Illegal slavery everywhere, persists: UN expert warns

Millions of people are trapped in modern day slavery despite the practice being declared illegal everywhere, said the author of two new reports launched here Wednesday on the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

"Slavery is illegal everywhere, without exception, at all times, by all actors, in all places, and yet slavery persists," said James Cockayne, head of the UN University New York office and lead author of the reports.

"Somewhere between 20.9 and 35.8 million people alive today are treated by other people as though they were owned by them -- the central legal characteristic of slavery," Cockayne said, adding that "5.5 million of these people are children."

The reports -- Unshackling Development and Fighting Modern Slavery -- include recommendations to increase global cooperation to meet Sustainable Development Goals and to end modern slavery by the year 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals, approved by world leaders here in September, are the blueprints for the global development efforts for the next 15 years.

Cockayne said that slaves were forced into many different forms of labor in every region of the world -- from South Asian brick kilns, to global garment supply chains, to farms in the United States, to the construction sites of mega sporting events. He noted in particular the worrying rise in sexual slavery by the Islamic State -- also known as ISIS and ISIL.

Urmila Bhoola, the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, said that slavery was not just a threat to victims but that it also effected social and economic development.

"Slavery is not just a violation of fundamental human rights but is also bad for social and economic development," said Bhoola. "The Unshackling Development report is particularly pertinent in that it reinforces the need for ending modern slavery for achieving inclusive sustainable development."

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, which falls on Wednesday, marks the date of the adoption, by the UN General Assembly, of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, on Dec. 2, 1949.

The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labor, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. Endit