India tops global slavery index with 18.35 mn people enslaved

May 31, 2016

Melbourne, May 31: India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of people in the world trapped in modern slavery with 18.35 million victims of forced labour, ranging from prostitution and begging, according to a new report, which estimated that nearly 46 million people are enslaved globally.

slavery copy copyAccording to the 2016 Global Slavery Index released by Australia-based human rights group Walk Free Foundation today, an estimated 45.8 million people, including women and children, are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world, compared to 35.8 million in 2014.

The report said India has the highest absolute numbers of people trapped in slavery with 18.35 million slaves among its 1.3 billion population while North Korea has the highest incidence (4.37 per cent of the population) and the weakest government response to deal with it.

In the last report in 2014, India had nearly 14.3 million people enslaved.
Incidences of slavery were found in all 167 countries in the index, with Asian countries occupy the top five for people trapped in slavery.

Behind India was China (3.39 million), Pakistan (2.13 million), Bangladesh (1.53 million) and Uzbekistan (1.23 million).

The index said that these five countries combined accounted for almost 58 per cent of the world's enslaved, or 26.6 million people.

The Index presents a ranking of 167 countries based on the proportion of the population that is estimated to be in modern slavery.

Modern slavery refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception.

The research included over 42,000 interviews conducted in 53 languages across 25 countries, including 15 state-level surveys in India. These representative surveys covered 44 per cent of the global population.

The countries with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by the proportion of their population are North Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Cambodia, India, and Qatar.

The countries with the lowest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by the proportion of their population are Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden and Belgium, the United States and Canada, and Australia and New Zealand.

The study also tracked the government actions and responses to the modern slavery and of the 161 assessed, 124 nations had criminalised human trafficking in line with the UN trafficking Protocol and 96 nations had developed national action plans to coordinate government response.

It noted that while India had more people enslaved than any other country, it had made significant progress in introducing measures to tackle the problem.

"It has criminalised trafficking, slavery, forced labour, child prostitution and forced marriage. The Indian government is currently tightening legislation against human trafficking, with tougher punishment for repeat offenders. It will offer victims protection and recovery support," it said.

It said that in addition to economic growth in India, ambitious programmes of legal and social reform are being undertaken right across the board, from regulation of labour relations to systems of social insurance for the most vulnerable.

Those governments taking the least action to combat modern slavery are North Korea, Iran, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Hong Kong, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

The governments that have the strongest response to modern slavery are The Netherlands, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Croatia, Spain, Belgium and Norway.

Seeking strong laws to abolish slavery, Andrew Forrest, Chairman and Founder of Walk Free Foundation, said eradicating slavery makes sense, morally, politically, logically and economically, and called on the governments of the world's leading economies to provide an example to others by enacting and implementing robust anti-slavery measures.

"We call on governments of the top 10 economies of the world to enact laws, at least as strong as the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, with a budget and capability to ensure organisations are held to account for modern slavery in their supply chains, and to empower independent oversight."

Forrest said leaders of the world's major economies must bring the power of business to this issue, by requiring a focus on supply chain transparency.

"I believe in the critical role of leaders in government, business and civil society. Through our responsible use of power, strength of conviction, determination and collective will, we all can lead the world to end slavery," he said.

Forrest emphasised the key role that business needs to play in eradicating slavery.

"Businesses that don't actively look for forced labour within their supply chains are standing on a burning platform. Business leaders who refuse to look into the realities of their own supply chains are misguided and irresponsible," he said.

Comments

SK
 - 
Thursday, 2 Jun 2016

Since India is facing slavery, Naren has run away to Singapore to enjoy snake/ dog/cat/beef dishes......

Naren kotian
 - 
Tuesday, 31 May 2016

In that mostly 75% are from Muslim community as they enslave women as per their cult following .they have not changed since 6th century ...che papa ...ummah gang ge pitta netti geriruthe ..feku Anthe kumda ...for Muslims he might be feku ..but for nationalist Indians he is true hero who is transforming India .

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News Network
May 16,2020

Udupi, May 16: Close on the heels of six Covid-19 cases being detected in a little over 24 hours, Udupi recorded its first death of a Covid-19 patient. The victim is a 54-year-old man from Mumbai, who died due to a heart attack on Thursday. His reports came back on Saturday, and confirmed that he had Covid-19. The Udupi district administration has arranged to carry out his last rites as per government designated guidelines for Covid-19 victims.

A medical bulletin issued by the superintendent of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, stated that the patient was admitted due to a heart-related issue on May 13.

Some members on the team that treated the patient have been quarantined. The hospital’s emergency department will operate as usual, and the outpatient department will operate as usual from 8.30am to 1pm, following government guidelines, the bulletin said. Deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha said that since the patient was from Mumbai, the authorities collected his swab sample for testing, as a precautionary measure.

The man suffered from chest pain, and was initially taken to the taluk hospital at Kundapur from where he was shifted to Kasturba Hospital, due to the seriousness of his condition. The doctors operated on him on May 13, and he suffered a severe heart attack on May 14 and died, the DC said. “Three hospital staff without PPE kits, who attended to the patient, have been quarantined,” the DC said, adding that the operating doctors and nurses had worn PPE kits.

In addition, 5 others who travelled with the person from Mumbai and 57 people with him at the Kundapur isolation centre, have been designated as primary contacts, and 38 others as secondary contacts, and quarantined. The staff at Kundapur taluk hospital too had taken precautions in handling the patient, the DC said. Udupi presently has six active cases, including a 1-year-old child and 5 others, all of whom returned from Dubai on May 12.

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News Network
January 1,2020

Udupi, Jan 1: A 53-year-old Journalist of a Mangalore-based media house was found dead at his flat in Manipal on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Rohit Raj (53), a resident of Pandeshwar Mangaluru.

According to the Manipal police, on December 31, Rohit Raj had attended a New Year party celebration at Kadiyali, Udupi along with his wife.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 24: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah criticised the current state government rates for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals and said that the patients must be treated free of charge in all hospitals.

"The state government has fixed rates for treating COVID-19. The current rates are shocking to the people," Siddaramaiah said.
Questioning the state government, he said, "Where can people pay these rates fixed by the government per day? Looking at these rates can be heartbreaking for the people. This raises the question of whether the government is sensitive to people's issues."

"The government must promptly announce free treatment and set up a standard treatment protocol. The government should appoint a panel of experts to continuously monitor whether treatment is being properly administered and create an environment where the public is free from anxiety," Siddaramaiah added.

Karnataka on Tuesday reported 322 fresh COVID-19 positive cases and eight deaths.
According to the state health department, the total number of positive cases has mounted to 9,721 and 150 deaths. So far, 6,004 people have been discharged. 

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