Anti-slavery movement

JAZZINE NELSON  10/29/07

    ANTI-SLAVERY Movement 

slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services. The term also refers to the status or condition of those persons who are treated as the property of another person or household. This is referred to as "chattel slavery".

Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation in return for their labour. As such, slavery is one form of unfree labour.

Although outlawed in nearly all countries today slavery is still secretly practiced in many parts of the world. There are an estimated 27 million victims of slavery worldwide.

In Mauritania alone it is estimated that up to 600,000 men, women and children, or 20% of the population, are enslaved. Many of them used as bonded labour.Slavery in Mauritania was finally criminalized in August 2007. In Niger, slavery is also a current phenomenon; a Nigerien study has found that more than 800,000 people are still slaves, almost 8% of the population.

Slavery predates writing and evidence for it can be found in almost all cultures and continents. Slavery can be traced to the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi in Mesopotamia 1800, which refers to slavery as an already established institution. The forced labor of women in some ancient and modern cultures may also be identified as slavery. Slavery, in this case, includes sexual services.Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'.Slavery exists today despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practised.It is also prohibited by the  from eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian Agricultural Estates.   Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.Early forced marriage- affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Forced labour- affects people who are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Slavery by descent- is where people are either born into a slave class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slaves.