Modern-day slavery

Interior de una maquiladora

En pleno siglo XXI la esclavitud no ha desaparecido. Mauritania encabeza la lista con una prevalencia del 4% de la población. Gracias a la organización australiana Walk Free Foundation (WFF) se cuenta con un índice que alertará del desarrollo de diferentes prácticas esclavistas así como de los países involucrados. No faltan formas más o menos toleradas, como costumbres o parte de la cultura:matrimonios concertados, abuso sexual contra niñas, servidumbre doméstica, entre otras. Muchas empresas occidentales con frecuencia mantienen a sus trabajadores en fábricas ubicadas fuera de Europa en condiciones inadmisibles próximas al trabajo forzoso.

"An estimated 30 million people worldwide are living in modern-day slavery, according to the inaugural Global Slavery Index published by Walk Free Foundation.

The index, compiled by the Walk Free Foundation, said that while India had by far the largest number of enslaved people, the problem was most prevalent in the West African nation of Mauritania, where 4 per cent of the population was deemed to be held in slavery.

The estimated 2.9 million people in modern slavery in China "includes the forced labour of men, women and children in many parts of the economy, including domestic servitude and forced begging, the sexual exploitation of women and children, and forced marriage", said the report.

The foundation hopes the annual index will help governments to monitor and tackle what it calls a "hidden crime".

"A lot of governments won't like hearing what we have to say," chief executive Nick Grono said. "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."

Established in May last year, the WFF is a 20-strong team based in Perth, Australia, founded by philanthropists Andrew Forrest - chairman of Fortescue Metals - and his wife, Nicola".

44 Nepalese workers died between 4 June and 8 August in Qatar By Pete Pattisson
"Dozens of Nepalese migrant labourers have died in Qatar in recent weeks and thousands more are enduring appalling labour abuses, a Guardian investigation has found, raising serious questions about Qatar's preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.

This summer, Nepalese workers died at a rate of almost one a day in Qatar, many of them young men who had sudden heart attacks. The investigation found evidence to suggest that thousands of Nepalese, who make up the single largest group of labourers in Qatar, face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, during a building binge paving the way for 2022.

According to documents obtained from the Nepalese embassy in Doha, at least 44 workers died between 4 June and 8 August. More than half died of heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents". (Pete Pattisson en The Guardian)