Many people associate slavery with the transatlantic slave trade of the past and believe that it is an institution that has been left in the past. This paper will look at how modern slavery differs from the transatlantic slave trade. The paper provides different arguments and examples from history of slavery and compares it to its current form. Moreover, the paper will include types of slavery that exist today. The role of United Nation to control the slavery in different countries will also be discussed. The paper will not only present the history of slavery but it will also present all types of human trafficking that is leading people towards different types of slavery. At the end the differences and similarities between slavery of the past and modern slavery will help to end the discussion. Also, the percentages of slavery in history will help to analyze and differentiate the history from modern slavery.
The transatlantic slave trade that took place between the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries was focused only on enslaving people from Africa (Slavevoyages.Org 2017: 1). There were about 12.5 million slaves brought to the US (Henry 2014: 3). These slaves were brought by Europeans to Europe and the Americans to perform manual labor so that the Europeans would not have to pay wages for labor. On the other hand, many plantation owners sexually assaulted their slaves. The slaves were never brought for prostitution or sexual slavery, unlike today when around eighty percent of the people is slavery are women females and fifty percent of them under the age of eighteen. Forty-three percent of the people forced into slavery are used as sex slaves, while 32 percent are forced to provide free labor (Ilo.Org 2014: 1). The other twenty-four percent are a combination of both. There were also over twenty-one million slaves throughout three hundred countries in 2006 according to the International Labor Organization (ILO)(Ilo.Org 2014: 2).
Modern slavery has been defined as being controlled or owned by someone, who uses the threat of physical or mental abuse to force obedience and labor from a person. Placing restrictions on the freedom of individuals by either retraining them physically or coercing obedience through threats of violence against them or their loved ones (Bales 2012: 253). It also includes the dehumanization of a person, who is stripped of their humanity by people buying and selling them and using them against their will. The types of slavery that exist today include: bonded labor, child slavery, descent based slavery, forced labor, forced marriages, human trafficking, supply chain slavery (Quirk 2011: 211).
There are several ways that traffickers enslave people. One of the most popular promises to a person is the better opportunity in another country. The traffickers collect money from individuals and promise them a better in the new country, a claim that turns to be false (Abadinsky 2016: 208). Once they arrive the trafficker confiscates their passport and any other identifying documents and forces them to work for free either as laborers or sex slaves to pay off the debt that they owe (Behnke 2017: 30). In many cases, the traffickers increase the amount of the debt so that the person is unable to pay it off (Abadinsky 2016: 208).
However, it is not impossible to stop men and women who are responsible for human trafficking and slavery as the extent of this problem is increasing due to poverty and crimes in countries like India, Brazil, and Eastern Europe (Smith 2013: 71). In fact, if countries could use weapons that they have at their disposal then they would easily stop or at least severely lessen the number of people affected by modern slavery. Instead, these countries are working to prevent human trafficking and slavery, they choose to ignore the problem. Many times, this is due to corruption or being involved with the trade them (Smith 2013: 214). Other countries just do not do enough to remedy the issue. This means that the traffickers too many incentives and not enough repercussions if caught. In the United States, a person who is caught trafficking people is given a small sentence than those who are convicted of drug trafficking (Kapstein 2013: 33).
One of the main reasons that slavery is such a big problem is that it is comparatively cheap business to get involved (Gary et al. 2015: 94). It is due to those involved being able to transport slaves internationally for little cost compared to the profit that they make. It has resulted in gangs and syndicates creating a many-tiered organization that are responsible for many aspects of the business. These gangs and syndicates often have numerous branches in several countries. The money that they make enables them to bribe the police and government officials (Kapstein 2013: 28).
In 2000, several countries joined together to combat this created the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which acts as a supplement to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which was established by the UN (Scarpa 2008: 56). The Protocol was approved by the UN and gained support from numerous industrial countries The Protocol does not focus only on prostitution, but all types of human trafficking (Kapstein 2013: 28). One of the reasons for this is that many diplomats found it difficult to determine who human trafficking was to be defined. This is due to it being hard to distinguish those who are voluntarily working in such conditions. Often after taking out a loan, and those who are being threatened or coerced into the slave trade. Bill Clinton also passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000(Kapstein 2013: 28). The TVPA gave a stricter definition of human trafficking and imposes greater consequence than before. It also sets aside funds to help assist efforts from other countries and to compensate the victims of human trafficking. The TVPA also organizes countries by the effort put forth by their leaders to bring an end to the slave trade (Kapstein 2013: 28). Countries that have a weak compliance with the treaties, even as their governments attempt to comply with them are classified as Tier 2. There are 32 countries on this list. Tier 3 consists 12 countries that are doing very little to comply with the treaties on human trafficking and slavery (Morehouse 2009: 24). The TVPA has resulted in an increase of people being charged with sex trafficking as there had only been 34 people charged in the five years before the law was passed and 189 people have been changed since (Morehouse 2009: 26). The United States government has also charged 59 people with trafficking slave labor (State.gov 2017: 3). The United States has been successful in stopping more slave traders than any other country. It is because of this that few slaves enter the United States every year. This number, which was about 50,000 in the 1990’s before the Protocol and TVPA was passed, was down to 17,500 in 2006(Kapstein 2013: 22).
