Slavery: Past, Present, Future

TW/CW: mentions of slavery, sexual assault and other potenitally triggering topics.

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

In the 21st century, labour feels inextricably tied to our existence. Something which we value above all, something inescapable and permanent. It is undoubtedly the driving factor for our lives, and from the moment we are born, the concept of ‘dream jobs’ and making money are engrained within us. But our lives weren’t always dictated by this ever-growing need to make money, this insatiable desire to earn and hoard more and more. The very beginnings of the human race revolved around hunting food to eat and little else. We worked because we physically could not survive if we didn’t. 7 million years later and the labour industry dictate our lives. We work because wealth and economic power create a more luxurious- a more fulfilling life. Many argue that labour is still, in essence, a necessary force for our survival, but the value of our work is different. It relies on external factors and the decisions from indivduals but still human power. When did labour change from being a necessary force, to being a means to an end- the means to make profit. This is known as the commodification of labour, and it is believed to have stemmed with the concept of surplus. Before, when humans first began walking on their hind legs, the food caught was enough to get by day to day, each day would require a new fresh hunt and our labour was not timeless. It had an expiry date and was a constant cycle, restarting with the rise of the sun. But when techniques for mass food gathering emerged, when we no longer relied solely on a nomadic lifestyle, when we were living not simply to survive another day, that is when labour became a commodity. It became something that we could extort to be more powerful, to differentiate us from our competitors. Almost simultaneous to this, came to value of labour. One hour of work could produce a specified quantity of reward or exchange, which then was food and today is money. The rest of this story is the history of humankind. Our history, our institutions, our very way of life, formed from labour and the way we began interacting with the profits it produced. It became institutionalised, legislation formed around it and it became both the devil and the angel sat on our shoulders today.

The institutionalisation of labour gave way to abuse, extortion and as history shows, it was the root cause of suffering. As we became a society, more developed than previous, and one convinced of our own morality we implemented the rights of labourers to avoid the imbalance of power, labour brought with it. From 1919 onwards with the formation of the International Labour Organisation, there are two articles which protect all of us from the lifeboat of our survival in the modern world: Articles 23 and 24 which state: “everyone has the right to work, to just and favourable conditions and to rest and leisure”. And yet the only distinguishing factor between us and our animal counterparts, is also what returns us to primal brutality and premature death.

Labour abuse, in its most extreme form, began as soon as organised work did. When our time and the effort we put in to live a life better than those surrounding us became institutionalised, greed evolved alongside it. Slavery predates written records, believing to have created status between nomadic tribes. Those with more power, and therefore the most likely to survive, would send out inferiors to hunt, allowing them the time to focus on agriculture or continuing their bloodline. It is no secret that slavery is a defining feature of our past and has laid the foundations for much of the systemic oppression faced in the 21st century and ultimately defined our economy today; economic booms of the slave trade has created our world order. From the very first amalgamation of people, the very first group which could be called a civilisation, the Sumers, slavery has not only existed but thrived. 10000 years ago the price of the individual was decided: one male slave was worth one orchard of dates and thus began the pricing of human lives for objects, and the oppressed minorities became commodities. This exponential growth infected the rest of the world and by 15BC the fore-thinkers of modern philosophy and politics (the Ancient Greeks) had more slaves than free people in Athens. It didn’t take long before slaves were not only domestic commodities but a crucial part for the agricultural markets with the first slave plantation coming into fruition in the 2 BC. History and the influence of slavery grew proportionally and by the Late Medieval period, slavery was condoned by the most powerful institutions of the British Isles: the church and the monarchy. Focus lay solely on the financial gain free labour could bring and when the Black Death killed off the work force, slavery became the backbone of society. The next major evolution of the slave trade came in the 15th century, where arguably, the most reknowned trade route was established by the Portuguese. The Transatlantic Slave Route connected the globe in a way never seen before: it connected through division. A triangulated route was set up by the white power of the time, where slave generated goods were traded for other luxury items (tobacco and fur). This profit would be used to purchase more slaves who would generate the original sales- enslaving society into an endless cycle of slavery. Rebellions were not uncommon, although rarely taught 400 years on, and like the Spartacan slaves preceding this route by thousands of years, slaves revolted against their oppressors. But icons leading the revolution such as Toussaint L’Overture and Charles Deslondes, would be taken down by authorities- their success threatened the comfort of their privileged lives.

