UN says 50 million people stuck in modern slavery

The United Nations said that the number of people forced to work or in a marriage against their will has surged in recent years to around 50 million. The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) on Monday upon releasing its modern slavery report said that compared to the last count for the year 2016, the number of people in modern slavery has risen by around 9.3 million.
It said, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change have led to unprecedented disruption to employment and education.

According to the latest figures, forced labour accounted for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery in 2021, including 3.3 million are children and 22 million forced marriage.

The ILO found that more than half of all forced labour occurred in either upper-middle income or high-income countries, with migrant workers more than three times as likely to be affected.

The Agency report also pointed to concern about forced labour in parts of China.