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On 10 January, the United Nations launches 2004 as the International
Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition.
Millions of women, children and men are enslaved around the
world - no region is free from this abuse. Slavery today takes
many forms: entire families are forced to work as bonded slaves
in South Asia, men are used as forced labour in American agriculture
and women are trafficked into Europe's sex industry.
In Haiti, which this month celebrates its founding as the first
republic established by freed African slaves 200 years ago, slavery
continues. Children as young as four are trafficked internally as
domestic workers (restavèks). An estimated one in
10 Haitian children works long hours, with no pay and is at risk
of sexual and physical abuse and are deprived of their rights to
education, rest and recreation.
"This UN year provides a valuable opportunity both to commemorate
the long struggle for abolition and to recognise that slavery continues
to exist throughout the world. It is vital governments develop and
implement laws against slavery and ensure those who continue to
use slaves are prosecuted," Mary Cunneen Director of Anti-Slavery
International, the world's oldest international human rights organisation,
said.
Slavery is illegal under international law and in most countries,
but in many cases laws are not enforced and offenders are not punished.
Slaves are forced to work through the use or threat of violence,
they are owned or controlled by an 'employer' through mental or
physical threat. They are dehumanised, treated as a commodity or
bought and sold as property, and they are physically constrained
or have restrictions placed on their freedom of movement.
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