"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." --13th Amendment to the Constitution that freed all slaves on December 6, 1865
Many believe slavery ended here in our nation with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States. Not only is this not true, but at a minimum guesstimate, there are 17,500 new people trafficked into the U.S. each year, not counting those Americans already here who are forced into slavery. The estimated length of time a slave remains in servitude is from 3 to 15 years. If we multiply the yearly rate of 17,500 by an average of six years, that is a lot of slaves at one time within our U.S. boarders. The 2005 United States Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report [TIP] quotes Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] estimate: "50,000 people are trafficked into or transited through the United States annually as sex slaves, domestic servants, garment slaves and agricultural laborers." Because of the clandestine manner in which the traffickers move people, it is nearly impossible to derive a concrete number of victims.
When people become "enslaved commodities" that are sold repeatedly and then trafficked to different regions or nations numerous times, the numbers of victims are hard to estimate. Most victims are kidnapped from their poor families whom they will never see again or sold by their desperate parents for a small sum to help feed the other family members.
Working 18 hours a day, the victims are locked away, sometimes shackled at night, so they cannot run away. The disposable, reusable, expendable people are uncared for, and beaten for the slightest disobediences. If they attempt escape, their punishment is life threatening. When they can no longer produce their quota of labor, they are simply thrown away, discarded.
Four centuries ago, the United States experienced a slave trade of approximately 13 million Africans sold by African warlords at great gain to New World profiteers. Today, illegal modern slavery finds more slaves than ever before (27 million) -- all locked away, paid little or no money, and controlled by violence.
Modern slavery most often finds its beginnings at slave sale houses in underdeveloped countries. After being sold for as little as $20 each, the men, women, and children are transported in overcrowded ships, airplanes, trucks, or wagons to their labor camps or brothels. Those who survive the grueling transport will work as prostitutes in pimp-controlled brothels, as agricultural laborers in the fields, as factory sweatshop labor under the cruelest conditions, or as domestic help in the wealthiest households.
By creating a cycle of poverty and dependence, the slaveholders keep the uneducated and untrained slaves dependent in their debt bondage. Unable to obtain a wage-earning job when freed and discarded, the desperate victims in turn often sell their own children into bonded labor for a tiny profit.
Slavery flourishes on subjection to sex slavery, domestic servitude, forced debt bondage, involuntary servitude, combatant slaves, child sex tourism, child sports slaves, contract slavery, and cheap child labor -- all of which we will explore more closely below.
Human slavery not only flourishes on every continent, with the exception of the Antarctica, but also in every nation. The U.S. 2005 TIP Report lists 150 countries found to be a source destination or transit country for trafficking of slaves.
Dr. Kevin Bales of the Washington, D.C.-based organization Free the Slaves explained in an exclusive interview with this journalist why the value of slave labor in the world economy is so important and why boycotts will not work:
Nina Smith, Executive Director of RUGMARK Foundation USA, supports Dr. Bales's statement when she recently spoke to this journalist: "The purpose of Rugmark is to prevent product boycotting. Certification (i.e. identifiably child labor-free goods) is a way for consumers to still buy a product with peace of mind and a way for manufacturers committed to childfree production to identify their production integrity in the marketplace. I agree with Kevin that boycotts do not necessarily help. But the work of Rugmark does -- it uses the market place to create lasting change."
A condensed version was published in the February and April 2006 Issue of Catholic World Report.