Asia News Network, New Delhi :
Bangladesh is ranked 10th among countries where more than 45 million people globally are living in modern slavery.
In Bangladesh, 1,531,300 people are living in modern slavery, according to Global Slavery Index 2016.
According to the index, which ranks 167 countries, half the population of modern slaves are in five countries-India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.
The Global Slavery Index 2016, from the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, defines slavery as “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats,
violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception”. Survey results found that forced labour (80%) was more prevalent than forced marriage (20%) in Bangladesh. Furthermore, forced labour was particularly prevalent in manual labour (24%), construction (22%), drug production (13%) and farming (11%).
According to the survey, forced labour largely affected men (85% men as compared to 15% women) while forced marriage disproportionately affected women (88% women as compared to 12% men). This reflects the wider trend for forced marriage, wherein 29% of girls under the age of 15 are likely to be married in Bangladesh, the highest figure for child marriage worldwide, and 2% of girls are married before the age of 11. Although the 2015 survey was unable to breakdown sectors of forced labour by gender, pre-existing literature on labour exploitation with a particular focus upon the garment sector indicates that of the four million Bangladeshis employed in the sector, 85% are estimated to be women.
India, however, has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of people in the world trapped in modern slavery with 18.35 million victims among its 1.3 billion population.
India is followed by China (3.38 million), Pakistan (2.13 million) and Bangladesh (1.53 million).
About 45.8 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery. Half of them live in five Asian countries, the study said.
Bangladesh is ranked 10th among countries where more than 45 million people globally are living in modern slavery.
In Bangladesh, 1,531,300 people are living in modern slavery, according to Global Slavery Index 2016.
According to the index, which ranks 167 countries, half the population of modern slaves are in five countries-India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.
The Global Slavery Index 2016, from the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, defines slavery as “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats,
violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception”. Survey results found that forced labour (80%) was more prevalent than forced marriage (20%) in Bangladesh. Furthermore, forced labour was particularly prevalent in manual labour (24%), construction (22%), drug production (13%) and farming (11%).
According to the survey, forced labour largely affected men (85% men as compared to 15% women) while forced marriage disproportionately affected women (88% women as compared to 12% men). This reflects the wider trend for forced marriage, wherein 29% of girls under the age of 15 are likely to be married in Bangladesh, the highest figure for child marriage worldwide, and 2% of girls are married before the age of 11. Although the 2015 survey was unable to breakdown sectors of forced labour by gender, pre-existing literature on labour exploitation with a particular focus upon the garment sector indicates that of the four million Bangladeshis employed in the sector, 85% are estimated to be women.
India, however, has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of people in the world trapped in modern slavery with 18.35 million victims among its 1.3 billion population.
India is followed by China (3.38 million), Pakistan (2.13 million) and Bangladesh (1.53 million).
About 45.8 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery. Half of them live in five Asian countries, the study said.
