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Millions of women, children and men are in slavery throughout the
world -- no region is free from this abuse. At its root are poverty,
vulnerability and government failure to implement laws or develop
effective legislation.
From Monday 28 June through Friday 2 July, the United Nations
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery is meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland, with a special focus on forced labour on 30 June.
Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest international human
rights organisation, is presenting the following issues to the UN
and making recommendations to governments on action they need to
take to end this abuse (click on links below for full submission):
Abductions
and forced labour in Sudan: Over one million people have
been displaced in Darfur as government-armed and supported militias
systematically murder civilians, abduct and rape women and children,
and destroy homes in a pattern that is disturbingly similar to the
slave raids that plagued southern Sudan for decades. The Government
must put an end to the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for
enslaving people or using forced labour if the cycle of abductions
is to end.
Child trafficking
to the United Arab Emirates: Boys, as young as four, continue
to be trafficked to the UAE to be camel jockeys, despite its being
illegal since 1980 and repeated statements from the Government that
new laws and penalties are being enforced. Evidence, including dozens
of photographs
taken in 2004 showing very young jockeys, reveals this abuse is
widespread and laws are not being enforced.
Forced labour
in Brazil: Thousands of Brazilians are working in forced
labour, trafficked from impoverished parts of the country to estates
in Amazonia, despite positive steps taken by the Government over
the year to tackle slave labour. To end this abuse the Government
needs to provide sufficient material and institutional support to
bodies charged with fighting slavery and penalise offenders.
The migration
and trafficking nexus: Most trafficked people are migrant
workers seeking to escape poverty and discrimination. But recruiters'
promises of well-paid jobs abroad can lead them into slavery. To
prevent trafficking, states need to address the causes and review
international migration policies. Even though there is a growing
demand for migrant labour, many governments are making immigration
policies more restrictive, reducing opportunities for regular migration
and making migrants vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.
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