President Muhammadu Buhari has called for the abolition of slavery in all modern forms in a opinion article he published in The Washington Post to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. See the article below...
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Despite the fact that descendants of African slaves have made valuable contributions across society, they are still dealing with the effects of this poisonous legacy. They still have to navigate its everyday manifestations, such as discrimination, racism or lack of access to resources and opportunities.
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Their exploitation appears in many guises, though usually unrecognized as slavery. Many victims are unseen, hidden beneath opaque supply chains. Others are hidden in plain sight, entrapped by circumstances that rob them of autonomy. In any case, their labor, often dangerous, is no product of choice, and its conditions are self-perpetuating. In Africa, its modern forms include debt bondage, the enslavement of war captives, commercial sexual exploitation and forced domestic servitude.
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Slavery, once again, has become entwined in the global economy — and it is largely unseen. For instance, most of us might know in principle that the mining of cobalt crucial to our smartphones might have used forced labor. But what do we know of those that experience it? Just as personal testimony and resulting public pressure led to the passing of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Britain in 1807, these stories must be told and used to inform policy.
Once heard, they can elevate visceral reactions, driving the public pressure needed to ensure the application of anti-slavery laws. One distinction from then and now is important: the costs. From records, adjusted for today’s prices, the cost of a human-being-as-property was valued on average at $40,000. Today, it is just $90, sometimes even lower. We must remember that slavery is not simply a campaign of hatred; it is the pursuit of profit. One way to extinguish it in its current forms, therefore, is to make it economically unfeasible.
This means making sure that any anti-slavery laws have bite, come with strong penalties and are enforced. It is also vital to have a robust tip-off and reporting system. Where this once meant detecting ships, today the signs are less conspicuous. The public must be shown how to see what is hidden in plain sight, particularly signs of suspicious behavior. This might seem broad. But vagueness should not give rise to reluctance to report anything that could be smuggling or forced servitude.
If something doesn’t look right, report it, for you could be securing another human’s freedom. In Nigeria, our anti-trafficking agency has rolled out the “Not for Sale” campaign to protect against the deceptions of human smugglers, helping those who might be vulnerable to false promises see through the ruse and say no. These prevention programs are crucial. The appearance of slavery today might have changed.
The institution has not. There are no radical solutions to conjure, only political will. But on this, we can learn from the past, the shadows in which modern slavery proliferates today. It is not enough to mark this 400th anniversary. We must use it as a platform to eliminate slavery in all its present-day forms. We should reflect in memory to find a better future, one that should ensure freedom for all.
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