TED 2010: How to combat modern slavery by Kevin Bales
Geschreven op 31-3-2010 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Mensenrechten
In this moving yet pragmatic talk, Kevin Bales explains the business of modern slavery, a multibillion-dollar economy that underpins some of the worst industries on earth.
He shares stats and personal stories from his on-the-ground research — and names the price of freeing every slave on earth right now.
Kevin Bales is the co-founder of Free the Slaves, whose mission is to end all forms of human slavery within the next 25 years. For over 100 years slavery has been illegal. Many people thought that making slavery illegal would make it disappear. It didn’t. There are 27 million people in slavery today.
The 27 million in slavery and the $32 billion they make in profits for criminals every year may seem too big to overcome. But look at modern slavery from another direction – today’s 27 million slaves is the smallest proportion of the world population to ever be in slavery. The profits they make for slaveholders are a tiny drop in the global economic ocean. For comparison: $32 billion is what Americans spend every year on snack foods like potato chips and pretzels.
Plus we don’t have to face the barriers of 150 years ago – no one is arguing that slavery is morally acceptable, there is a law against it in every country, and if all slavery ended tomorrow, no country or industry would collapse. So what is holding us back?
