More than 14 million people in India are estimated to live in modern slavery, according to a new index on global slavery that ranks the country first out of 167 countries based on the number of people subject to abuse such as forced labor, servitude or sexual exploitation.
The other countries with the highest numbers of people in modern slavery are China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Together with India they account for 71% of the estimated 35.8 million people in modern slavery, says the 2014 Global Slavery Index, a report produced by global human rights organization the Walk Free Foundation. It defines modern slavery as “one person possessing or controlling another person in such a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty.”
Modern slavery in Asia, particularly in countries such as India and Pakistan, often includes entire families who are enslaved through bonded labor in construction, agriculture, brick making, garment factories and manufacturing.
In India, lower castes and tribes, religious minorities, and migrant workers are disproportionately affected by modern slavery the Indian section of the report says.
In 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs launched the ‘anti-trafficking portal’, which includes information on criminal justice statistics, anti-trafficking police units, government and law enforcement training, the anti-trafficking legislation, and reporting mechanisms, including the ChildLine hotline number.
India has also improved law enforcement efforts by establishing 215 anti-human trafficking units across the country to investigate human trafficking cases.
Legislation on its own though is not enough to ensure success of a criminal justice response to modern slavery, according to the report.
While India’s anti-trafficking unit numbers are impressive, funding was not always reflective of the individual units’ needs, the report added. Indian government data, for example, suggests only 13 offenders were convicted in 2013, according to the report.
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