The first global survey ranking countries according to practised, tolerated or promoted enslavement within their borders was released last week, and received scant coverage in Canada.
In a way that’s understandable, because Canada comes out of it modestly, and Canadians are notoriously modest — and a little smug when they look at the botched economies and quality of life in other countries.
The Global Slavery Index put out by the Walk Free Foundation lists Mauritius, a tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean, as the worst: Of its 3.8 million people, 140,000 to 160,000 suffer slavery or “slavery like” practices in the form of forced child marriage or human trafficking.
Haiti is ranked second worst, with between 200,000 and 220,000 of its 10.2 million population enslaved, largely due to its restavec system where poor rural children are sent as domestic slaves to the wealthy, largely in urban areas.
Ten countries are said to share 76 per cent of the world’s enslaved people among them — 29.8 million sorry souls: India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The four most slavery-free countries listed are Ireland, Iceland, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
The U.S. comes 134th of the 162 countries surveyed, Canada 144th — 18 countries are calculated to have fewer enslaved people than Canada, including Panama, Costa Rica and, if you can believe it, Cuba.
Those the survey defines as living in slavery are not necessarily like those of bygone times, chained to oars or plows or confined in kennels. Those defined as suffering slavery-like practices today are people in debt bondage, women in forced or “servile” marriages, children sold, exploited or pressed to be child soldiers, those whose enslavement is based on their descent or those trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labour, servitude or for the value of their organs.
This first survey focused on countries at the extremes, the best and worst; doubtless future surveys will look at Canada in detail. And there’s evidence of what it will find.
Last week, a B.C. man was sentenced to 18 months in jail for human trafficking for the way his live-in Filipina nanny was treated.
Last month, 50 tree planters, mostly from Africa, testified before a B.C. human rights tribunal about working and living in slave-like conditions in Interior camps.
I can imagine what a future survey will have to say about Bountiful “marriages.” I don’t know what it will say about the conditions facing First Nations, on or off reserve lands.
There’s a growing movement to define other forms of slavery more difficult to recognize or acknowledge. Bob Marley told members of a generation to “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.”
People living in fear of unknown unknowns or suffering from low self-esteem are said to be suffering from mental slavery.
Psychologists today say that some African Americans may be unable to free themselves from a feeling of enslavement passed down through generations.
Bullying is a form of enslavement. Addiction to what used to be called “ardent spirits” or drugs is another.
People are slaves to pursuits like dieting, exercise, naturopathic nonsense and yogic contortions, and fads like recycling.
Many consider the pursuit of success in enterprise and wealth worth slaving for. Maxim Gorky: “When work is a duty, life is slavery.”
Overstimulated people can come to rather extreme conclusions: “Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery,” declared Andy Warhol.
None of this should concern the Walk Free Foundation. Its survey claims to be the first study to reveal the extent of modern slavery in countries around the globe.
It shows how people today are controlled and exploited by others for profit, sexual gratification, power and the thrill of domination.
It reveals how desperate souls can be tricked into servitude and horrors from which they can’t escape with false promises of good jobs, a decent education and a way of life that remains a mirage.
In pursuit of that mirage, refugees perish when boats founder. And, at last, European governments seem to be recognizing that they have a duty to succour those in need.
Canadians, too, should look beyond their shores.
