“One might deny; however, we all breathe as the prisoners of modern slavery under the power of religious, political, and industrial idiots.”

– Ehsan Sehgal

Modern slavery or neo-slavery does not recognise its victim. We might think we are free. But are we really free from the chain of life that shackles us? The answer is NO. More than 40 million individuals around the world are victims of modern slavery. This kind of enslavement practice does not only occur in developing countries but also developed ones. A data showed that slavery happens in a developed economy with an estimation of 1.5 million or more citizens are in slavery. While in a developing country, the number is bigger.

One of the biggest practice of modern slavery is human trafficking. According to The Typology of Modern Slavery, there are more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking documented between December 2007 and December 2016 in the United States. The study also found 25 unique types of modern abuse and slavery. While most cases are related to human trafficking, there are also other cases such as labour exploitation which is bigger than sexual slavery. Here are 2 common categories of modern slavery you should know.

See also: What You Should Know about Modern Slavery

01   Human trafficking

There are some types included in human traffickings, such as:

Escort Services – It is a broad term used in a commercial sex trade, referring to commercial sex acts. This acts primarily occur at a temporary indoor location. Usually, victims will be tricked into a situation through fraudulent job offers, such as face modelling contracts.

Illicit massage, health, and beauty – This service presents a façade of legitimate spa services, concealing that their primary business is sex and labour trafficking of women trapped in this business. Most victims of illicit massage businesses are women from mid-thirties to late fifties from China and South Korea.

Outdoor solicitation – This practice occurs when traffickers force victims to find buyers in an outdoor or public setting. In many cities, it is known as commercial sex where victims often seek buyers from streets or a particular block. According to the Typology study, traffickers more frequently use physical violence in outdoor solicitation than in other types of sex trafficking.

Residential – Human trafficking run in a private house or residents is called residential trafficking. Victims are used to cater to commercial sex buyers from similar ethnic and/or language backgrounds. Oftentimes, sex trafficking within residences informally used as brothels typically involves child victims, with boys making up a growing percentage.

Domestic work – Domestics workers often live in employer’s households and provide chores for children and elderly or infirm. Labour trafficking victims in domestics work commonly work 12 – 18 hours a day for little to no pay.

Bars, strip clubs, and cantinas – Human trafficking in this type fronts as legitimate bars, restaurants, or clubs selling food and alcohol while exploiting victims for both sex and labour behind the scenes.

Pornography – This type is concerned within relationship violence and can be considered high risk for sex trafficking. It also includes production and distribution of child pornography.

Travelling sales crews – This business models is an act of labour trafficking with financially rewarding and low-risk. Crews are often asked to go door-to-door or city-to-city to sell products that customers might never receive. Victims who wish to leave crew are often abandoned in remote and unfamiliar areas, with no belonging or means of returning home.

Restaurants and food service – People working as cooks, bus staff, and wait staff might be exploited with traffickers often taking advantage of language barriers between exploited workers and patrons. Victims can be confined at a restaurant around the clock or be isolated in a nearby home provided by traffickers.

Peddling and begging, agriculture and animal husbandry, personal sexual servitude, health and beauty services, and constructions are other practice of human trafficking.

02   Labour slavery or exploitation

In this category, the types are more related to labour exploitation. However, there are still some practices where human trafficking abuse includes. For example:

Hotel and hospitality – Victims of labour trafficking are found in hospitality businesses. Oftentimes, the victims are told that they will make lucrative wages to support family back home. However, they are just being underpaid and fall into debt bondage and other forms of economic abuse.

Landscaping – Victims are responsible for maintaining public or private grounds, gardens, and nurseries. They might be forced to pay rent to employers at rates much higher than market, despite sometimes not getting paid for their work. Victims might also experience various threats to themselves and/or family in they sought help.

Illicit activities, art and entertainment industry, commercial cleaning services, factories and manufacturing, remote interactive sexual acts, carnivals, forestry and logging, health care, as well as recreational facilities are amongst labour exploitation slavery.

Further, by knowing the act and practice of slavery, you can take good action by reporting to law service when you see any. Slavery should not exist, especially in today’s industry where each individual has freedom for themselves.

Read also: Threat of Modern Slavery Coming from the Rise of Robots in Manufacturing