US State Department Releases 'Slavery Report'

US Trafficking Report Reveals 'Modern Slavery' Toll -- BBC

More than 42,000 adults and children were found in forced prostitution, labour, slavery or armed conflict in 2011, a US government report has found.

Some 9,000 more victims were identified around the world than in 2010, the state department report said.

But the number is just a fraction of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked across borders every year.

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Graphic showing the countries in the Tier 3 list of trafficking violators (AFP graphic)

More News On Today's US Report On Worldwide Slavery

Up to 27 million people living in slavery: US -- AFP
Hillary Clinton: 27 million people in slavery -- USA Today
Up to 27 million people living in slavery: Hillary Clinton -- New York Daily News
42,000 modern-day slaves rescued but millions in bondage, trafficking report says -- MSNBC
Tens of thousands rescued from modern-day slavery; millions more remain in bondage: report -- New York Daily News
Where Modern Slavery Thrives: State Department Unveils Trafficking Report -- Daily Beast
US sees progress and touts 'heroes' in fight against slavery worldwide -- Christian Science Monitor

Watch Salma Hayek and Jada Pinkett Smith's new music video aimed at Latino girls who are often lured into sexual slavery by someone they believe "loves" them.

Slavery’s Last Stronghold

Slavery’s Last Stronghold -- CNN

Mauritania’s endless sea of sand dunes hides an open secret: An estimated 10% to 20% of the population lives in slavery. But as one woman’s journey shows, the first step toward freedom is realizing you’re enslaved.

Moulkheir Mint Yarba returned from a day of tending her master’s goats out on the Sahara Desert to find something unimaginable: Her baby girl, barely old enough to crawl, had been left outdoors to die.

The usually stoic mother — whose jet-black eyes and cardboard hands carry decades of sadness — wept when she saw her child’s lifeless face, eyes open and covered in ants, resting in the orange sands of the Mauritanian desert. The master who raped Moulkheir to produce the child wanted to punish his slave. He told her she would work faster without the child on her back.

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My Comment: As depressing as this report is .... it is still a comfort to know that slavery .... a scourge that has been with mankind since the beginning .... is now isolated in only a few places in the world.

State Department's Annual Trafficking In Persons Report (Slavery) Is Released

Slavery Report Names Weak Link Nations -- CNN

A U.S. Government anti-slavery report published Monday throws the spotlight on countries it says are not meeting minimum anti-trafficking standards.

The U.S. State Department's Trafficking In Persons (TIP ) Report identifies countries that it says meet minimum standards, countries working towards them and countries that appear to be doing little to stop trafficking.

Each country is put into one of four grades - Tier 1, Tier 2, Two Watch and Tier Three. The United States can impose sanctions on countries in the bottom tier. (See how the countries rank)

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. State Department's Report On International Slavery

US report cites laundry list of countries involved in modern-day slavery -- Global Post
US expands human trafficking blacklist to 23 -- MSNBC
US Expands List of Human Trafficking Violators -- Voice of America
U.S. Warns of Worsening International Human Trafficking Crisis -- Slate
Report: More Countries Failing to Fight Slavery; Notes US Faults -- ABC News
Estonia, Belarus put on human trafficking watchlist -- AFP
Fight Against Human Trafficking Loses Ground in 11 Nations -- Bloomberg
Human trafficking: how the US state department ranks your country -- The Guardian
Philippines, Singapore off US trafficking watchlist -- AFP
US expands human trafficking blacklist -- AP

Human Slavery Still Exists For Millions

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveils the 2010 U.S. report on human trafficking in Washington. Photo from Radio Free Europe

World Makes Progress Against Slavery, But 13 Nations Lag -- Christian Science Monitor

The US State Department's annual report on modern-day slavery cites greater determination worldwide to stamp it out. But 13 nations are on the list of sluggards neglecting the issue.

The United States is hailing growing determination in most corners of the globe to combat modern-day slavery through stepped-up law enforcement and legislative action. That’s the good news.

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More News On World Slavery

US Report Cites 13 Countries for Human Trafficking -- Voice of America
U.S. Human Trafficking Report Cites Progress, Persistent Challenges -- Radio Free Europe
US puts nations on notice for trafficking -- AP
U.S. human trafficking report includes U.S. cases for first time -- CNN
U.S. ranks itself in trafficking -- Politico
Human Trafficking a Problem in Major Cities Across US -- Voice of America

The World's Slave Markets Are Alive And Well

(Slavery is a problem around the world and very difficult to measure. The following examples are listed in geographical order and not in terms of the magnitude of the problem.)

1. US: An estimated 20,000 people are trafficked into the US annually - many are forced into prostitution.
2. Dominican Republic: Campaigners say hundreds of thousands of Haitians are rounded up near the border and made to work on Dominican sugar plantations.
3. Brazil: Up to 25,000 people are said to be working as slave labourers - most of them clearing Amazonian forests.
4. Mauritania: Despite its abolition in 1981, chattel slavery is still strong - up to 1m people are allegedly held as "inheritable property".
5. Sudan: Campaigners say northern militias continue to take women and children in slave raids in the south.
6. Europe: Tens of thousands of women and girls are cheated, abducted and forced into prostitution right across Europe.
7. UAE: Every year hundreds of boys are reportedly trafficked from South Asia to the UAE and other Gulf states to race camels.
8. Pakistan: Men, women and children are bonded into forced labour in agriculture and industry, campaigners say.
9. Burma: Forced labour is reportedly used on a growing number infrastructure projects.
10. Thailand: Thousands of girls are sex slaves for tourists.
(Sources: ILO, American Anti-Slavery Group, US state department.)

Human Trafficking Reaches to High Alert Around World -- Voice of America

The U.S. State Department estimates that 800,000 human trafficking victims cross international borders each year. The United States is often a destination for many of these victims, where they are held in what many human rights activists consider modern day slavery. Some of those activists participated in the Human Rights Accords in Dayton Ohio, a two-day conference to help raise awareness about the problems victims face. The conference occurred this week as U.S. law enforcement agencies are engaged in a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking.

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My Comment: As terrible as these stats are, they still leave out huge swaths of people who can be considered as slaves. My focus has always been on the use of child soldiers in conflict zones. Their numbers are in the tens of thousands in Africa alone, but they are still not considered as slaves by most international organizations, but as abused children in war zones.

UN: Modern Forms Of Slavery Are Flourishing

From Voice of America:

In late August 1791, a slave rebellion in Santo Domingo, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, sparked the beginning of the end of the system of slavery. Every year on August 23, the United Nations International Day for the remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition serves to remind people of the tragedy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade of old. It also aims to raise awareness about modern day forms of slavery.

Men, women and children are no longer shackled, put on the auction block and sold like prize cattle to the highest bidder. In today's world, one person does not buy another and own him or her for life. Traditional forms of slavery have been abolished. But, contemporary forms of slavery are often as cruel and dehumanizing.

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My Comment: This Voice of America news report ignores the plight of child soldiers. In all of these cases, they are slaves of the worse sort. Exploited not only by the Army that has (in almost all cases) kidnapped them, but also used as human fodder in the wars and battles that are fought.