Many of us think slavery is thing of past. It isn't. A new report from United Nations says there are about 50 million people in modern-day slavery. This includes being trapped in forced labour or in forced marriages. International Labour Organization (ILO) is agency of the UN. It created the report. The ILO said around one in 150 people in world is enslaved in some way. This figure has increased by 20 per cent in past few years. It is still growing. This is because of coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and cost of living crisis. These things have made many people poor or forced them into debt. only way they can survive is to work in terrible conditions or be forced into unwanted marriages.
The UN hoped to end modern slavery by 2030. However, since creating this aim in 2016, number of people in forced labour or forced marriage shot up by 10 million. ILO said modern slavery happens when people "cannot refuse or cannot leave because of threats, violence, deception, abuse of power or other forms of [force]". ILO said this problem existed in rich countries as well as poor nations. ILO spokesperson said: "It would be mistake to believe that forced labour is solely problem of poor countries." He added that more than half of cases of forced labour and quarter of forced marriages are in "upper-middle-income or high-income countries". Women and children are at most risk.
