Nigeria
has more enslaved people than any country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Global
Slavery Index 2016, released on Tuesday, has revealed.
In
a new survey conducted in 167 countries across the world by anti-modern slavery
organisation, Walk Free Foundation, Nigeria has more enslaved people than any
country in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Global Slavery Index 2016, released on
Tuesday, has revealed, adding 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.”
Source:
Premium Times
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