Modern Slavery, Just Read the Paper

A friend sent me this disturbing article from the New York Times. It focuses on Ghana, but broadly discusses how thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of African children are sold into indentured servitude by their parents, often for sums as paltry as $30. This is not just an African problem; the International Labor Organization estimates that well over 100 million children work in hazardous industries.

Due to the nature of parental and family relationships, the freedom of child workers is difficult to ascertain. With adults, it is much easier: the ILO's most conservative estimate is that 12.3 million adults are forced laborers. "Forced labor" is a tricky term; it makes many people think of outright slavery. And there are actual cases of outright slavery--I confirmed as much while working as a research consultant for the ILO--but focusing on such cases obscures a larger problem: debt-bondage. This is the sort of situation you observed in the American west in the 19th and early 20th century "factory stores." (You get to the mine/ranch/farm. You need to eat/drink/clothe yourself. You buy your goods at a grossly marked-up prices from the factory store. And your paycheck goes to the store, and not your pocket.)

I'll have more on practical proposals in a couple of months, when I finish a long-overdue paper on labor clauses in free trade agreements, but for now I think it simply bears repeating that forced labor--modern slavery--is a real problem in the 21st century.