African States Among Top Modern Slavery Offenders

MODERN-day slavery is rife in Africa, with 15 countries in the top 20 global index of worst performers out of 162 countries. Modern slavery takes many forms, including human trafficking, forced labour and other slavery-like practices such as debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, as well as sale or exploitation of children in armed conflicts. An estimated 29-million people are living in slave conditions in the world, and three-quarters of them are in Asia. In absolute numbers, India is the worst performer, with 14.7-million enslaved people. The inaugural Global Slavery Index, published by the Walk Free Foundation, an organisation that aims to end modern-day slavery, was published on Thursday. The index measures the extent of modern slavery by country, and is expected to be published annually. Mauritania, ranked number one on the index, has a population of 3.8-million, but it has 150,000 slaves. It was described by the report as having "deeply entrenched hereditary slavery". Four other African countries — Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Gabon — were among the top-10 worst performers. Sub-Saharan Africa has also been described as a "hot spot" for child marriage, according to Human Rights Watch women’s rights researcher Agnes Odhiambo. Ms Odhiambo said in Chad, the Central African Republic and Guinea, 60% of women marry before the age of 18. While the scourge of slavery was rampant in Africa, there were also countries in the continent highly recommended for their fight against slavery. Among these was Mauritius, which was ranked 143 out of 162. According to the index, Mauritius "leads the region in stability and the protection of human and worker rights", followed by Angola, at 116. South Africa, despite its world-class constitution, still came in 115th. While the report hailed the country for its anti-slavery policies, Walk Free Foundation CEO Nick Grono says law enforcement in South Africa has not prioritised slavery, with migrants coming into the country being vulnerable. "It’s great to have a robust constitution, but the issue is implementation. Only one person has been convicted for modern slavery in South Africa. That reflects on priorities," said Mr Grono. "It’s almost impossible to move away from slavery when government and business currently deal with it by ignoring it," anti-slavery director Aidan McQuade said. Source: BDLIVE

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