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Humans for Sale in Global Markets
by David Batstone
Facts about the slave trade
- 27 million slaves exist in our world today
- The International Labor Office (ILO) projects that the slave trade generates $32 billion annually. It's on a path to overtake drugs and arms trafficking as the biggest criminal enterprise on the globe.
- More slaves are in bondage today than were bartered in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
- Each year 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold, or forced across the world's borders.
- Nearly 200,000 people live enslaved at this moment in the United States, and an additional 17,500 new victims are trafficked into our borders each year.
- Over 30,000 additional slaves are transported through the U.S. on their way to other international destinations.
markets. Capital respects no borders or nationalities. It flows wherever
investment promises to deliver a handsome return.
Human beings, unfortunately, float - and sometimes drown - in its wake.
Ever since I began writing a book on human slavery in out own time, I have
met some of those characters. Here is one of those encounters:
Not long ago I went to London and stayed in a hotel in the city center.
One evening I noticed that a member of the hotel staff who had served me a
cup of tea in the lobby was distraught, her eyes betrayed a recent cry,
and she was stumbling through her work. I asked after her well-being, and
she answered quickly, "life is terrible, but I can't talk about it." I let
her be.
The next evening, as I was again relaxing in the lobby, Katja came over to
my table to thank me for my concern the night before. She went on to share
her remarkable story.
Katja is from Poland and had been in London for only eight months. She had
to leave Poland for her own safety. The local mafia had murdered her
father because he would not cooperate with a corruption racket they were
running in Warsaw. She knew the identity of the man who pulled the trigger
because he continued to threaten her family after the murder. Katja
bravely turned him into the police and a high-profile court case ensued.
She subsequently appeared on television many times to denounce the
stranglehold that criminals and corrupt police officers had on Polish
society.
Sadly, her efforts were like trying to slow a mighty stream with a single
stone. Her father's killer was found innocent, and the local mafia had her
numbered. She fled to London and considers herself lucky to have found a
job in an upscale hotel. Life is expensive in London, so Katja shares a
flat with several other East European girls with whom she ekes out an
existence.
Due to her own hardship, Katja was not thrilled when her younger brother
called her from Warsaw and said that he was going to join her in the U.K.
Katja warned him that opportunities were scarce in London for a Polish
immigrant. "Don't worry," he said in an effort to soothe her anxiety. "I
already have a job in a factory."
An advertisement in Warsaw paper had promised good pay for Polish workers
in Birmingham. A broker's fee of $500 and airfare were required, so her
brother borrowed the money from their mother. He made the trip with a
dozen of other young Polish men.
The "broker" picked the young men up a Heathrow and piled them in a van.
They drove directly to Birmingham, and at nightfall the broker dropped the
whole crew of at a ramshackle house inside the city. He ordered them to be
ready to be picked up in the morning for their first day of work. A bit
dazed by the pace, they stretched out on the floor to sleep.
Their rest was brief. In the wee hours of the night, the broker returned
with a gang of 10 or so thugs armed with cricket bats. They beat the young
Polish boys to a pulp and dropped them of all their valuables. Katja's
brother took some heavy kicks to the ribs and head, then stumbled out of
the house. Once outside, he saw two police cars parked across the street.
The officers in the cars obviously chose to ignore the mayhem playing out
in front of their eyes. Katja's brother knew better than try to convince
them otherwise; the police in Poland would act no differently. Who know,
maybe they were part of the broker's scam. Or maybe they just didn't care
about a bunch of poor Polish immigrants "invading" their town.
The day I first saw Katja, she had just received a call from her frantic
brother in Birmingham. In many ways, they were fortunate. Human
trafficking thrives in the new global economy. People cross borders, are
told by their "brokers" that they have to pay off their debt - for rent,
food, transport from their host country - and end up serving for years as
indentured slaves. The police and other local authorities often share in
the revenue.
Money does not flow evenly in global markets. It accrues in select pockets
and creates both opportunity and exploitation. We must pay close attention
to the names and faces of those who are most vulnerable to its flow and be
prepared to rescue them from drowning in it.
David Batstone is the founder and president of Right Reality. He has just finished Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It (HarperCollins).-
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