Spotlight

New Delhi, 9 March 2007

MODERN FORMS OF SLAVERY FLOURISH

NEW DELHI, April 10 (INFA): The United Nations may have observed the International Day for the commemoration of the 200^th anniversary last month of abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, slavery of the different kind continues globally.

Modern forms of slavery like human trafficking, forced prostitution, child soldiers, forced and bounded labour and the use of children in the international drug trade are still flourishing today, according to the United Nations Newsletter.

The slavery-like practices, as the UN describes them, are continuing largely as a result of discrimination, social exclusion and vulnerability exacerbated by poverty.

It is estimated that 300,000 children are currently being exploited as child soldiers in as many as 30 areas of conflict around the world. Many of the kidnapped girls who are made into child soldiers are also forced into sexual slavery.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that annually 700,000 women, girls, men and boys are being trafficked across borders away from their homes and families and into slavery.

The International Labour Organisation reports that there are 191 million economically active children between 5 and 14 years of age.  Nearly 40 per cent of these ---74 million children---engage in ‘hazardous work’.

Linked to trafficking is the commercial sexual exploitation of children from which 1 million children, mainly girls, are forced into prostitution every year.  These girls are sold for sex or used in child pornography in both the developed and developing world.

It is emphasized by the UN that all should work to address the root causes of slavery, to provide assistance and protection to its victims and to ensure that there is no impunity for those who perpetuate the practice.

Through learning about the history of slavery and the slave trade and the collective triumphs and battles that brought about its demise we can seek to overcome the many pervasive forms of slavery that still exist today. ---INFA

LEGAL AID FOR SLUM DWELLERS

HYDERABAD, April 10 (INFA): Legal Services Authority of Hyderabad Civil Courts would soon set up legal aid clinics in the city slums to make legal services freely available to slum-dwellers.

Permanent legal aid clinics would extend legal advice and other kind of allied services to the poor free of cost.

This gesture has come in the wake of a recent decision by the Andhra Pradesh Legal Services Authority to provide free legal services to the poor at their doorstep. The clinics would be run by competent judicial officers.---INFA