How to solve social problems expeditiously:
The government of Niger has cancelled at the last minute a special ceremony during which at least 7,000 slaves were to be granted their freedom.
A spokesman for the government's human rights commission, which had helped to organise the event, said this was because slavery did not exist. [....]
Acting under pressure, Niger's parliament banned the keeping or trading in slaves in May 2003.
In a ceremony in December 2003, dozens of slaves were liberated, many of them shedding tears of joy as they were given certificates showing they were free.
This comes from a
BBC News report, "
Niger cancels 'free-slave' event"; you can read the rest below.
=> As a follow-up piece in the
Economist (also below) correctly argues, this incident should help draw attention to the persistence of slavery and "slavery-like practices," not just in Niger, but around the world--including 'advanced' societies. Some highlights:
Slavery is like polio. Most westerners associate it with earlier, darker times in human history. Its eradication is a sign of human progress. And yet despite these perceptions slavery, like polio, has not in fact been eradicated. The fact of modern slavery was brought home again this week by the story of a botched manumission in Niger. [....]
Anti-Slavery International, a London-based human rights group, estimates that 43,000 slaves are held in Niger, which the United Nations reckons to be the second-least-developed country in the world. [....] Niger is far from alone. Its class-based form of slavery exists in neighbouring Chad, Mali and Mauritania, too. In Mauritania, estimates SOS Esclaves, another anti-slavery campaigner, 40% of the population are slaves or ex-slaves, who suffer the same stigma and lack of rights as their brethren in Niger. In Sudan, too, slavery is widespread. [....]
Many other slavery-type practices remain widespread, despite having been forbidden by UN conventions. These include forced marriage, wife-transfer, child marriage and the sale of children for labour. [....]
The form of slavery that perhaps affects the greatest number of people is bonded labour, which is particularly rife in India, Pakistan and Nepal. [....]
In Brazil, forced labourers clear Amazonian jungle at gunpoint. In western Europe, prostitutes from the former Soviet block are forced to work without any choice of which or how many clients they sleep with, and with the threat or use of force curtailing their freedom. And in the United States, Free the Slaves, another anti-slavery group, found illegal forced labour in at least 90 cities, involving over 19,000 people. The CIA has estimated the number of slaves in America at 50,000. Chinese, Mexicans, Vietnamese and others work against their will in the sex trade, domestic service, farms and sweatshops. [....
Like many things that should have been stamped out a long time ago, slavery, it seems, is alive and well.
Read the whole thing.
--Jeff Weintraub
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The EconomistMarch 9, 2005
Still with us
A botched release of slaves in Niger points up an ugly truth: bondage is alive and well around the worldSlavery is like polio. Most westerners associate it with earlier, darker times in human history. Its eradication is a sign of human progress. And yet despite these perceptions slavery, like polio, has not in fact been eradicated. The fact of modern slavery was brought home again this week by the story of a botched manumission in Niger.
Anti-Slavery International, a London-based human rights group, estimates that 43,000 slaves are held in Niger, which the United Nations reckons to be the second-least-developed country in the world. Slaves in the landlocked west African country form a stigmatised, closed class. Even freed slaves carry the taint of their hereditary status, and their former masters or parents’ masters may claim some or all of their income, property and dowries.
In 2003, Niger finally got around to amending its laws to make slave ownership punishable with up to 30 years in prison. (The practice was outlawed with Niger’s independence from France in 1960, but carried no penalty.) Facing jail, a chieftain in western Niger offered to free the 7,000 slaves held by him and his clansmen in a public ceremony, due to take place on Saturday March 5th. But in the week leading up to the event, Niger’s government came to fear that a massive release of slaves would draw unwelcome attention to slavery’s existence in the country. The government declared that slavery does not exist in Niger, the ceremony was cancelled and the slaves left as slaves. Far from avoiding a public embarrassment, Niger has multiplied its worldwide shame.
