More Than 700,000 People Enslaved In Nigeria – Report
At least 701,032 people are currently enslaved in Nigeria, according to a new index ranking of 162 countries.
The report said nearly 30 million people around the world live as slaves.
The index was compiled by Australian-based rights organisation Walk Free Foundation using a definition of modern slavery that includes debt bondage, forced marriage and human trafficking.
The Global Slavery Index 2013 says India has the highest number of people living in conditions of slavery at 14 million. India, China, Pakistan and Nigeria have the highest numbers of people enslaved, the charity said.
Together with five other countries, they account for three-quarters of the total estimated number of people in modern slavery worldwide. But Mauritania has the highest proportional figure with about four per cent of its
population enslaved.
BBC says the report’s authors hope it will help governments tackle what they call a “hidden crime.”
“A lot of governments won’t like hearing what we have to say,” WFF chief executive, Nick Grono, told the AFP news agency.
“Those governments that want to engage with us, we will be very open to engaging and looking at ways in which we can better measure the issue of modern slavery.”
The organisation’s estimate of 29.8 million slaves worldwide is higher than other attempts to quantify modern slavery. The International Labour Organisation estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour.
The report said India’s ranking was mostly due to the exploitation of Indians citizens within the country itself.
While the highest proportion of slaves is in Mauritania, with many people inheriting slave status from their ancestors, Haiti is second in the index and Pakistan is third.
Estimated number of slaves:
India – 13,956,010
China – 2,949,243
Pakistan – 2,127,132
Nigeria – 701,032
Ethiopia – 651,110
Russia – 516,217
Thailand – 472,811
DR Congo – 462,327
Burma – 384,037
Bangladesh – 343,192
Proportional ranking:
Mauritania
Haiti
Pakistan
India
Nepal
Moldova
Benin
Ivory Coast
The Gambia
Gabon
