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Modern slavery on the rise as crises fuel poverty - U.N. report

12 September 2022 12:14 (UTC +04:00)

The number of people forced to work or in a marriage against their will has surged in recent years to around 50 million on any given day, the U.N.'s International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Monday upon releasing its modern slavery report, APA reports citing Reuters.

Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change have led to unprecedented disruption to employment and education while exacerbating extreme poverty and forced migration, the agency said.

Compared to the last count for the year 2016, the number of people in modern slavery has risen by around 9.3 million.

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

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 report made mention of Qatar, which has faced widespread allegations of labour rights violations relating to migrants working there in the run up to the FIFA soccer World Cup, starting in November.