Human Rights Violations Essay -- Forced Labor, Slavery,Debt Bondage

The idea of forced labor conjures up sights of people in shackles being led off to perform hard labor to pay back debts. No more. The modern picture of forced labor might be young girls working long hours as indentured servants to cruel employers, or sewing long hours in sweat shops for a mere pittance of what their time is worth, or more often young girls living in hovels and being forced to perform acts of prostitution against their will. All over the globe, young women are the current faces of forced labor and debt bondage. Some of the girls in these cases have been duped into volunteering for this type of servitude by being promised a better life with lots of money and good working conditions. But most often the young girls have either been stolen from their villages or sold off by their poor families in order to have some money to buy necessities for other family members. According to Human Rights Watch, the practice of "debt bondage" among sexual traffickers is routine, and women often find that their so-called debts only increase and can never be fully repaid. (Available: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/trafficking.htm) Some of the worst cases of forced labor have been documented and are reviewed below: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. territory) This set of 14 islands set in the Pacific Islands includes the island of Guam. The CNMI has become a center of international human trafficking operations, with connections to the People's Republic of China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Today there are an estimated 40,000 indentured workers in the CNMI who have been sent their after being intentionally deceived about compensation, health benefi... ...Brinkley, J. & Schmidt, E. New York Times (National Edition, vCL, n51, 534, 2000, p. A1). Fuller, Pierre. Thai Women Twice Victimized - Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan. March 15, 2001, The Japan Times. Global Survival Network. Trapped-Human Trafficking for Forced Labor in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a US Territory). (Part 1 of 5), (1999), p. 1-7. Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights (Part 31 of 49), (1995), p. 278-286. Lee, Martin A. Women and Children for Sale - The Globalization of Sexual Slavery. March 5, 2001, San Francisco Bay Guardian. Wheeler, Shireen. Asylum Call for Sex Slaves, Smuggled Women are Trapped in a Life of Abuse. March 8, 2001, BBC News. Links: Women and Children For Sale: The Globalization of Sexual Slavery - http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0305-06.htm Human Rights Violations Essay -- Forced Labor, Slavery,Debt Bondage The idea of forced labor conjures up sights of people in shackles being led off to perform hard labor to pay back debts. No more. The modern picture of forced labor might be young girls working long hours as indentured servants to cruel employers, or sewing long hours in sweat shops for a mere pittance of what their time is worth, or more often young girls living in hovels and being forced to perform acts of prostitution against their will. All over the globe, young women are the current faces of forced labor and debt bondage. Some of the girls in these cases have been duped into volunteering for this type of servitude by being promised a better life with lots of money and good working conditions. But most often the young girls have either been stolen from their villages or sold off by their poor families in order to have some money to buy necessities for other family members. According to Human Rights Watch, the practice of "debt bondage" among sexual traffickers is routine, and women often find that their so-called debts only increase and can never be fully repaid. (Available: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/trafficking.htm) Some of the worst cases of forced labor have been documented and are reviewed below: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. territory) This set of 14 islands set in the Pacific Islands includes the island of Guam. The CNMI has become a center of international human trafficking operations, with connections to the People's Republic of China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Today there are an estimated 40,000 indentured workers in the CNMI who have been sent their after being intentionally deceived about compensation, health benefi... ...Brinkley, J. & Schmidt, E. New York Times (National Edition, vCL, n51, 534, 2000, p. A1). Fuller, Pierre. Thai Women Twice Victimized - Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan. March 15, 2001, The Japan Times. Global Survival Network. Trapped-Human Trafficking for Forced Labor in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a US Territory). (Part 1 of 5), (1999), p. 1-7. Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights (Part 31 of 49), (1995), p. 278-286. Lee, Martin A. Women and Children for Sale - The Globalization of Sexual Slavery. March 5, 2001, San Francisco Bay Guardian. Wheeler, Shireen. Asylum Call for Sex Slaves, Smuggled Women are Trapped in a Life of Abuse. March 8, 2001, BBC News. Links: Women and Children For Sale: The Globalization of Sexual Slavery - http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0305-06.htm