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Nigeria listed among countries striving to end modern slavery

By Dennis Erezi
17 July 2019   |   11:23 am
A report published by Walk Free on Global Slavery Index has placed Nigeria among countries striving to end modern slavery globally. The report titled 'Measurement, Action, Freedom’ conducted by over 30 anti-slavery organisations across the world, captures activities of modern slavery in over 180 countries. The report provides an independent assessment of 183 governments and…

A report published by Walk Free on Global Slavery Index has placed Nigeria among countries striving to end modern slavery globally.

The report titled ‘Measurement, Action, Freedom’ conducted by over 30 anti-slavery organisations across the world, captures activities of modern slavery in over 180 countries.

The report provides an independent assessment of 183 governments and their responses to the exploitation of the 40.3 million people in modern slavery.

In the report, countries are assessed on their ability to identify and support survivors, establish effective criminal justice systems, strengthen coordination mechanisms and be held to account, address underlying risk factors, and clean up government and business supply chains.

“In nearly 100 countries, forced labour is not considered a crime or is a minor offence, it said. About a third of countries ban forced marriage,” the report said.

“On the other hand, Georgia, Nigeria, Ukraine, Moldova, Ethiopia and Mozambique were notable for taking steps to end modern slavery despite their limited resources.”

The results highlight that more needs to be done to spur action and to hold governments to account through an agreed set of measurement indicators on all forms of modern slavery, with 10,000 people currently needing to be freed each day to eradicate the issue by 2030.

Andrew Forrest, the Australian philanthropist and businessman who founded Walk Free, said the current rate of progress in ending modern slavery shows that achieving its SDG 8.7 by 2030 is impossible.

“Based on best available estimates, we need to free some 10,000 people per day in order to eradicate modern slavery by 2030. This is a burden of government inaction,” Forrest said.

He lamented that global progress in tackling modern slavery has been hugely disappointing since the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed in 2015.

“We know that 47 countries globally have not yet recognised human trafficking as a crime in line with international standards. Nearly 100 countries still fail to criminalise forced labour or,” Forrest said.

He called for a stiffer sanction than fines in countries where human trafficking and exploitation exists.

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