“Modern slavery” is the scourge of our times – a calling card for the prime minister, a priority for the National Crime Agency and an issue that has gained widespread attention from the media, civil society and politicians. But rather than offering a solution to the problem it seeks to name, modern slavery is a misleading way of talking about exploitation that may help create more problems than it solves.
The term, which became popular in the 2000s, refers to severe forms of exploitation where a person is prevented from leaving because of threats, coercion or the risk of destitution. The problem it describes is widespread: according to the Global Slavery Index, there were 40.3 million slaves in the world in 2016, from garment workers in Bangladesh to farm labourers in Italy. But although the way we talk about exploitation has changed, the reasons for its existence have not. Rebranding extreme forms of exploitation as modern slavery suggests these problems are the fault of individual criminals. Yet the truth is more complicated: many of the practices we call modern slavery are in fact inextricably bound up with our global economy.
Take fast fashion, for example. The availability of cheap clothing is premised on exploitative labour conditions. As one study by the International Labour Organization found, 81% of suppliers in the textile, clothing and footwear sectors have sold items below cost price. This drives down
— source theguardian.com | Emily Kenway | 7 Mar 2023