Even though the majority of the slave trade takes place in other countries, the only other countries that have made a reasonable effort to stop slavery are the Netherland and Sweden. This lack of attention has enabled traffickers to bring females into Germany, Italy, Russia and France so that they can work as prostitutes. They also bring females to many Asian countries such as Thailand and the Persian Gulf (Kapstein 2013: 24). One of the biggest populations of slave labor is in India, despite the insistence of the government that slavery does not exist within the country. Despite slavery being an international issue the countries that are the most involved are Russia, China and India (The Guardian 2014: 2)
In “The Fight to End Global Slavery” E. Benjamin Skinner wrote about his experiences investigating the slave trade for four years. He found that India professed to condemn the slavery, but were not willing to see it within their country (Skinner 2008: 32). This is because they do not view the caste system, intertribal abductions, child laborers and sex slaves as methods of enslavement, but a part of their society. Accusations of slavery are usually attributed to being the imaginations of men and women who are poor and uneducated. However, despite arguments to the contrary the ILO estimated that there were over 9 million slaves in India in 2009 (Skinner 2008: 32).
One of the biggest differences between Transatlantic slavery and modern slavery is the attention that has been brought to it be international governments and organizations, such as Free the Slaves, who work to free slaves and to rehabilitate them back into society. Rehabilitation is often necessary because the person has been dehumanized and controlled to the point that they are unable to make decisions on their own. There are over 300 treaties in effect that ban slavery throughout the world (Skinner 2008: 32). The laws that have been passed against slavery attempt to put an end to the slave trade, but not slavery itself. This is what the United States did in 1805 when it passed a law saying that slave ships were no longer able to bring slaves over from Africa (Bois 2014: 245) First, the government did not implement any measures to ensure that people were not bringing new slaves into the country, and this law did nothing to end the slavery of Africans who were already enslaved. The TVPA which was mentioned earlier does call for governments, people and organizations to fight "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, using force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery”(Cornell University Law School 2016: 9).
The way that this law is worded means that traffickers do not have to transport their victims to be in violation of it. They can be convicted for being in “possession” of a person who is a victim of slavery. However, this does not apply to all types of slavery, as in countries that practice hereditary slavery or debt bondage, it is rare that it is persecuted (Skinner 2009: 13). This perspective is like that of Americans during the enslavement of Africans. They saw slavery as being a hereditary concept that was inherited from the mother, and before slavery became the official in the land in 1705, many African men and women came over as indentured servants (William & Lorri 2016: 72). Even though indentured servitude enabled a person to leave after a certain period. Many incurred more debts causing them to have to remain in bondage for a longer time (William & Lorri 2016: 56). Also, many indentured servants were subjected to violent punishments that at times left them crippled. It differs from the treatment of slaves in the past and today, because most people in control of slaves do not want to damage them to the point that they would not be able to make money off them in the future (William & Lorri 2016: 57).
Many slaves are not trafficked between states. The ILO estimated this number to be about 87 percent in 2009 (Reuter 2012: 209). In many places the only type of slavery that the police or government will intervene in is that of sexual slavery. According to Skinner, while these women need assistance, many of them are not slaves (Skinner 2008: 3). This is because many women choose to go into prostitution because they feel that it will be a lucrative career choice ((Skinner 2008: 113). Separating those who are being forced or coerced into prostitution from those who have willingly chosen to become prostitutes is difficult. It gets even more problematic when women who originally chose to be prostitutes find themselves enslaved and forced to commit sex acts against their will.
In attempting to combat trafficking there are several things that must be remembered according to Palmiotto (2014), (1) increasing restrictions on the borders will not stop trafficking. In fact, it has been found to increase trafficking. (2) Trafficking is not controlled by organized crime, even though it is controlled by gangs and syndicates. This is because in many cases slaves are obtained through the promise of a better life, rather than being kidnapped (Feingold 2013: 31). Once a person is removed from their family the “owner” reveals to them the truth of their situation. In situations where criminal organizations are involved, they often have no say in where the slaves end up. (3) Legalizing prostitution may help to end human trafficking if it is done correctly (Feingold 2013: 32). While in the United States it is believed that the legalization of prostitution will bring about an increase in trafficking victims, especially those who are intended to be sold into sexual slavery. However, as Feingold contends this argument makes little sense as prostitution is legal in Las Vegas, at least in certain brothels (Feingold 2013: 33). Therefore, if legalizing prostitution causes an increase in sex trafficking, then it should be evident in the number of foreign sex workers in Las Vegas. Other countries in which prostitution is legal such as Australia, Germany and the Netherlands have very low numbers of people being trafficked to their countries. (4) It is unlikely that prosecuting traffickers is going to stop trafficking. (5) Neither will sanctions because in many cases the sanctions will only result in the countries becoming unresponsive and less willing to listen and implement new policies in their countries regarding trafficking. (6) Victims of trafficking cannot always be sent back home (Palmiotto 2014: 46). In many cases sending a person back home is detrimental because they are only placed back in the same situation that led to them being trafficked and enslaved in the first place. This can be because they were forced into an arranged marriage, or to pay off a debt that belonged to the family, and finally (7) while it is accurate that in almost all cases poverty is the cause of trafficking this is only partly true (Palmiotto 2014: 48). Many parents will agree to send their child with someone who they usually believe lives in the same country. This is done because the person promises them that they will teach them a trade that will enable their child to have a better life than the one that they provide. This can also be applied to girls who are put into arranged marriages. In a lot of cases their parents feel that it is the only chance that their daughter can live a better life (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee 2009: 231).
