Debt Bondage: When a Person Becomes Security for a Debt

Debt bondage (bonded slavery) is:

• The least well known, but most commonly used method of enslaving people.
• Used to control victims of both labor and sex trafficking, but it’s particularly common in the exploitation of agricultural workers.

How Does Someone Become a Bonded Slave?

• A person is considered a bonded slave when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan.
• The person is then tricked or trapped into working (often seven days a week) for very little or no pay.
• Most often, victims are lured by promises of economic opportunity, but soon find themselves in a migrant labor camp with no documentation, money, or means of escape.
• The debt repayment system is designed to prevent the victim from ever repaying the debt in full, so many victims work their entire lives but never achieve freedom.

Why Isn’t the Victim Able to Pay Off the Debt?

• The system is rigged so that victim’s initial debt, plus their cost of living ‘debt’, food, and rent, will always exceed their meager wages and the ‘debt’ will continue to increase.
• For example, the victim may be charged an additional fee to use the restroom, for water, for transportation to the job site, or to use the very tools that are necessary for his/her job.
• Essentially, the traffickers create an illusion that the victim is being paid a fair wage even though the victim never actually sees any of the money. Once this illusion wears off, the traffickers often rely on violence, fear, intimidation, and abuse to force compliance.

Is Debt Bondage a New Phenomenon?

• No, debt bondage has existed for hundreds of years in South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean South-East Asia, Pakistan, and many other countries around the world.

Why Does Debt Bondage So Prevalent in Today’s World?

• Poverty is at the heart of all human trafficking and exploitation cases.
• Impoverished people often do not own land, are not educated, and have no marketable skill or opportunity to earn a decent wage. The need for money just to survive makes these people vulnerable to traffickers, and causes them to sell their labor in exchange for a lump sum of money or a loan.

Aren’t Their Laws Against this Practice?

• Yes, but although bonded labor is illegal in most countries where it is found, governments are often unwilling or unable to enforce the laws, or to ensure that those who profit from it are punished.

What Action Can I Take To Fight Debt Bondage and Modern-Day Slavery?

Educate Yourself - Follow any of these links to learn more about debt bondage and modern day slavery:

• Human Rights Education Association
• Free the Slaves
• Anti-Slavery
• Georgetown University Article – Child Bonded Labor
• International Justice Mission
• CNN Freedom Project

Spread the Word - Share your knowledge with family, friends, classmates, and work colleagues, and use social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) to bring greater awareness to this issue.

Volunteer - Offer to lend your time, talent, and services to a local, national, or international organization.

Support Your Favorite NGO - Give generously to an organization fighting bonded labor and modern day slavery.

Sources:

http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/bonded_labour.aspx

http://fightslaverynow.org/why-fight-there-are-27-million-reasons/labortrafficking/debt-bondage/

Image: http://wikis.milkenschool.org/Jewish_Studies_Wikis/In_Every_Generation_Project_(2010)/Nathan_Sabah_and_Mark_Gurman