Breaking News English

Many of us think slavery is a [thing / thinking] of the past. It isn't. A new report from the United Nations says there [are / have] about 50 million people in modern-day [enslave / slavery] . This includes being [tripped / trapped] in forced labour or in forced marriages. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is an [agency / agents] of the UN. It created the report. The ILO said around [once / one] in 150 people in the world is enslaved in some way. This figure has increased by 20 per cent in the [past / passed] few years. It is still growing. This is because of the coronavirus pandemic, climate [challenge / change] , and the cost of living crisis. These things have made many people poor or forced them [onto / into] debt. The only way they can survive is to work in terrible conditions or be forced into unwanted [wedding / marriages] .

The UN [hoped / hoping] to end modern slavery by 2030. However, since creating this [aim / aims] in 2016, the number of people in forced labour or forced marriage [shot / shoot] up by 10 million. The ILO said modern slavery [happening / happens] when people "cannot refuse or cannot leave because of threats, violence, deception, [abusive / abuse] of power or other forms of force". The ILO said this problem existed [in / on] rich countries as well [was / as] poor nations. An ILO spokesperson said: "It would [make / be] a mistake to believe that forced labour is solely the problem of poor countries." He added that more than [half / halve] of cases of forced labour and a quarter of forced marriages are in "upper-middle-income or high-income countries". Women and children are at the most [risk / risky] .