Why Is Slavery Important Today

We all know about slavery: from the construction of the pyramids, to Moses and the Great Exodus from Egypt, the gladiator duels in the Roman Empire, to the plantations in the Americas. Slavery is a thing of the past – civilizations shadow. Slavery a remnant of the past, a practice used by the uncivilized, non-existent in today’s modern world. But the truth is: More people are enslaved and in bondage today than in any other point in human history. Thirty-six million people are slaves worldwide. Slavery exists in all the one hundred sixty-seven countries that have abolished it (Hess and Frohlich). Slavery was never confined to third world countries only, it hunts freely in Canada, America, Europe, and Australia. Slavery is alive and growing,
In traditional slavery people are viewed and treated as legal property (Hess and Frohlich). “However, modern slavery, which is defined as possession or control of a person that deprives them of their rights with the intention of exploiting them, exists in each of the 167 nations” (Hess and Frohlich). A slave is defined as “Someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay” (Merriam-Wrbster). There are thirty-six million slaves worldwide – slightly more than the population of Canada; more than 0.5 percent of the world’s population are slaves (Meyerhoffer). The numbers are increasing, not because of increased slavery, but because of “improved accuracy and precision of measure . . . uncovering modern slavery, where it was not seen before” (Meyerhoffer). The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the illicit profits of forced labour to be about US $150 billion a year (Global Slavery Index). Slavery hurts the economy
Four percent of the Mauritania populace is enslaved. That is one in every twenty people enslaved! “Mauritania’s lack of resources, critical infrastructure, and the slave culture being deeply embedded in civil society. Which all make it hard to abolish slavery” (Meyerhoffer). Mauritania was the last country on the planet to abolish slavery (Meyerhoffer). Followed, by Uzbekistan which has 3.97 percent of its populace enslaved. Then comes Haiti at 2.3 percent in slavery, Qatar at 1.36 percent of its populace, and India at 1.14 percent of its population. Though only one percent of India’s population is enslaved, it has the highest number of people living in slavery, at over fourteen million people (Hess and Frohlich)! Canada ranks 151th on the practice of modern slavery, with 0.013 percent of Canada’s populace in bondage – four thousand six hundred people enslaved. There is more slavery today than in any other time of the world, due to factors like: population increase, migration, corruption, discrimination, and the inexpensive cost of