Slavery Is A Form Of Forced Labor - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Final, sorry: Slavery Is A Form Of Forced Labor

Slavery Is A Form Of Forced Labor Video

Joanna Ewart-James is the executive director at Freedom United, an international organisation working to end modern slavery. I differentiate between actors who see modern slavery as an aberration to normal society, and the position I hold that it is actually for a large part a systemic problem. In my view these causes make exploitation almost inevitable. I see the language of modern slavery as helpful because this is pretty shocking — the Fom that people are exploited really is serious.

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There are of course many forms of exploitation. For example, there have been some really interesting developments lately around the Tariff Act in the United States. Under section of this act US Customs and Border Protection should prohibit the import of goods produced through forced labour. It has increased its enforcement efforts in recent months. Now, the Tariff Act is obviously a political mechanism.

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But I do wonder how much the US government actually recognises its potential for changing a system in which forced labour is endemic. Does it realise just how many goods would have to be withheld at customs if it was going to properly enforce that provision? It really would be a lot.

Is that right? Article 2 d makes clear the need to protect migrant workers from abusive and fraudulent practices during recruitment. I completely concede that there is a real lack of attention in the inside world regarding the systemic nature of forced labour. A key one would be forced prison labour in the US. We have been actively campaigning on this, targeting the corporations contracted to detain people, seeking divestment, and even pushing for modification of the constitution, which currently allows slavery as a punishment for crime under the thirteenth amendment.

The standard comeback to that position of course, made by critical academics as well as others, is that by defining modern slavery as the worst of the worst and then focusing in on that, you implicitly normalise less severe, everyday forms of exploitation. How do you respond to that?

Starting with the most extreme forms is also a way of building recognition. In other words society right now tolerates the extreme exploitation of other people. And at worst, that looks like modern slavery. So we have a job to do.

There was no connection between this value of slavery being not acceptable and the conditions under which people are exploited today. I am very much against sensationalising anything in this topic, as in fact I find it very unhelpful. People now Slavery Is A Form Of Forced Labor instances Slagery everyday exploitation. Take car washes. A few years ago nobody really took notice of the working conditions at car washes, or thought they were something to worry about. Neil: I certainly see the rhetorical power of the term, and I can certainly see the argument for using it as you have suggested here. Neil: I appreciate that caveat. Modern slavery is also a term that seems to unite people across the political spectrum. What does it say to you as someone who critically uses this term that so many pillars of the establishment also use it? Politics aside, this mechanism has Labbor potential to lead to structural change, but whether it actually does of course remains to be seen. I think, again, the UK is a great example here.]