It was only in the 17th century, that abolition groups became popular and by 1807, Britain (one of the most prevalent markets in slave trade) abolished slavery and the rest of the world followed suit. But abolition cannot forget nor excuse the 3.1 million people stripped from their homes, the only lives they ever knew and forcefully transported across the world in the name of king and country.

Anti-Slavery International began their tireless work in 1839 and eventually, with the formation of the United Nations, slavery was abolished by all countries. But as with anything, prohibition and illegality does not equal the eradication, slave trade and slave culture. Society had not forgotten the riches brought by the extortion of beings and it’s not difficult to deafen yourselves to an issue when accepting it means escaping the comfort of bliss and ignorance.

History tends to conveniently omit the truth; our society (as modern and as progressive as it pretends to be today) was founded on slavery. It was founded of the blood sweat and tears of the innocent who were treated worse than animals and continuously oppressed even after they were deemed free. Slavery has not disappeared with the introduction of the 13th amendment, nor was it gone when Britain declared it illegal in 1807. Slavery lives on, hiding in the shadows and thriving in plain sight.

There are more slaves in the 21st century than there were at any other point in history. This statistic seems to reverberate off of the incredulity and magnitude of what it claims. Despite our most protected and revered right of being “born free and equal”, there are currently 45.5 million slaves recorded and 100 millions more which are not. Slavery is defined as the use of “force, fraud or coercion to make something work” and involves the use of power to systematically extract more value from workers than is given to them. The statistics today are nothing but proof that we have not advanced from the legacy we are so desperate to leave behind. Unanimously decided, there are 3 main types of slavery which, although enforced using different methods, are all seen as one of the largest threats to our free existence. Bonded-labour forced labour and descent-based slavery.

Forced labour is the most common and the one was prominently seen in the media. People are threatened into working under the threat of physical punishment and is practiced in every country on the globe. 24.9 million people are currently recorded as being forced to work and a quarter of those are children. Fears are ever growing of the numbers who are not recorded and the exploitation of workers by the state and authority themselves as seen in the cotton industry of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Descent-based labour is the most similar to the slavery experienced almost 400 years ago. Victims are trafficked into the slave industry and this becomes part of their identity, forcefully woven into the very strands of their DNA. From then on, anyone born to a mother in slavery, becomes themselves a slave, creating an ever-expanding network and hierarchy of slavery across the globe. These victims receive absolutely no pay as it is considered their duty to work and can be gifted or inherited by their owners. The systems in which this type of slavery is legal and prevalent, upholds this oppression; escaping would be considered breaking the law and if they did, they would have no money or refuge to go to. They face a lifetime of oppression which they both live and die with the knowledge their children will face the same fate. Education is not a privilege they are granted, and many receive information of the world outside only from their masters. This slavery places importance on the dependence of the slaves on their masters which provide them with food and shelter as well as a continuous torrent of abuse. Descent based slavery is still rife in both Niger and Mauritania- the latter criminalised slavery in 2007 but the crime is not accepted by the government nor the wider society.

Bonded labour is largely unspoken about but is the most widely seen method to enslave others. The workers are forced to pay off a debt which more times than not doesn’t exist. As the money never reaches their hands, they can be kept for years and years believing they have yet to remove themselves of a burden only they feel the weight of. This debt is then passed down, inherited like the privileged may inherit fortunes or a family name. This is widely exposed by the media to occur in countries where the sheer amount of poverty limits the regulations which can be put in place, however due to the nature of the crime, it is rarely uncoveredin the UK. Workers from vulnerable backgrounds (local or from abroad) are offered jobs, and on arrival are separated from their documents and forced to pay off a sum of money much lower than the work they are doing. An industry which is renowned for thriving on this is the brick kilns in India (specifically the ____ region). With the help of the caste-based discrimination system and the wealth disparity, workers migrate across the nation in order to work what they believe will only be a season, hours, days, months, years of back-breaking labour of creating bricks for worldwide export. The conditions they face if they do not take this job are considerbaly worse and therefore they stay- not that the choice of leaving is there for them. Their pay is withheld until their astronomical debts are paid; despite not existing to begin with. They rely on food from the factory owners and any wealth they earn cannot be saved up. They earn so little their pay-checks are solely spent on the basic necessities for survival. These people are vulnerable, and the state does nothing to intervene on the conditions they face. 2-% of the workers are children under 14, whose key developing years are spent surrounded by toxic chemicals in the scorching heat of Indian summers. It is almost impossible to deal with this expanding industry as the economic benefits it brings to the region grants the factories and their owners’ immunity from corrupt police. Complaints field against assault (verbal and physical) are ignored or result in punishment for the worker who speaks out about this chain of oppression. The region still defines slave labour as the physically restraint of workers and inability to leave. Few of these workers can actually leave- factory owners are extremely powerful and the 8 million victims who are trapped in this iron web are forced to stay for fear of death whether by force or starvation.

