slavery?!

Of the 6 billion people in the world, 27 million of them are documented as slaves. Every country in the world has made slavery illegal, but why does is persist in this day and age? I believe it is simply because anti-slavery laws are not enforced enough and slavery is often not the highest priority of a government. Between sex slaves, indentured servants, child soldiers and laborers, and more, not enough action is being taken to abolish slavery in the modern day. In China, thousands of child slaves have been freed. In Sudan, over 200,000 people have been abducted and subjected to slavery during the second civil war. Hundreds in the Ivory Coast have been forced to work on the cocoa plantations. Though slavery was thought to be abolished, with 45% of the world's population enslaved, it is said that there are more slaves living in the world today than ever before.

There are many reasons as to why slavery is still evident in the modern world, more so than ever. One of the reasons is population growth. With more people, there will always be a high demand for employment. Therefore, more people will be forced into working for little or no compensation. Another cause for modern slavery is poverty. Poverty is perhaps the biggest contributing factor to why slavery persists. Poverty causes people to borrow money from one another. More often than not, the borrowers cannot afford to pay the lenders back in a short amount of time. The lenders can then charge high interest rate or trap the borrowers in debt bondage. Poverty can also prevent people from moving to areas with better work opportunities. If someone is in poverty, it is almost impossible for them to challenge an illegal or unethical work situation. It would simply be too risky.