International Day for the Abolition of Slavery | 5 things to know

The day commemorates the abolition of modern forms of slavery such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation, the most heinous forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on December 2, 1949, and by the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The day commemorates the abolition of modern forms of slavery such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation, the most heinous forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

Modern slavery is not defined by law, but it includes forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. (AFP)

Here are five things to know about the International Day for Abolition of Slavery:

1) According to the UN documentation, the persistence of old forms of slavery is due to long-standing discrimination against society's most vulnerable groups, such as those considered to be of low caste, tribal minorities, and indigenous peoples.

2) Modern slavery is not defined by law, but it includes forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. It is essentially an exploitation situation in which a person is unable to refuse or leave due to threats, violence, coercion, deception, and abuse of power.

3) According to the United Nations, upper-middle and high-income countries account for approximately 52 per cent of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages. Around 50 million people are estimated to be in modern slavery by 2022, including 28 million in forced labour and 22 million in forced marriage, according to 2022 report by International Labour Organization (IL0).

4) According to the ILO report, nearly one in every eight people forced to work are children. Over half of these children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. Furthermore, 86 per cent of cases of forced labour are found in the private sector, and nearly four out of every five victims of forced commercial sexual exploitation are women or girls. The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a legally binding Protocol in November 2016 to strengthen global efforts to eliminate forced labour.

5) Also, August 23, marks an "International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition". Adopted by the UNESCO, it is intended to engrave the tragedy of the slave trade in the minds of all peoples.