Summer - Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Opinion On: Slavery
Slavery – a thing of the past?
Despite the efforts of William Wilberforce & others to abolish slavery in the British Empire
resulting in the Act in 1833, and the work of many others like Livingstone, in drawing
attention to its continuation further afield throughout that century, slavery is not
confined to history as most of us would like to think. According to Anti-slavery International
(which traces its establishment back
to the 18th century), millions of men,
women and children around the world
today are forced to lead lives as slaves,
most commonly in bonded labour, early
and forced marriage, forced labour,
slavery by descent, human trafficking
and the worst forms of child labour.
The development of international standards against
slavery and the near universal endorsement of the need
to prohibit forced labour led to a decline in the use
of forced labour by governments, which are now only
responsible for around 20% of forced labour cases in
the world. Notable examples of states which still use
forced labour are Burma, China and North Korea.
Even though it is private individuals rather than state
officials who are primarily responsible for using forced
labour, all governments still have a direct responsibility
to prevent slavery from taking place. However, many
governments consider that once they have passed
legislation prohibiting and punishing slavery, then they
have complied with their obligations.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the fact that there are
millions of people living in slavery. However, there have
been some very significant advances in the struggle
against the practice in the last decade.
For example, Nepal (2002, 2008), Niger (2003),
Brazil (2003), the United Arab Emirates (2005), and
Mauritania (2007) are some of the countries that have
recently introduced or amended laws so that slavery
practices are now prohibited and punished.
In Nepal and Brazil alone, more than 100,000 people
have been released from slavery and measures have
been adopted to assist these people.
At the international level, there is also a much greater
awareness of slavery and more priority is given to
combating it. This is reflected in the United Nations’
decision to create a new Special Rapporteur on
Contemporary Forms of Slavery in 2008 who will report
directly to the UN Human Rights Council on measures
needed to fight slavery. This is the first new UN
mechanism on slavery in over 30 years. It is also true
that people’s attitudes can be changed in a relatively
short period of time.
Yet a world without slavery remains an aspiration
rather than a reality, even 60 years after the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed that no one
shall be held in slavery or servitude. It is long past
the time when every human being - without exception
- should be able to live a life free from slavery.
www.antislaveryinternational.org
Christian Aid and Malawi
Scotland and Malawi share more than their beautiful hills. David
Livingstone’s travels and missionary work began a partnership
between the two nations that continues to develop. Both the
Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland had
established missions in Malawi by the mid 1870s.
These foundations provide the basis for continuing links between
the two countries and are reflected in the make up of some of the
Christian Aid partner organisations who since 2005 have benefited
from the Scottish Government’s International Development Fund,
supporting HIV projects.
“For knowledge to be gained, the topic has to be discussed,”
said Val Brown from Christian Aid Scotland. “As you can imagine,
sexually transmitted diseases are still an issue that many churches
in Scotland would rather not talk about. What we tried to do was
to break down barriers, encouraging young people to learn about
all aspects of HIV and to present that information to their peers in
churches and at school.”
In Malawi, one in seven adults is HIV positive and life expectancy at
forty two is one of the lowest in the world so this work is essential.
Every year in Malawi, with regular droughts, millions of people
struggle to grow enough to eat and indeed December to March is
known locally as the ‘hunger season’.
Flora Amadou was nursed back to health from the brink of death
by the Baptist Clinic in Malawi. Recently diagnosed HIV positive,
Flora and others in Mawale village are benefiting from a scheme
that uses a solar pump to bring water to crops, enabling Flora to
grow at least twice as much food.At the start of the last hunger
season, Flora was surviving almost solely on tea and mangoes and
losing weight dangerously fast. Now, she has shared in a bumper
crop, the first of many which should banish the hunger pains for
good.
For more information visit www.christianaidscotland.org
Claire Aston
Acting Head of Christian Aid Scotland