Preface

Contrary to what many think, slavery did not end in the 19th century, or even in the 20th century. Though legally abolished for more than 200 years by the British Empire and condemned universally by international treaties such as the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery and local laws, more than 46 million people are currently victims of 21st-century slavery globally. This includes about 25 million in forced labour and about 15 million in forced marriage, according to estimates from the United Nations. One in four victims are children, and women and girls account for 71 percent of the victims.

Slavery in the 21st century is often referred to as the modern slave trade, contemporary slavery, neo-slavery, institutional slavery, trafficking in persons, and human trafficking, which is a violation of human rights and a primary global public health concern. It has caught up millions of women, children, and men in forced prostitution, servitude, bonded labour, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, or forced marriage. The victims, who are mostly women and children, are often enslaved in Libya, in the gulags of North Korea, on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, in the brothels of Eastern Europe, in Brazil's brutal charcoal industry, and in Pakistan's feudal brick kilns.

This book, *21st Century Slavery – The Various Forms of Human Enslavement in Today's World* highlights that about 24.9 million people are in forced labour, 16 million of whom are exploited in the private sector for domestic work, construction, agriculture, and so on. It also points out that more than 4.8 million persons are in forced sexual exploitation, 4 million persons are in forced labour imposed by state authorities, and 15.4 million people are in forced marriages.

The book exposes that 21st century slaves, regardless of the type of slavery to which they are submitted, are cheap and disposable, as when one becomes ill, they can be easily replaced by another. It notes that in addition to the cost of slaves in the 19th century, the practice was legal (which does not mean that it was acceptable), but today it is an international crime.

Spanning eight chapters, this book further shows that trafficking in persons and human trafficking are umbrella terms used in explaining the act of recruiting, harbouring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labour or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.

The book highlights "involuntary servitude," "slavery," or "practices similar to slavery," "debt bondage," and "forced labour." It further highlights the fact that 21st century enslavement no longer revolves around legal ownership but rather around illegal control, with a fundamental shift away from the forward purchase of slave labour, and the existence of slaves as an employment category.

Chapters in this book suggest that even though the "market" for exploitative labour is booming, the notion that humans are purposefully sold and bought from an existing pool is outdated. While such basic transactions do still occur, in contemporary cases people become trapped in slavery-like conditions in various ways, including as a byproduct of poverty. In countries that lack education and the rule of law, poor societal structures foster acceptance and propagation of modern-day slavery.

This book is highly relevant to today's global burning discourse on 21st century slavery and the humanitarian crisis. It offers deep insight into the core of slavery during the transatlantic slave trade and into "modern-day slavery," which is often referred to as "human trafficking."

Emphasizes of this book is on the fact that slavery is not a thing of the past but a reality for more than 40 million people around the globe. Modern slavery transgresses borders, affecting people in countries across the world.

The recruitment, transportation, harbouring, and receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labour or sexual exploitation are explored in this book.

The world must not accept slavery in the 21st century. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend this book as a reference on modern slavery to all academics interested in humanitarian and development studies across the globe and to all policymakers and governments of nations who are pushing for the elimination of all forms of slavery in their nationhood.

> **Oluwatoyin Olatundun Ilesanmi** Centre for Gender, Humanitarian and Development Studies, Redeemer's University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria
