and slavery affects 161 countries around the world.  From these 161 countries, 90% of them are countries poverty stricken, leaving them vulnerable to such atrocities. There are many forms of slavery; each one of these is both damaging to the enslaved person AND also hinders a country’s growth and development. The three main areas that are affected by slavery are the labor force, education, and sociological and psychological aspects of a country. Human trafficking is largely a misunderstood subject, to better introduce the topic, here are definitions of different types of slavery that occur:

Forced Labor: forced labor may result when unscrupulous employers take advantage of gaps in law enforcement to exploit vulnerable workers. Forced labor is a form of human trafficking that is often harder to identify and estimate than sex trafficking. This occurs very frequently in sweatshops around the world, where workers are not allowed to leave or form unions. It may not involve the same criminal networks profiting from transnational sex trafficking. Instead, it may involve individuals who subject workers to involuntary servitude, perhaps through forced or coerced household or factory work.

Bonded Labor: One form of force or coercion is the use of a bond, or debt, to keep a person under subjugation. This is referred to in law and policy as “bonded labor” or “debt bondage.” An example of this is when people pay a smuggler a fee to smuggle them into another country. Then they work in exploitative conditions in order to pay off their debt.

Debt Bondage Among Migrant Workers: The vulnerability of migrant laborers to trafficking schemes is especially disturbing because the population is sizable in some regions. There are three potential contributing factors: (1) abuse of contracts; (2) inadequate local laws governing the recruitment and employment of migrant laborers; and (3) intentional imposition of exploitative and often illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country.

Involuntary Domestic Servitude: A form of forced labor is that of involuntary domestic workers, whose workplace is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. There are numerous cases of young women being taken from poorer countries and smuggled into the U.S with promises of schooling,  however when they get to the U.S (this occurs mostly in middle class suburban neighborhoods) they are forced to work long hours with no pay and in isolation.

Forced Child Labor: The sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in bonded and forced labor are among the worst forms of child labor. Any child who is subject to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, is a victim of human trafficking regardless of the location of that exploitation.

Child Soldiers: Child soldiering is a unique and severe manifestation of trafficking in persons that involves the unlawful recruitment of children— often through force, fraud, or coercion—for labor or sexual exploitation in conflict areas

Sex Trafficking: Sex trafficking comprises a significant portion of overall human trafficking. When a person is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution, or maintained in prostitution through coercion, that person is a victim of trafficking

Child Sex Trafficking: According to UNICEF, as many as two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade. International covenants and protocols obligate criminalization of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The use of children in the commercial sex trade is prohibited under both U.S. law and the UN TIP Protocol
(Definitions obtained from http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/123126.htm)

1. Effects on the labor force

Slavery contributes to a country’s poverty because it inhibits the labor force from reaching its full potential. Construction, research, farming, technological development, and hundreds of other occupations contribute to the betterment of a country. With a strong labor force, a country can work together and slowly work itself out of poverty. Slavery, on the other hand, battles against this movement and emotionally scars, emaciates and inhibits the creative power the labor force of a developing country. The work that these enslaved people are putting into their slavery should instead be directed to their home country’s economy and development. The revenue and economic benefits that the human traffickers generate rarely flows into the country where the slave is originated from.  For example, many American Products are produced in sweatshops, these products produce economic benefits for the United States since we enjoy many low priced goods at the expense of human trafficking. Sweatshops produce a minimal benefit to the local regions they operate in.  These enslaved men and women should be working on their own farms, factories, or starting their own businesses and contributing to their own country’s economy, instead of increasing the wealth of other countries.

2.Effects on education

Education is a second area that is affected by slavery.  Lack of education greatly hinders a country’s ability to emerge out of poverty.  In  2009, it was estimated that the total number of people enslaved in the world was about 27 million. Out of these 27 million 50% are children (Human). That’s a total of 13.5 million children that are forced or lured away from their homes. These 13.5 million children, ranging anywhere from 5 to 14, are not given any form of education. Of course, it is to be expected. If the human traffickers and “pimps” won’t even provide safe and human living conditions, then why would they bother on spending on their slaves’ education?

According to Alexander L. Peaslee, “In the last one hundred years significant economic growth has been achieved only in those countries in which a high proportion of the total population is found in primary schools”. Education is crucial to a country’s development. It plays a major role in technological advancement, medicine, health, economic development, and other key areas. With education people can be informed of the dangers of AIDS, HIV, and other diseases. In addition, with a good education, they will not find the need to resort to the scams and false promises that human traffickers have to offer. Education is necessary and if 13.5 million children worldwide are being forced into slavery and deprived of an education, then the countries affected by slavery will struggle with their future development and escape from poverty.

