NOVANEWS
This is the second edition of the Global Slavery Index (the Index). It is the first Index of its kind – providing an estimate, country by country, of the number of people living in modern slavery today. The prevalence of modern slavery is highest in:
Mauritania
Uzbekistan
Haiti
Qatar
India
Pakistan
Democratic Republic
of the Congo
Sudan
Syria
Central African Republic
The governments that are taking the most action to end modern slavery are:
Netherlands
Sweden
United States
Australia
Switzerland
Ireland
Norway
United Kingdom
Georgia
Austria
In absolute terms, the countries with the highest number of people in modern slavery are:
India
China
Pakistan
Uzbekistan
Russia
Nigeria
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Indonesia
Bangladesh
Thailand
When economic capacity is taken into account, these countries are taking strong efforts to respond to modern slavery with relatively limited resources:
Georgia
Philippines
Macedonia
Jamaica
The governments that are taking the least action to end modern slavery are:
North Korea
Iran
Syria
Eritrea
Central African Republic
Libya
Equatorial Guinea
Uzbekistan
Republic of the Congo
Iraq
The governments that should be doing more, given their wealth are:
Hong Kong
Kuwait
Brunei
Singapore
Qatar
Estimated people in modern slavery globally 35.8 MILLION
61% Of those living in modern slavery are in five countries:
India, China, Pakistan,
Uzbekistan, Russia
About the Index:
● It provides an analysis of the prevalence of modern slavery in terms of the percentage of a national population and the total number of people living in modern slavery – country by country, region by region.
● For the first time, the Index includes an analysis of what governments are doing to eradicate modern slavery.
● It also looks at the contextual factors that make people vulnerable to modern slavery.6. 7.
When the absolute number of people in modern slavery per country is considered, the country ranking shifts. The ten countries with the largest estimated numbers of people in modern slavery are: India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Taken together, these ten countries account for 71 percent of the total estimate of 35.8 million people living in modern slavery
.
The regions with the lowest estimates of people enslaved are Europe and North America. Iceland and Ireland have the lowest prevalence of modern slavery in the world. Scandinavian countries with comparatively low prevalence include Norway, Finland and Denmark. Canada has the
lowest estimated prevalence in the Americas, and New Zealand, Taiwan and Australia have the smallest concentration of people enslaved in the Asia Pacific region.
In 2014, the Index includes an analysis of 167 government responses based on five objectives that every single country should seek to accomplish in order to eradicate modern slavery: ● Survivors are identified, supported to exit and remain out of modern slavery.
● Criminal justice mechanisms address modern slavery. ● Coordination and accountability mechanisms for the central government are in place.
● Attitudes, social systems and institutions that enable modern slavery are addressed.
● Businesses and governments through their public procurement stop sourcing goods and services that use modern slavery It is promising that the majority of countries have a basic national action plan to address some forms of modern slavery, and/or a national body tasked with coordinating responses to this crime. However, implementation continues to be weak.
Aside from North Korea, all countries also have national laws that criminalise at least some form of modern slavery. While most countries have patchy, basic victim support services, very few countries have comprehensive services for men, women and children, covering both emergency support and long term reintegration services. Norway is one of the few countries in the world which provides holistic services for victims of modern slavery.
Globally, only three of 167 governments are making some effort to address modern slavery in government procurement and in the supply chains of businesses operating in their countries: the United States of America, Brazil and Australia
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Considered overall, countries taking the most action to end modern slavery are: the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Georgia, and Austria.
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Despite the fact that the highest ranking countries have comparatively more robust policies in place, most have the economic capacity to do significantly more to end modern slavery. When national economic capacity is taken into account, countries that are making comparatively strong efforts with limited resources include: Georgia, the Philippines and Jamaica, with criminal justice responses in place, and Macedonia, with relatively strong support services for victims of modern slavery
.
The countries with the weakest responses to modern slaveryare: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Eritrea, the Central African Republic, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, the Republic of the Congo, and Iraq. Many of these countries have weak economies, such as Equatorial Guinea, or have
been plagued by conflict and political instability in recent years – for example, Libya, Central African Republic and Syria. Some governments impose state-sponsored modern slavery, as experienced by the 1.2 million people forced to harvest cotton in Uzbekistan, or those forced to labour in prison camps in North Korea. Lastly, the vulnerability of individuals to enslavement
within countries was investigated by analysing five dimensions, including, state policy on modern slavery, human rights, human development, state stability, and levels of discrimination.
The findings illustrate a strong link between the stability or instability of a country and the vulnerability of its population to modern slavery. Antislavery policies will have little impact when a country’s rule of law has broken down because of civil war, or ethnic or religious conflict.
High levels of prejudice and discrimination in a society can also create a context that marks some people as less important and less deserving of rights and protection, which in turn makes the crime of modern slavery easier to commit against them. Statistical testing confirms the connectionbetween discrimination and modern slavery.
This is the second edition of the Global Slavery Index (‘the Index’). The Index estimates the number of people in modern slavery in 167 countries. This year’s Index also includes an analysis of what governments are doing to eradicate modern slavery. In addition to measuring the extent of the problem and the actions taken, the Index increases our understanding of the contextual factors that make people vulnerable to modern slavery.
The Index is the flagship report produced by the Walk Free Foundation, a global human rights organisation dedicated to ending modern slavery. The Walk Free Foundation was founded by Australian philanthropists, Andrew and Nicola Forrest. The methodology for the Index was
developed by an internal research team and through external consultations with an international and independent Expert Advisory Group.
The 2014 Global Slavery Index estimates there are 35.8 million people living in some form of modern slavery globally.
The estimated prevalence of people in modern slavery has increased from 2013. It is important to note that we are not asserting that there has been an increase in modern slavery around the world over the last year. We believe that the majority of this increase is due to the improved accuracy
and precision of our measures, and that we are uncovering modern slavery where it was not found before.
This year’s improved methodology includes nationally representative random sample surveys undertaken in seven countries, which provided data points for ten countries. In addition, we obtained data from a further nine random sample surveys, increasing the number of countries where survey data is available to a total of 19. In 2013, we released the Index with a sense of urgency to raise awareness of modern slavery while acknowledging that the figures were an imperfect estimate. As modern slavery is a hidden crime and notoriously difficult to measure, in 2014, these surveys have enabled us to have a more precise measurement of the number of people enslaved. We will continue to improve the methodology by including more random sample surveys every year.
For 2014, the ten countries with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population are:
Mauritania,
Uzbekistan,
Haiti,
Qatar,
India,
Pakistan,
The Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Sudan,
Syria and the Central African Republic.
These countries span different regions, they have diverse political systems, and range from low to