Slavery in the modern world no longer embodies itself through chains, but the reality is, much of the slavery of the 15th century has continued to this day and its victims face the same struggles and injustices, and for many are still exploited for the same reason: they are vulnerable minorities which can be manipulated by the power which the rest of the world hails

There is a new kind of slavery which is ravaging our society. It spreads through our society unannounced and when spotted is condemned for a different reason entirely. It is clear that slavery in the 21st century does not require chains and is not accepted by the wider population, and therefore the line becomes blurred. Governments and officials can turn their back towards those enslaved by inequality, because to remove oppression would be to remove power. Contextual slavery is both real and as a dangerous as any other form recorded in the 21st century and is undeniably present in every country and city. Contextual slavery is the enslavement of people, the forced labour which stems from the inequality in society which removes the workers from the ability to leave their job, no matter how exploitative, no matter how illegal. It is often brushed off as laziness from the poor or the sickened mind of criminals but in reality, for many, it is the only option left. Take, for example, the deforestation of the Amazon. It is a source of much anger globally (except from the government of Brazil) and is the main threat to the habitat and animals of the area. It is also a threat to the very workers of the industry. Brazil has a huge wealth disparity with the richest 5% of the country having the same wealth as the remaining 95. The 16 million Brazilians who live under the staggeringly low poverty line are left to resort with anything they can to have a decent chance of day to day survival. When the chances of finding a stable source of income is jeopardised, there is no doubt that turning to crime or an exploitative job is the best opportunity they have. So yes, these workers have given their consent, they have willingly signed the necessary legal contracts, but when it comes down to it, they are being forced by the context which they live in. They have no income yet families (and themselves to feed), they have no financial support and yet are the financial support for expectant families. These people cannot afford to live let alone afford to uphold labour standards and right. The forest provides 41 million people with jobs who would otherwise be destitute on the streets and therefore the condemnation of them, without a reasonable alternative provided is sentencing them to slaughter. Those who work deep in the forest to log the trees have no access to clean water and medical aid; often being forced to spend the night amongst the wild, which has no mercy for them. The job has the highest amputation and death rates of any other in Brazil and most workers have seen the death of their colleague in front of them. There are no unions or centers to uphold their rights- this action is criminal. But it seems more criminal to me, to abandon the 16 million Brazilians under the poverty line on the street and wait expectant for them to die off. The crime rates in Brazil, discounting the rainforest, are still astronomically high and although the actions of these criminals is in many cases inexcusable, it is worth considering the impoverished conditions which have led to their captivity in this lifestyle. They are slaves to a larger poverty cycle, which counts on their oppression for its success but refuses to grant them the right to live. The gangs and crime which ravage ti streets of Brazil are no less slaves than those in forced labour. Quitting this job would result in death, the system is rigged against them- there are simply insufficient jobs to go around and even if there was, the education levels they are allowed to receive are simply too low and the standards of hygiene and presentation required are simply too high. So yes, these slaves agree to their job, but they do not consent. Consent implies being able to go either way, to consent you should be able to say either yes or no. The reality is these people only have one option. “Yes”. Because to say anything else would be to sign their own death warrant.

