What is Modern Slavery?
50 Million
people in modern slavery
86%
are in supply chains
1 in 4
victims are children
0.2%
of people are helped
Modern Slavery Defined
Modern slavery is defined by the UK government as: “The recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation.”
Exploitation includes, but is not limited to, sexual exploitation, forced or bonded labour, forced criminality, domestic servitude and the removal of organs.
Products at risk
The top 5 products at risk of modern slavery imported into the G20 are electronics, garments, palm oil, solar panels, and textiles.
Countries at risk
In 2023, the 10 countries with the highest rates of modern slavery were North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.
Countries in the G20 play a large role in fuelling slavery through global supply chains, with the United States currently being the largest importer of at-risk products.
Common Types
Descent Based Slavery
Individuals being born into slavery because their ancestors were slaves.
Child Marriage
Children are considered victims when there is no informed consent, or they are subject to abuse.
Human Trafficking
The movement of individuals through coercion, deception, force, fraud, or threat for the purpose of exploitation. This differs from smuggling, as smuggling requires informed consent.
Child Soldiers
Children either trafficked for the purpose of, or forced to work as, soldiers.
Forced Labour
All labour extracted from a person that is involuntary, and extracted via threat or use of force. There are 3 categories of forced labour: state-imposed forced labour, forced labour exploitation, and forced sexual exploitation.
Forced Marriage
Marriage is considered slavery when informed consent is not given, or when individuals are subjected to domestic, labour, or sexual exploitation.
Hazardous Child Labour
Occurs when a child’s labour is being exploited, a child is being forced to work, or when a child must work in hazardous conditions.
Organ Trafficking
Trafficking with the intent of harvesting and/or selling victims organs.
Domestic Servitude
Typically involves the exploitation of vulnerable, isolated migrants, and subjects victims to long hours for little to no pay. Fear of deportation and lack of regulation often traps victims.
Debt Based Bondage Labour
A form of forced labour. Individuals must work to pay off a ‘debt’ they have incurred. However, debt bondage is set up to prevent individuals from leaving.
Sex Trafficking
Trafficking with the intent of forcing victims into sex work or sexual slavery.