Niger is far from alone. Its class-based form of slavery exists in neighbouring Chad, Mali and Mauritania, too. In Mauritania, estimates SOS Esclaves, another anti-slavery campaigner, 40% of the population are slaves or ex-slaves, who suffer the same stigma and lack of rights as their brethren in Niger. In Sudan, too, slavery is widespread. Some 14,000 people were abducted and forced into slavery during the country’s two-decade-long civil war between the Arab-run government in Khartoum and blacks in the south. Most of these were women and children forced into domestic work and herding. Many children of abductees, fathered by the slaves’ masters, in turn become slaves. Around 12,000 Sudanese remain in bondage. And according to a recent UN report, abduction and slavery have been extended to Darfur in western Sudan, where a separate conflict rages.
Beyond chattelMost people associate “slavery” with the transatlantic chattel slave trade that ended in the 19th century as the United States and later Brazil, the biggest recipients of black African slaves, abolished first the trade and then the practice of slavery itself. But slavery persisted, so much so that the UN made 2004 the snappily-titled International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. December 2nd 2004 was designated the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, to commemorate the adoption of a 1949 convention against human trafficking. But that convention is still widely flouted.
The form of slavery that perhaps affects the greatest number of people is bonded labour, which is particularly rife in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Desperate workers are given a loan for as little as the cost of medication for a child, and are forced to work to repay the loan and “interest”. But no clear contract is offered—the unfortunate bonded labourer often winds up working years to repay such loans, and the bond is even often passed on to children after the original labourer’s death. Because of the apparently voluntary nature of the bondage, many do not see it as slavery. But the labourer is often so desperate for a loan, without other sources of credit, that there is little real choice involved. And once bonded, the threat of violence and the limitations on personal freedom involved make the practice in effect no different from chattel slavery.
Many other slavery-type practices remain widespread, despite having been forbidden by UN conventions. These include forced marriage, wife-transfer, child marriage and the sale of children for labour. In Brazil, forced labourers clear Amazonian jungle at gunpoint. In western Europe, prostitutes from the former Soviet block are forced to work without any choice of which or how many clients they sleep with, and with the threat or use of force curtailing their freedom. And in the United States, Free the Slaves, another anti-slavery group, found illegal forced labour in at least 90 cities, involving over 19,000 people. The CIA has estimated the number of slaves in America at 50,000. Chinese, Mexicans, Vietnamese and others work against their will in the sex trade, domestic service, farms and sweatshops.
In America and Europe, there is at least some hope of recourse to the authorities. India and Pakistan have banned debt bondage but struggle to enforce the law. Sudan is a criminal state actively encouraging rampaging militias. And Niger has been a rickety democracy for just over five years, unable even to admit its problem, much less tackle it. Like many things that should have been stamped out a long time ago, slavery, it seems, is alive and well.
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BBC NewsPublished: 2005/03/05 16:34:44 GMT
Niger cancels 'free-slave' event
The government of Niger has cancelled at the last minute a special ceremony during which at least 7,000 slaves were to be granted their freedom.A spokesman for the government's human rights commission, which had helped to organise the event, said this was because slavery did not exist.
It is not clear why the government, which was also a co-sponsor of the ceremony, changed its position.
At least 43,000 people across Niger are thought to be in slavery.
Representatives of the slaves, the government and human rights campaigners had been due to attend the event at In Ates, near the border with Mali.
A local chief had agreed to the release after the introduction of a new law, which punishes those found guilty of slavery with up to 30 years in jail.
Anti-Slavery International had described the ceremony as a historic step forward.
The British-based campaign group said the people who had been due to be freed made up 95% of the local population.
"The government needs to ensure not only that the law is implemented, but that there are the means of support available for former slaves and their children to live their lives in freedom and independence," the group's Africa programme officer, Romana Cacchioli, said before the ceremony was cancelled.
According to a local anti-slavery organisation, Timidria, males slaves are forced to work in farms and tender cattle, while women are confined to domestic duties.
Acting under pressure, Niger's parliament banned the keeping or trading in slaves in May 2003.
In a ceremony in December 2003, dozens of slaves were liberated, many of them shedding tears of joy as they were given certificates showing they were free.
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SEE ALSO:
Testimony: Former Niger slave 03 Nov 04 Africa
Drama as Niger slaves are freed 19 Dec 03 Africa
Niger 'slave' flees castration 04 Sep 02 Africa
Trauma of rescued Niger slaves 07 Dec 01 Africa
Rescued Niger slaves 'tortured' 07 Dec 01 Africa
Country profile: Niger 14 Aug 03 Country profiles
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