September 2022
The 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery indicate that on any given day, 50 million people are in situations of modern slavery globally. This includes people in situations of forced labour exploitation, forced commercial exploitation, forced labour of children, state-imposed forced labour, forced marriage and several other forms of modern slavery and trafficking in persons.
Collectively, we welcome the report of the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, published by Walk Free, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Our sincere gratitude to all those who have worked tirelessly to collect and produce this comprehensive dataset.
Modern slavery and trafficking in persons are not new practices. They have been deeply embedded in the socio-economic, political, and cultural fabrics of our societies and systems over centuries, touching nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Structural inequalities, historic legacies, and impacts, as well as systemic power imbalances, are the root causes of the forms of severe exploitation that exist today.
However, progress is limited and efforts to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, including protection and prosecution are being disrupted. The compounding crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss (the ‘triple planetary crisis) have exacerbated vulnerabilities to and the prevalence of modern slavery, in all its forms. Existing inequalities have deepened, and new ones have emerged – including unprecedented levels of disruption to education, support services, and increases in poverty, hunger and food insecurities, unsafe and irregular migration, and gender inequalities.
Furthermore, women, girls and children are disproportionately impacted, with notable upsurges of reports of sexual and gender-based violence and forced marriages, as well as displacement and forced migration, and conflict and climate-induced migration, that if left unchecked, can reach modern slavery and trafficking in persons extremes.
We reaffirm, in the strongest terms possible, the key policy priorities outlined in the report accompanying the Global Estimates.
As youth and children working in the field to counter modern slavery and trafficking in persons, we recognize our crucial role in driving comprehensive and concrete change. In this regard, we call on all stakeholders, especially governments and the private sectors, UN agencies, other multilateral and bilateral organizations, regional institutions, and organizations (including intergovernmental groups), as well as non-governmental organizations, civil society, academia, media, to urgently take bolder action, and recommend the following:
- Adopt a “whole of society approach” that transforms words into tangible actions and commitments into concrete changes, recognizing the need to restructure power dynamics to enable wider civil society and youth to hold stakeholders and perpetrators to account.
- Recognizing the important intersectionalities between modern slavery and other global issues we face today, as well as the broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), commit to addressing the root causes enabling forms of modern slavery, including, inter alia, poverty, climate change, gender inequalities, and lack of access to quality education.
- Commit to centring youth and children, including young survivors and those who have lived experiences of modern slavery, as co-leaders, co-creators, and co-owners of all efforts and across all decision-making processes, at all levels, through engaging and substantively consulting youth and children, working with them, not for them.
Co-authored by,
Migration Youth and Children’s Platform (MYCP)
National Gender Youth Advocates (NGYAs)
YOUNGO Migration Working Group
On behalf of global youth working to end modern slavery and trafficking in persons in all their forms, wherever they may occur.
