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The Transatlantic Slave Trade And The Modern Day Slavery

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On March 25, the UN marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to honor those who suffered and died at the hands of the transatlantic slavery system. In the transatlantic slave trade (15th to 19th centuries), between 12 and 15 million men, women and children were trafficked from Africa to the Western Hemisphere for the purposes of forced labor. This Maafa was perpetrated by major European countries. Among the world’s leading slave trading powers, Britain transported at least 2-3 million people in the 18th century alone.  

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The 2019 theme for the commemoration, “Remember Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice”, aims to recognize the importance of art in confronting slavery, to raise awareness of the struggles and to empower those who have been affected by it. Throughout the month of March, the UN has organized several cultural events and exhibitions recognizing the important contribution of art, including memorials, music, dance and architecture.

In 2018, for the commemoration of the day the UN Secretary-General reminded that “the epically shameful transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced and legally sanctioned migration in human history… This Day of Remembrance was established to acknowledge a brutal chapter in human history, and to raise awareness of the dangers of racism and prejudice today.” Indeed, it is crucial to learn from past mistakes and use this knowledge to protect people from such inhumane treatment. 

Nonetheless, currently, there are more people in modern-day slavery than during the times of the transatlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries. This means not only that we have not learned anything from the dark past of the transatlantic slave trade but that we have also allowed the situation to deteriorate to reach historical levels. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, there were 40.3 million people in modern-day slavery in 2016, including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage. However, these statistics have their limitations. As the methodology of the 2018 Global Slavery Index suggests, the practices of recruiting child soldiers and trafficking persons for removal of their organs are not included in the statistics due to the limits of the existing data. 

Organ Trade 

There is only limited information concerning the state of global trafficking of persons for the purpose of forced organ removal. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10% of global transplant activity is constituted by the illegal organ trade. Some of the countries with reported illegal organ trade activities include China, India, Pakistan, Kosovo, and the Philippines. These statistics are likely to be very conservative, especially as the data on organ transplantation is underreported. One of the best examples of such underreporting is China. While China’s official data states that there are 10,000 organ transplants done a year, research suggests a much higher number between 60,000 and 100,000, including the illegal practice of organ harvesting (forced organ removal). According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, the estimated revenue of the illegal organ trade worldwide is between $840 million and $1.7 billion.

The 2018 Global Slavery Index indicated that the traffickers and brokers of illegal organ activities target vulnerable individuals, including migrants and refugees.  They reported that in some parts of India, people in desperate need of money would use their kidneys as collateral for money lenders. In other countries, like China, the illegal transplants allegedly come from prisoners of conscience.

Despite the above concerns, the 2018 Global Slavery Index identified that “Developed countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK receive organs from most of the world’s developing countries, including India, China, the Philippines, and Pakistan.” 

Child Soldier Business 

The use of child soldiers is a recognized form of modern-day slavery. The numbers of victims of this form of modern-day slavery are difficult to assess because of the nature of the crime. The UN assessed that in 2016 that there were at least “4,000 instances of children recruited and used in armed conflict by government forces and more than 11,500 such instances by non-state armed groups” including in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and the Philippines.

The use of child soldiers by non-state actors is especially challenging to address. Groups like Daesh have abducted thousands of children to turn them into fighters in Syria and Iraq. Because of the fragility of these states (and the ongoing Syrian Civil War) addressing the issue and ensuring safe return of the children has turned to be an extremely difficult task - despite international involvement. 

The two issues of illegal organ trading and the use of child soldiers add to the already complex challenge that human trafficking is. In both cases the traffickers pray on the vulnerabilities of the individuals. While the case of the child soldiers is extremely difficult to address because it flourishes in the darkness of conflicts, the tracking of organ removal should not be so. Indeed, any removal of organs (and the subsequent transplant) must be done by qualified medical professionals. If the medical professionals consider that the person did not give informed consent to the organ removal, was forced to do so, or such informed consent was not sought at all, the medical professional should not proceed with the surgery but report it to the relevant bodies. Proceeding despite red-flags cannot be seen as legal or ethical and should result in investigations with appropriate legal steps taken against the medical professionals. 

Responses to the issue of modern-day slavery will never succeed if the responsibility to address it is deemed to lie exclusively with the state (and state bodies). Indeed, it will only succeed if everyone is considerate about what is happening around us. A man chained in a garden. A distressed young woman at the airport. A patient in a clinic. Victims of modern-day slavery are around us all. Be a part of the project to combat modern-day slavery: be vigilant to see and brave to speak up.

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