Forgotten and invisible: modern-day slaves

Indian sex workers look out from their brothel in the red light district of Kamathipura in Mumbai. Socially conservative India, Bangladesh and Pakistan do not permit legal prostitution but all have brothels spilling with sex workers. (Photo: AFP)

In today’s modern world overshadowed by extravagant globalization, materialism and consumerism, it is very common for people to forget about people who are less fortunate.

These people with relative fortune and comfort might get a jolt if asked what they think about slavery and slaves. In most cases, the answer is likely to be simple: slavery was abolished in the 19th century.

The British parliament passed its Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and the US government made the 13th amendment to the constitution in 1865, marking the official abolition of slavery.

However, slavery didn’t end with its abolition 154 years ago. It has just changed forms and continues to plague millions of people in the world today.  

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on Dec. 2 passed almost unnoticed in much of the globe as if our world today has almost pulled itself out of the curse of slavery.
The reality is that about 40 million people are trapped in various forms of modern-day slavery and one in every four victims are children, according to the United Nations.

No light in the darkness for Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the inaugural summit between South Korea and five Southeast Asian nations along the Mekong River, at Nurimaru APEC House in Busan, South Korea, 27 November 2019. (Photo by EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT/MaxPPP)

Myanmar and its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi are in hot water again over the country's mistreatment of minorities, specifically the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.

In recent weeks, three international lawsuits have been filed against Myanmar over brutal atrocities in 2016 and 2017.

On Nov. 11, The Gambia filed a 46-page application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by committing crimes against humanity against Rohingya.

Three days later, Suu Kyi was named among several state officials in a lawsuit in Argentina by Rohingya and South American human rights organizations for serious crimes including genocide against the minority community.

The same day, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized a full investigation into allegations of persecution and crimes against humanity that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh from Rakhine.

Poverty: The road not taken

An elderly trash collector at work in the upmarket Gulshan area of Bangladeshi capital Dhaka in this 2014 photo. An unfair socioeconomic system is blamed for increasing the rich-poor divide in the world. (Photo by Rock Ronald Rozario/ucanews)

Across the globe today, it is common for men to spend their days and nights worrying if they will have enough money to take care of their families and see their children educated.

The anxiety is well founded when we have a look at the global scenario of wealth and poverty as the world today marks International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

According to the United Nations, more than 700 million — or 10 percent —  of the world's population still live in extreme poverty and struggle to get by on a daily income of less than US$1.90, the global poverty line.

Repatriation of the Rohingya: Real deal or mind game?

Rohingya Muslims enter Shahporir Dwip Island in Bangladesh after crossing the Naf River on Sept. 13, 2017 to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State. The Rohingya issue remains a thorny political and diplomatic problem between the neighboring countries. (Photo by Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)    

The failed attempt to send 150 refugees out of over one million currently residing in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar back to Rakhine State in Myanmar was the first concrete step for their repatriation.

The problem is that none of those in the first batch of 2,260 refugees due to be sent home were willing to go. Most of them responded by fleeing their temporary shelters and going into hiding. Others held daylong protests opposing the repatriation move.

Dhaka has been working enthusiastically to return the Rohingya to Myanmar but the deal has been delayed several times after a repatriation deal was signed in January of this year.

The first deal, inked without any third party involvement, sparked an international outcry.

Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated and impoverished nations, was forced to sign the deal as it creaks under the weight of domestic pressures including a shortage of resources. Finding more resources to feed some one million refugees has invited a backlash from many Bangladeshis.

Yet the deal failed to defuse the mounting international criticism of Myanmar's handling of the crisis. It did not include third party oversight and, importantly, lacked any input from those at the center of the crisis — the Rohingya.

That being said, none of the deals signed so far have taken into account the key concerns and demands of the Rohingya, including calls for justice over the atrocities they have suffered, the return of their property, reparations for the damage done, and the right to citizenship in Myanmar.