Does slavery still exist in the world?

Question

Not talking about wage slavery or anything like that. I have heard it exists in Sudan, but I also have read articles about slaves in places like France working as housemaids. Is that really true? How does it happen?

I assume in the modern age these are exploited people and not individuals from wealthy nations being enslaved. I do not think it would be possible to enslave someone from a place like the US.

Answer 1

It does. You may not see chains, but it is all about.

Sweat shops are a kind of slavery

Answer 2

While I believe that it is illegal pretty much everywhere slavery still exists, even in the U.S. I live 30 minutes outside Washington D.C. and just last year the police busted a prostitution ring that included sex-slaves from Asia and Latin America. Nor are all of the slaves from third world countries. Just yesterday there was a news report of a 15 year old American girl, who was kept as a sex slave for a year by a couple in New England. Granted slavery isn't an accepted institution like it was 200 hundred years ago, but it still exists. (edit) Some people on this board are under the misunderstanding that human trafficking is more indentured servitude than slavery. Although some trafficking is more akin to indentured servitude in that they are paying off a debt to work in fields or even as sex workers, many are not. Frequently these individuals are tricked into these situations or outright kidnapped. They are not paid, are treated as property having no rights, and are mentally and physically abused. That is slavery not indentured servitude.

Answer 3

I read something recently that said that there are more slaves in the world today than at any point in history. That's pretty scary when you think about it. Yes, apparently, Sudan has been the worst case over the last couple of decades, but some former Soviet states have started to see a little, especially in the sex trades, and other parts of the world too.

Even in the U.S., there have been isolated reports. Of course, its not something that you'd advertise, because we'd shut them down immediately if we found out, but if someone is kidnapped and made to work or provide services while kidnapped, that's slavery, isn't it? So it is possible, especially in isolated areas.

Answer 4

There is still slavery in parts of the world. I'm not a big fan of France but if there are slaves there they are definitely underground. I don't think the French government would stand for anything like that. The same foe most western nations.

Answer 5

Yes. Sexual slavery exists all over the world as well as domestic slavery. People are bought and sold every day for all of these. Slaves come from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe primarily. There are many slaves here in the US.

Answer 6

A couple just got arrested for slavery here a while back.

Slavery is alive and well in the Middle East.
Muslims still practice slavery which makes me puzzled when black reject Christianity as the "slave" religion and accpet Islam which sold them into slavery in the first place.

Answer 7

Let us try to distinguish two different forms of human bondage;

a) that practiced by individuals, families, or small groups on other individuals in defiance of the laws and police of their nation of residence, and;

b) that allowed or tolerated by the government within a region or nation, and usually characterized by well know markets and traders in humans held in slavery.

**
We hear of many cases of type a) slavery being brought to light and usually criminal charges in advanced and second world countries. In America, for example, one recent case charged a family with holding their illegal immigrant housemaid in slavery. The allegation is that they bought her from the people who arranged her illegal entry into the United States and then kept her in conditions of servitude for several years.

Slavery for purposes of illegal and/or forced trade in sexual services is also said to be fairly common in such nations.

I suspect that there are actually fairly few [a few hundred to thousand detected per decade] such cases world wide and that they are news because they are so few. Likely there are many more illegal immigrants who effectively have no way of escaping their present 'employer' and feel trapped.

However, organized markets and well known traders in humans do not exist in these countries.


There may be a few countries in which type b) slavery still exists, mostly in third world and (perhaps) a few second world nations.

Sudan is widely cited as the most blatent example, with organized markets and known traders existing in rural areas, especially in the more arid north of the country.

Rumors exist of less open markets and traders in other countries, where the government apparently 'overlooks' offenses again the laws against human bondage. While some of the countries so alledged are Islamic, others are black African or Asian. As usual, the sex trade is frequently associated with the rumors.

***
Historically, all societies of any religious practice prior to about 1500 AD had or condoned slavery. {I'm about to be slammed here by the Hebrews whose Torah has required that a slave must be freed after seven years of servitude for over 2000 years. I wonder why the usual translation refers to the subject people as 'slave' -- this suggests to me that before this law became widely observed that Hebrews were slaveholders like other ancient peoples.}

Slavery became forbidden human practice in Western Europe first and was spread, principally by religious activists and the pressure of governments who had abolished slavery (because of such activists), to most of the world.

Today, a government which openly permitted slavery would likely be overthrown by its neighbors in relatively short order in most parts of the world.

Does this help?

Answer 8

it happens right here in the US. Young women are sold to Americans and work as slaves. There was a case in the news in 2006 in a wealthy suburb of Maryland.

Answer 9

It sure does. Many are here in the US and being used to solicit sex for money by their owners. I've watched many documentaries about this.

Likely that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to slavery.

Answer 10

Slavery exists in many parts of the world, from child brides, child soldiers, sex slaves in Eastern Europe, chattel slaves in Africa, etc...