modern slavery - The African Mirror

Sep

2022

Modern slavery: how a drama project in Ghana educates communities through the stories of survivors

AN estimated 40.3 million people around the world are trapped in slavery. One in four victims are children, with women and girls affected most. Modern slavery occurs when people are forced to work through violence and intimidation. According to the most recent figures from the Global Slavery Index, there are 133,000 people living in slavery in Ghana. Our ongoing research seeks to tackle the issue by using performance to bridge the gap between survivors and people at risk of becoming victims by developing a conversation about 21st-century slavery. How the Ghanaian government responds to this issue affects the amount of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. forced labour drive hits target with backing of 50 nations

NEWS

THE world has reached a "major milestone" in the drive to combat modern slavery after Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a United Nations treaty against forced labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said. The legally binding 2014 pact - a protocol to the 1930 ILO Forced Labour Convention - compels nations to enact measures to prevent forced labour, protect victims and provide compensation. The ILO - with the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - has led the "50 for Freedom" campaign to encourage governments to ratify the protocol and raise…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

50 nations back U.N. drive to end forced labour

NEWS

THE world has reached a "major milestone" in the drive to combat modern slavery after Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a United Nations treaty against forced labour, the U.N. International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday. The legally binding 2014 pact - a protocol to the 1930 ILO Forced Labour Convention - compels nations to enact measures to prevent forced labour, protect victims and provide compensation. The ILO - with the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - has led the "50 for Freedom" campaign to encourage governments to ratify the protocol…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Laws to leaders: three aims for the anti-slavery movement in 2021

HUMAN RIGHTS

WITH less than a decade for the world to meet a United Nations target of ending modern slavery, experts say gains in tackling human trafficking risk being undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40 million people globally are estimated to be enslaved - in forced labour and forced marriages - in a trade worth an estimated $150 billion a year to human traffickers, according to the U.N. International Labour Organization (ILO). Ending modern slavery by 2030 was one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. But the fallout from coronavirus - from lockdowns…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

British police raid drug gangs as COVID-19 fuels child trafficking fears

WORLD

KIERAN GUILBERT MORE than 1,000 people were arrested and dozens of suspected victims of modern slavery identified in a crackdown on the drug trade in Britain, police said, as concerns grow about a rise in child trafficking during the coronavirus pandemic. Police said 69 possible trafficking victims were referred to government bodies for support following a series of raids this month to disrupt the so-called County Lines drug trade, by which criminal gangs move drugs from cities into rural areas. The operation was the biggest of its kind to-date and led to the seizure of more than 1 million pounds…