27 million people. In slavery. Today.
Slavery is extreme economic exploitation, enforced by extreme violence. It's happening now and it's happening everywhere. But one country has more people in slavery than any other. India. Around 12 million people are in slavery in India today. The most common form of slavery in India is bonded labour. People become bonded labourers when they are forced by poverty to borrow money from wealthy landlords. They must then work for these landlords until they have paid off their debt, but this is almost impossible to do. Landlords use extortionate interest rates, false accounting and violence to control their slaves. It's hard to exaggerate the violence suffered by bonded labourers - rape, kidnapping and murder are common place - and it is this violence that keeps them enslaved. |