Contextual slavery can be categorised under another captivity of the 21st century- legal slavery. Both these can be argued to not fall under the category of slavery at all, as the contractual obligations of the job were agreed to. However, if there is one thing I hope you take from what I am saying, is consent requires the ability to say both yes and no. Being able to say yes only is simply not enough. The 21st century likes to hide behind a façade of freedom- but we are just as enslaved, perhaps not physically, but mentality as we were centuries ago. There are institutions used in the 21st century world but created with the philosophies of the 1700s. We have enslaved our people, especially our most vulnerable in a system which rips freedom from our very clutches. The people are slaves to prison, and the prison a slave to the prison-industrial complex (coined by Angela Davis in 98). This term is used to describe the mass incarceration phenomenon we see in this day and age, which we hide in the back of our minds, soothing this injustice with thoughts of “justice” and the abstract thoughts of “safety”. We never look further into the truth about the sentencing of criminals and we never look for who stands to gain from the enslavement of others, entirely within legal limits. Prison are considered the paragon of justice and yet they are the very institutions ripping any hope of true freedom from us. It is no secret that the punishment systems implemented over history have always been exploited for the free labour they provide; transportation gave the government the resources and labourers to colonise the lands they wanted and allowed them to avoid the legal issues of settling communities as they were doing so in the name of the law. It is no surprise that with a legacy like this the prison system we surround ourselves with continues its family business. I am not against offering prisoners labour in prison, in fact if implemented well it could increase the rehabilitation of prisoners by the ten-fold and create members of society who reintegrate easily upon release. The logic behind giving jobs to prisoners is irrefutable- ¾ of those who do not get rehired upon release end up back in jail. So why not arm them with the tools necessary to re-enter society a better citizen than when they left? However, when the work given is repetitive- such as placing tea in tea bags- it seems counter-productive. Nothing useful, nothing applicable, nothing beneficial is being given to these prisoners, who need nothing more than support from the government. People do not commit crimes for the sake of crime, and if they do the help which they require is simply more extensive. Instead of being taught work ethics or the skills to enter jobs allowing them a better life, they are exploited because as prisoners, their basic right to say no is infringed upon. They are capitalising on the captive labour which they no cannot refute what they are asked to do. The rights labourers have battled for throughout history are taken away; prisoners cannot organise (they cannot form unions), they have no contracts or pensions. They are stuck, punished already by being taken from all they have ever known, and forced to work for no more than £4 a week. This statistic is all the more shocking when you consider minimum wage is exactly that PER HOUR. Of course the option to not work could be considered, however this would mean staying inside a small, dimly lit cell for 23 hours a day and they are stripped of commodities turned luxuries such as phone calls, which they are required to pay for. For the sake of differing opinions, perhaps you agree with the concept of prison labour (after all prisoners should be punished right), but what if I were to tell you that the jobs given to prisoners do not materialise from thin air. They are not created in order to fill the pointless hours of incarceration they face but rather come from sacrificing the community. The private companies (such as Speedy Hire and DHL) have incorporated prison labour to their work force, at the expense of their original workers. Hiring their workers and replacing them with triple the amount of incredibly cheap man-power is the height of exploitation and there is no doubt there is an injustice committed here. The labourers, who were paid the bare minimum, are out of a job in order to further exploit workers. There is nothing in this arrangement which stems from improving society or the lives of workers, but rather is constructed entirely for the benefit of the major companies involved. A quick Google search will reveal to you that all your favourite companies are emulating the sweatshops we have seen (and often condemned) exploiting the poor. So how come we are allowing it to happen legally here at home. Is it because we are so keen to accept any form of so-called justice?

