G20 countries are fuelling ‘modern slavery,’ report says

The world’s 20 richest countries employ forced labor and account for more than half of the estimated 50 million people living in “modern slavery,” according to a report released Wednesday.

A report by the Walk Free Foundation, a human rights group that focuses on modern slavery, said six members of the Group of 20 nations have the largest number of people in modern slavery – either in forced labor or forced marriage.

India has 11 million, followed by China 5.8 million, Russia 1.9 million, Indonesia 1.8 million, Turkey 1.3 million and the United States 1.1 million.

Of the G20 countries, Canada is in fifteenth place for the prevalence of modern slavery, ahead of the United Kingdom and behind France and South Africa, according to the foundation’s report. Canada says nearly 69,000 people are exploited for forced labor or marriage.

With the exception of Japan, the countries with the lowest prevalence of modern slavery are from northern or western Europe, the report said.

But even these countries – including Switzerland, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and Finland – still have “thousands of people who continue to be forced to work or marry against their will, despite the high level of economic development. , gender equality, social welfare and political stability, as well as a strong criminal justice system,” according to the report.

Add in modern slavery

Last September, a report by the UN International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration and the Free Walk estimated that 50 million people live in “modern slavery” – 28 million in forced labor and 22 million in forced homes – by the end of 2021. Overall , this is an increase of 10 million people in just five years since the end of 2016.

The Walk Free 2023 report provides the same number for “certain days in 2021,” with an increase of 10 million since the 2018 index.

“Modern slavery permeates every aspect of our society,” Walk Free founding director Grace Forrest said in a statement. “It’s woven into our clothes, illuminates our electronics and seasons our food,” he said. Significance is “the mirror held by power, reflecting who is in a given society and who is not.”

“Modern slavery is hidden in plain sight and is intertwined with life in every corner of the world,” the Walk Free report said.

“Every day, people are deceived, coerced, or forced into exploitative situations that they cannot refuse or leave. Every day, we buy products or use services that are forced to be made or offered without understanding the hidden human costs.”

Global supply chain fuel issues

This is most evident in the global supply chain, where G20 countries import US$468 million worth of products a year deemed “at risk” of being produced by forced labour, including electronics, clothing, palm oil, solar panels and textiles, the report said. .

It said forced labor exists in all countries, regardless of income and is “closely linked to demand from higher income countries,” with the production and movement of goods between countries creating a complex supply chain, “many of which are tainted with forced labor.”

Australia-based Walk Free said the 172-page report and estimates on global slavery in 160 countries with thousands of interviews with survivors collected through a nationally representative household survey and a country vulnerability assessment.

He said the increase of nearly 10 million people forced into work or homelessness reflects the impact of a combined crisis – “increasing armed conflict, widespread environmental degradation, attacks on democracy in many countries, global decline in women’s rights and economic and social impacts . from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

These factors have significantly disrupted education and employment, leading to an increase in poverty and forced and insecure migration, “which together increase the risk of all forms of modern slavery,” the report said.

The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery by the end of 2021 are North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, he said.

Child labor in cocoa production

The report confirms that forced labor occurs in many sectors and at every stage of the supply chain. It cites the demand for fast fashion and seafood as the stimulation of forced labor hidden within the industry, while “the worst forms of child labor are used to farm and harvest the cocoa beans that go into chocolate.”

And while Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States were noted for having a strong government response to combating slavery, the report said the improvements were fewer and weaker than needed.

“Most G20 governments are still not doing enough to ensure that modern slavery is not involved in the production of goods imported into their countries and in the supply chains of the companies they do business with,” he said.

In 2015, one of the UN goals adopted by world leaders was to end modern slavery, forced labor and human trafficking by 2030. But Walk Free said that the significant increase in the number of people living in modern slavery and stagnant government action highlighted that this goal is even more than achievable.

“Walk Free is calling on governments around the world to step up their efforts to end modern slavery on the coast and in the supply chain,” said Forrest, the foundation’s director. “What we need now is political will.”