Slavery today

Many people are unaware that slavery still exists all over the world. From the Middle East to the United States, from Eastern Europe to South America, men, women, and children work in slavery or in slavery-like conditions. Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest human rights group, claims that there are more than 200 million people in bondage. Indeed, some activists maintain that there are more people enslaved today than ever before. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 declared, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms." Despite international laws against slavery, the practice exists throughout the world and shows no sign of abating. Various forms of slavery and efforts to eradicate it are among the issues discussed in At Issue: Slavery Today. Whether the international community will unite to rid the world of the abomination of slavery remains to be seen. - Introduction.