We are often quick to condemn slavery we see across the world, jumping on the bandwagon after tragedies occur, when we hear of the poor slaving away in starvation and scorching heat. We are all aware of when labour becomes slavery, all so keen to jump to defend the line we’ve mentally drawn in the sand. So why is it, that slavery seems to be not only prevalent in the auto-nominated “first world” but largely an issue ignored- cast aside. In 2017 alone, the UK public bought £14 billion goods made by slaves despite the call from officials to end the practice of slavery by 2025. We are blindfolded and held in the comfort that we abolished slavery 214 years ago and for us that is enough. 136000 people in the UK live as slaves and although this may seem like a small number in comparison to the population of the UK, the enslavement of one life, is one too many. The 20 richest countries in the world (known as G20) bought more than £272 million slave goods and it should rise one question in our minds: why? We live in an era of supply and demand, where the instant we want something (from material objects to knowledge) we can simply check our phones and it appears. We don’t often stop and associate the labour that was put into the item we want. The instant gratification wipes any thoughts of justice and fairness from our minds. And there is one thing more loved in the 21st century that instantaneous gratification and that is CHEAP instantaneous gratification. We live in a society that not only wants quantity and speed, but that wants products which are affordable. So affordable to the extent that the companies have to sacrifice human rights (something which we are taught to believe is non-expendable) in order to achieve these demands and continue to make profit. They cannot afford in the 21st century to pay their workers the wages they deserve and continue to make bank-breaking profit. So it is no surprise that customers buying the incredulous bargain deals have begun to find notes from over-exploited and burnt out workers beginning for justice, for freedom from their imprisonment. Primark was just one of many companies to find themselves at the head of a scandal after a customer discovered a note in the pocket of her product, which was pleading with the consumer to alert the authorities of the exploitation and slavery they were facing. Simply by buying and supporting the company they were promoting slave labour, they were giving the company a viable excuse to continue the cheap labour- they were gaining profit. Primark is not the only one: BMW, Gap, Apple, Zara, H&M, Sports Direct and Volkswagen are just a few of the brands who have been involved in scandals after their involvement with the forced labour of people, in conditions which are simply unimaginable has been revealed. The biggest scandal in modern history was the exposure of Tesco, Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Costco and Iceland in the Thai prawn industry which is almost entirely reliant on slaves. Vulnerable citizen (many of which are immigrants from neighbouring countries move to Thailand looking for improved conditions from the exploitative nature of their homeland, only to find themselves caught in the same web they were desperately running from. 18 out of 20 people working in this industry are killed- they do not die- they are murdered by their bosses who in this case are not only their ship masters but officials ranking in the highest government positions. The supply chain for most manufacturers is incredibly complex and although the brands mentioned do not themselves engage in slave labour (to the knowledge of the public) they are supporting and adding wealth into an industry which capitalises over exploitation and achieves ridiculously low prices through it. Many of the workers pay brokers to smuggle them into the country, desperately searching for an income to support their families. They are told that there is good money to be made in the Thai prawn industry only to find upon arrival they have been taken to the world’s most active slave market where they are sold onto ships which will not see land for up to 18 months at a time. The 300000 officially working in this industry, are the small fraction of legal labourers and the rest are ghosts. Each worker costs £450 and they are forced to work until their debt is paid off. Functioning on the descent-based slavery seen in Mauritania, they are overworked and never see the profits they make. The amount of labour and physical exertion they put in, could pay this debt 10 times over and yet they remain poor and exploited, their only escape being death. They are not the ones catching the prawns but rather the ones catching the food which will feed the prawns that end up on our plates. Whilst we sit, enjoying our meal, the labourers spend 22 hour days on simply a bowl of rice braving turbulent conditions at sea. They cannot escape (the expanse of icey winter sea enslaves them) and to rebel is to be sentenced to public executions, most commonly being ripped apart, tied to two boats. You may ask yourself, what about the officials, the licenses, an industry of this caliber will surely have inspections. But as expected the police and government officials are all involved, with many even aiding the process and providing the fake licenses necessary. The profit reined in by this industry is so large that it would be damaging to the already unstable Thai economy to prevent its further expansion. It is the nation’s best-known dirty secret.

But it is not only countries (oppressively known as) ‘developing’, which have been affected. Many workers from the so-called ‘Third World’ are kept slaves in the pristine realm within which we revolve. The Australian agricultural industry, which provides much of the fruit and veg currently in our fridges, is renowned for exploiting both migrant and holiday visa workers. But slavery is still yet closer to home, ravaging the society, the circles within which we revolve. Thanks to the new VISA system introduced in 2012, domestic workers (nannies, cleaners etc) can be forced to work excruciatingly long hours, without overtime pay and no minimum wage in place. They are essentially tied to their employers which facilitates exploitation and abuse. All the workers were paid less than £100 a week (whilst the original system kept this down to 62% of domestic workers) and there was a 48% increase in the number of workers who were paid nothing at all. This means that workers from abroad coming to work in the domestic services are likely to be exploited despite their arduous journeys to the UK, a supposed haven for the (oppressively named) ‘third world’ labourer.

And there are cases closer to us even still, showing the UK is far from innocent in this crime. In 2016 more nail salons opened in the UK than any other business and the majority of which are considered to be run by a complex network of slave traders. Websites in Vietnam advertise the luxurious job, promised to be paid £2000 a week. For someone desperate to feed their family (or even themselves) this sounds like a haven. There is a shortage of nail techs in the UK despite the high demand for the service and the clear gap for affordable services and goods has given the perfect opening to the slave industry. The nature of the service means baying in cash only is an easy requirement and few people consider the licenses of their technicians before booking. The job itself is straining, working amongst powerful chemicals which if frequently exposed can become toxic. Many of these workers are brought in as illegal immigrants or are stripped of their legal documents upon arrival. Therefore coercing them: they cannot report for fear of being deported.

