Some 27 million children, women and men are held in slavery – not only in Africa, South Asia and South America, but in at least 40 different countries, including Britain, France and the United States. They are held by force or threat of force and are unable to leave. They are owned or controlled. Well-known retailers take trouble to try to avoid any of their manufactured goods containing slave labour.
The trafficking of women and girls, into and through Britain and other countries, for forced prostitution, has increased enormously. Some slavery, involving debts, passes from father to son. Children are enslaved in making hand-knotted carpets and in much physically demanding and dangerous work. Governments have agreed not to allow slavery. Many don’t care, cannot cope, or suffer from corruption.