“Kidnapped from their villages when they are as young as five years old, between 200,000 and 300,000 children are held captive in locked rooms and forced to weave on looms for food. In India—as well in other countries—the issue of slavery is exacerbated by a rigid caste system” (Siasoco).

3. Effects on the people’s sociology and psychology

“In a post slavery societies where the colonial settlers co-exist with natives and descendants of freed slaves, there persists a culture of absolute economic and social segregation, discrimination, injustice and inequality against natives and descendants of freed slaves. It is a world in which the natives,  freed slaves and colored peoples are marginalized to the extent that they have been perpetually deprived of their lands, voices, beliefs and customs; they have no say in decisions affecting their existence and welfare” (Overcoming).

Slavery not only cripples a country’s work force and education, but also destroys cultures and people’s physical and mental state of being. Those who escape slavery are left with physical scars, long-term psychological damages, and are “misfits” in society with their lack of education and the severity of their trauma. They are demoralized, marginalized, and scarred physically, mentally, and spiritually. In a nutshell, without the proper help and support, their freedom can mean nothing with their past and trauma haunting them every second of their lives. These cripples a country. Children that are abused rarely return to normal lives. On the other hand, they will live in conflict with society and either join gangs or sort to drugs and alcohol. The effects that slavery has on countries affected by slavery is incomprehensible and irreparable.

~Taro

Sources:

Human Trafficking Statistics. Retrieved on April 18, 2010. From http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/materials/Human-Trafficking-Statistics.pdf

Major Forms of Trafficking in Persons. Retrieved on April 20, 2010. From http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/123126.htm

Overcoming Slavery and Poverty. Retrieved on April 19, 2010. From http://www.africa-first.com/overcoming_slavery__poverty.htm

Peaslee, Alexander L. “Education’s Role in Development”

Siasoco, Ricco Villanueva. “Modern Slavery”. Retrieved on April 17, 2010. From http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html

Sick of pruning the poverty tree?

Who we are: Two college kids that don’t know much more about poverty than the average Joe.

What we want to do: RESEARCH. We’ve spent the last three months doing preliminary research on global poverty and creating a plan on how we would tackle it. What we found is that global poverty is created by a multitude of issues that are linked to hundreds of other factors that exacerbate global poverty.  These webs of issues are undeniably connected, and one problem left unsolved can render another solution ineffective.

Case in point: AIDS and HIV in Africa.  There are numerous solutions to this problem such as drug therapy, education, and birth control. However, the real problem is often overlooked. According to a young man who lives in Khayelitsha, the third largest township in South Africa, “HIV is not about sex; it’s more about unemployment and boredom. If you have hundreds of thousands of unemployed people packed together in a small place with nothing productive to do—and I mean absolutely nothing to do–what is going to happen? Sex breaks the boredom” (Mclaren). Yes, in order to squash the AIDS epidemic, we need to provide access to education, medicine, and birth control. But we also need to grow the South African economy, create jobs, teach job skills, and organize recreational activities. However, these solutions are hindered by other problems such as trade barriers, barriers to entrepreneurial endeavors, and discrimination. On and on the list goes and solutions to problems are hindered by more issues.

As we’ve researched and learned about these issues, it was only bolstered our curiosity and optimism. We are inspired by the Millenium Goals which vowed to end extreme poverty & hunger by 2015, NGO’s which are supporting economic development in innovative ways, the moral cultural shift towards philanthropy 2.0, and our friends whose passions are utilized to make a difference in this world.  We are fully convinced that with the technology of today and people’s passion to help the poor, extreme poverty could be ended NOW.

So now what? We want to learn about these problem roots, dig it out, and find solutions. We don’t want to merely prune the branches of the poverty tree, we want to UPROOT it.  So how does this blog come into play? We just want to learn and apply! We want to read, interview and research ALL of these topics and seek out opportunities to get involved in the work that is already happening. And we want to bring well researched topics to you, and provide an outlet for our investigations into solving these problems.  We want to inspire others to hit the books, investigate local poverty issues and most importantly, encourage one to become passionate to solve one of these problems. Imagine if each of us were passionate about uprooting just one of these issues, we could make a HUGE difference. We all have passions and realms of influence that can be used to end global poverty. Poverty can be solved in our lifetime.

Poverty topics coming to you soon:

The Physical Geography Trap

Human Trafficking

Mclaren, Brian. Everything Must Change