The UK’s industries are rife with slavery and it is no secret that this is driven by our desire to pay as little as possible disregarding both the quality of the product and the quality the workers face. The world’s richest countries are exploiting the poverty they cause for the sake of their wealth, despite having the finances collectively to support fair and just industries. Both the financially vulnerable communities from home and abroad are forced into exploitative jobs and received nothing for their labour; not money, not time off, not basic human rights. I want to leave slavery in the modern world with the statistic which epitomises the consumerism encouraged amongst the financial elite of the world: the true cost of a car wash is £20 and as Andrew Wallis from Unseen UK, if you’re paying less you should be wondering why.

It is probably clear to you now that slavery has always been an enormous and global issue and continues to be. Dealing with it has been a priority for organisations across the world and the heads of states from countries across the world have pledged to end the market for human beings by 2025, but this (like so many others) seems to be one they are going to be forced to break. The solutions to a complex issue are just as intricate and the problem itself and what helps in the short term can end up detrimental long term.

A solution which is an almost immediate conclusion is to simply buy slaves out of captivity. With the average slave costing just over £400 it seems an easy option for the world governments to pool together funding to free them all. However, this would realistically result in the enslavement of millions more. Slave traders commit this crime because they stand to gain financially from it and therefore for the government to be actively adding to the profit they are gaining would only be further encouragement. The traders would know the money the government could put in and would simply hike up the prices, knowing the government can’t say no- it’s not their place to put a price on human life. Who are they to say that £450 is okay but £455 is too much?

Another solution often presented (and more often enacted) is to boycott companies who refuse to step up and take accountability for their involvement with the slave trade or refuse to ensure working conditions are at a minimum standard for workers in their supply chains. And in a utopia this would be the perfect solution — companies would see they are losing profit and would immediately turn to providing the standards the public is asking for, ceasing the slave trade in industry and dealing with the problem at its very complicated root. However, the reality is much less pleasant and in reality to boycott companies and to no longer buy from them will end up in more collective suffering. Our markets now are driven by high pressure supply and demand, the tactics for many businesses is simply to produce as much as possible, disregarding both human life and quality. The prices are extremely cheap, to the point where not enough is earned to give workers their proper profits (and this is where exploitation and slavery come in). If these brands were forced to pay their thousands of workers even a slight percentage more, whilst keeping their renowned low prices, it is no longer business and they wouldn’t be making sufficient profit. The brands would be left with two options: fire over half the workers (in order to pay the remaining ones slightly less than double) or to shut down the factory and hope to make money in some other business. The direct effect of this would be hundreds and thousands of displaced workers who would either never find work again (and survive no longer than a couple of weeks) or to create new opportunities for more factories to step in and higher them. Desperate for any amount of money they would take whatever they are offered, working for even less than they did so before. Indirectly, however, this would ruin the economies of the countries who need stability and economic expansion most. Despite our illusory dreams to put people solely over profit, it is exactly that, a dream. In order to survive, people rely on the economy and they rely on making money in order to have the basic necessities needed for survival. How is a country struggling to pay its international debt and the ever-growing prices of the 21st century going to enforce brands to pay their workers ethically? It is impossible to solve this problem without putting in the privilege of the first world and setting aside our constant demand for more and our constant desire to satiate this foreign greed. We need to collectively decide we would rather buy items of quality woven together with labour rights and decent working conditions rather than the cheap thread used to hold together the exploitation of human beings. We saw this reality in 1993 when Bangladeshi children were being exploited by a well-known supplier and the public led an outraged protest. The pressure put on officials eventually ended in an embargo on imported products made from child labour. This factory was eventually forced to close due to lack of profit, unable to buy the raw materials needed to make products. Almost every single child ended up working in another (perhaps more dangerous) industry or dying from starvation until UNICEF was forced to step in.

It is clear that these two- most common- solutions are ineffective at dealing with slavery in the long term and the future of crime fighting this industry will require innovation and solutions not yet thought of. It seems like every possible pathway is lined with thorns and the slavery market still continues to flourish despite the brave attempts of thwarting it. The current system is not allowing the market to truly be eradicated and therefore we do not need a change in system but rather a new system entirely. A system which does not allow the commodification of labour (appearing thousands of years ago) to open the door to exploitation and suffering, but rather a system in which every single individual worker is valued as a vital piece in the larger machine of humankind.