Nigeria has more enslaved people than any country in Sub-Saharan
Africa, the Global Slavery Index 2016, released on Tuesday, has revealed.
The survey, conducted in 167 countries across the world by
anti-modern slavery organisation, Walk Free Foundation, revealed that there are
875,500 people living in slavery in Nigeria.
The survey said of the 45.8 million people living in slavery in
the world, 13.6 percent (6,228,800) are in Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (873,100 people) and Ethiopia
(411,600 people) have the second and third largest numbers of people living in
slavery sub-Saharan Africa respectively.
According to the survey, slavery in Nigeria takes the form of
forced labour in the domestic sector. Forced marriages also account for the
second highest form of slavery in the country, the report revealed.
The report revealed that conflict, economic crisis and
environmental disaster are the major enablers of modern slavery in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
For instance, the survey showed that the Boko Haram conflict in
the country’s north east led to an increase of people living in slavery in
Nigeria and other neighbouring countries like Chad and Cameroon.
The Islamist group has kidnapped thousands of people in the
north east region most of them women and children who they use as sex slaves
and put to forced labour.
“Modern slavery in the Sub-Sahara was enabled by economic
conditions, violent conflict and territorial displacement, in addition to
widespread humanitarian and environmental crises,” the report said.
“The escalation of violence in Nigeria following the Boko Haram
conflict has had widespread effects on Nigeria and across the region, particularly
in Cameroon where refugees fleeing conflict have sparked a humanitarian crisis.
“As of February 2016, 2.5 million people were displaced as a
result of the conflict and 20,000 people have been killed. Conflict is also
prevalent in Chad and Cameroon, where Boko Haram is also active in creating
violent conflicts, and in recruiting young entrepreneurs through predatory
loans.”
The report, which has been described as the most accurate
up-to-date analysis of slavery in history, was arrived at after 42,000
interviews conducted in 53 languages, covering 44% of global population.
It revealed that there are 28 percent (10 million) more people
in slavery across the world than previously estimated. Modern slavery, it
noted, takes the form of human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced
or servile marriage or commercial sexual exploitation.
Globally, North Korea is the country with the “greatest
prevalence of modern slavery, with 4.37% of its population estimated to be
enslaved. It is also the country with the weakest government response in terms
of actions taken to combat modern slavery,” the report showed.
In terms of absolute numbers, the report discovered that India
has the highest with an estimated 18.35 million enslaved people, followed by
China (3.39m), Pakistan (2.13m), Bangladesh (1.53m) and Uzbekistan (1.23m).
Combined, these five countries account for almost 58% of the
world’s enslaved, or 26.6 million people.
Government response.
Walk Free Foundation described the response of governments in
Sub-Sahara Africa to modern slavery in their domains as “inadequate”. It said
that reports on actions taken by governments to combat modern slavery do not
exist.
“Government responses to modern slavery in Sub-Saharan Africa
were characterised by inadequate victim protection and a lack of coordination
between government agencies and NGO bodies.
“Reliable data on the steps taken by the government to combat
modern slavery was unavailable.
“Despite 33 of the 45 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa running campaigns
against known modern slavery risks since 2010, few have raised awareness on
methods to identify victims.
“The only country to make this an annual practice was Burundi,
whose Children and Ethics Brigade ran anti-trafficking awareness programmes from
at least 2011 to 2014. While 28 countries provided a mechanism to report modern
slavery, less than half covered all demographics and even fewer had evidence of
translation services. Comprehensive reporting mechanisms were only provided in
South Africa and Lesotho.”
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