Modern Slavery

Modern slavery is a multibillion-dollar industry with estimates of up to $35 billion dollars profit annually. The UN estimates that roughly 45.8 million individuals are currently caught in the slave trade.India has the most slaves with in the country, at roughly 18.4 million, China is second with 3.4 million slaves, followed by Pakistan  (2.1 million), Bangladesh  (1.5 million), and Uzbekistan  (1.2 million). By percentages of the population living in slavery North Korea tops the charts with 4.373% of residents in slavery, followed by Uzbekistan with 4% of its population living under slavery followed by Cambodia(1.6%), India, (1.4%) and Qatar (1.4%).Mauritania was the last nation to officially abolish slavery, doing so in 2007; yet 4.3% of the population still remains enslaved. Despite being illegal in every nation, slavery is still present in several forms today.

Slavery also exists in advanced democratic nations, for example the UK where Home Office estimates suggested 10,000 to 13,000 victims in December 2015.This includes, forced work of various kinds, such as forced prostitution.The UK has recently made an attempt to combat modern slavery via the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Large commercial organisations are now required to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement in regard to their supply chains for each financial year.