3071-The political economy of new slavery

David Ould 57
trafficked not only for use in the sex industry, but also for many other
reasons.
In Anti-Slavery International’s work over the last 20 years there is
evidence that slavery-like exploitation has often been exacerbated by
the taking of people away from their customary place of residence to
completely new locations, either in the same country or more often in
different countries. Illegal migrants are particularly at risk and this is
certainly the case today in many cases of slavery and trafficking. Slavery
is defined by the United Nations as the partial or total ownership of one
or more people. 3 Under this definition trafficking can often be seen as
slavery, but it may also be seen as slave trading when people end up
working as slaves when they reach their destinations. The examples
given below illustrate both these areas. In some cases the link with
globalization is clear but in others, such as forced begging and the
examples from Brazil and Haiti, no such relationship can be established.
It is clear from information that Anti-Slavery International receives
that trafficking has occurred in many widely publicized and diverse
cases of exploitation of women, children and men. The following
examples show that modern trafficking can be found both in the rich
and poorer parts of the world. Those trafficked may have been coerced
into leaving their homes, but more usually have looked for work away
from home because of a lack of opportunities and have fallen into the
hands of traffickers. People are trafficked across borders or within their
own countries in a very similar way.
Specific examples of trafficking
In Nepal children are being deceived or abducted and taken by touts
and contractors to India where they are sold to work as prostitutes in
the brothels of Bombay and Calcutta or to work as domestic workers in
Delhi. Some of the girls initially leave home to find work in the carpet
industry of Kathmandu and are then abducted by touts working for the
Indian brothels.
Children are taken from West African countries to work in other
countries of the region or in Europe. In a recent case an Angolan man,
Pedro Miguel da Costa Damba, was sentenced to six years in prison for
document fraud. In the two previous years he had trafficked possibly
hundreds of children, mainly of Angolan origin, from Portugal to the
UK and then to unknown destinations.
Some five years ago information was given to Anti-Slavery International
that children were being sent from Togo to other countries in