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60 years ago, the United Nations' Universal Declaration
of Human Rights stated that all human beings, without distinction
of any kind, should be free from slavery. Yet there are
still more than 12 million people living in slavery and
every continent of the world is affected.
Anti-Slavery International believes it is long past the
time when every human being – without exception –
should be able to live a life free from slavery. This is
why we are launching our new No Slavery, No Exceptions
campaign.
The campaign focuses attention on discrimination which
is one of the root causes of slavery in the 21st century.
In order to effectively tackle slavery we need to tackle
the discrimination which underpins it.
The evidence of the link between discrimination and slavery
can be clearly seen in much of the project work that Anti-Slavery
International carries out. For example, the vast majority
of bonded labourers in India, Nepal and Pakistan are dalits
and those who are considered to be of "low" caste,
indigenous people or those from other minority groups, including
religious minorities.
Similarly, caste and ethnic status underpins the use of
slavery in Niger, Mauritania and Mali, where tens of thousands
of people are ascribed a slave status at birth and are then
considered to be the property of their "masters"
who force them to work without pay.
In the Republic of the Congo, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru
it is indigenous groups who are mainly affected by forced
labour. The most common mechanism of control is debt bondage.
Discrimination is a pivotal part of slavery practices because
it allows people to disengage their humanity and justify
or tolerate the violation of other people's human rights.
Discrimination also limits certain groups' access to education,
jobs and healthcare, leaving them socially excluded and
vulnerable to slavery as they look for ways to provide for
themselves and their families.
In the coming months we will be taking action on individual
countries where discrimination plays a key role in trapping
marginalised groups in slavery and urging governments' to
address this alongside measures to prosecute offenders and
rehabilitate victims. We will also be promoting the No
Slavery, No Exceptions campaign pledge which calls on
governments and relevant international organisations to
commit to eradicating all forms of slavery by 2015 and to
put in place and fully implement national and regional action
plans to achieve this.
Anti-Slavery International needs your help in building
support for the No Slavery, No Exceptions campaign.
You can do this by signing the pledge below.
For more information on the campaign and other ways that
you can get involved please join the Campaigns Network (tick
the box below).
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