The biggest similarity between slavery of the past and modern slavery is debt slavery. In the United States, many people coerced former slaves to sign documents regarding sharecropping. The purpose of these documents was to ensure that African Americans remained subjugated to white America despite slavery ending and being prohibited. This type of debt slavery seems to be the most popular type of slavery throughout the world as many people seek to keep the profits that they can make (Maard 2016: 3).
In conclusion, it can be said that modern slavery is different from the transatlantic slave trade. One of the biggest differences is race. The Transatlantic slave trade only targeted Africans, bring them to the new world to be enslaved. The Spanish and Europeans also targeted the indigenous people of South America. However, both groups were considered to be the “other” because of their dark skin and non- European culture. The role of UN to create Protocol law was beneficial for many countries. On the basis of the discussion above, it can be said that today slavery has nothing to do with the color of a person’s skin or their culture, but whether the trafficker can convince them or their family that they can obtain a better life by joining them. Moreover, the mentioned percentages from slavery history also help to differentiate past slavery from modern slavery.
Reference List
Abadinsky, H., 2016. Organized Crime. 1st ed. New York: Cengage Learning.
Bales, K., 2012. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. 2nd ed. London: University of California Press.
Behnke, A.M., 2017. Up for Sale: Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery. 1st ed. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books..
Bois, W. & Du, E., 2014. Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America: 1638-1870. 1st ed. New York: Courier Corporation.
Cornell University Law School, 2016. 22 U.S. Code § 7102 - Definitions. [Online] Available at: <https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/7102> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
Davidson, J.O., 2015. Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom. 3rd ed. New York: Springer.
Feingold, D.A., 2013. Human Trafficking. Foreign Policy, 32(1), pp.26-30.
Gary, C., Louise, W., Hannah, L. & Klara, S., 2015. Vulnerability, Exploitation and Migrants: Insecure Work in a Globalised Economy. 1st ed. New York: Springer.
Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee, 2009. The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK. 1st ed. London: The Stationery Office..
Ilo.Org, 2014. Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. [Online] Available at: <http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
Henry, L.G.J., 2014. How Many Slaves Landed in the US? [Online] Available at: <http://www.theroot.com/how-many-slaves-landed-in-the-us-1790873989> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
Kapstein, E.B., 2013. The New Global Slave Trade. Foreign Affairs, 85(6), pp.103-15.
Maard, S., 2016. Talk Trafficking. [Online] Available at: <http://www.talktrafficking.org/wordpress/author/selina/page/2/> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
Morehouse, C., 2009. Combating Human Trafficking: Policy Gaps and Hidden Political Agendas in the USA and Germany. 1st ed. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Quirk, J., 2011. The Anti-Slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking. 1st ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press..
Palmiotto, M.J., 2014. Combating Human Trafficking: A Multidisciplinary Approach. 1st ed. New York: CRC Press.
Scarpa, S., 2008. Trafficking in Human Beings: Modern Slavery. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Skinner, E.B., 2008. A crime so monstrous: face-to face with modern-day slavery. The Riches of the Poor, 4(1), pp.1-41.
Skinner, E..B., 2009. The Fight to End Global Slavery. World Policy Journal, 26(2), pp.33-41.
Slavevoyages.Org, 2017. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. [Online] Available at: <http://slavevoyages.org/> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
Smith, D., 2013. Shouting Into the Silence: One Man's fight for the world's forgotten. 1st ed. London: Lion Books.
Reuter, P., 2012. Draining development?: Controlling flows of illicit funds from developing countries. 1st ed. Washinton DC: World Bank Publications.
The Guardian, 2014. Modern slavery affects more than 35 million people, report finds. [Online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/17/modern-slavery-35-million-people-walk-free-foundation-report> [Accessed 31 January 2017].
William, B.W. & Lorri, G., 2016. Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence. 8th ed. New York: Cengage Learning.
