Research synopsis on 'Global pressure Group' for slavery abolition

Introduction

During chattels slavery[1] era, the slave masters regarded their slaves as assets and always wanted to save and looked after their life to get work in return. The reason was that slaves were masters' own capital. In modern global capitalist economy, work only is the employers' capital not employees and labours. Employers play the law to make technicality for cheap labour[2] and they are not interested to save workers' life. Bonded labour[3], child slavery[4], sex slavery[5], prisoner slavery[6] and immigration slavery6a are known as a modern slavery. William Wilberforce's[7] efforts and Abraham Lincoln's[8] 'the Emancipation Proclamation' should be followed by Gallin's[9] international strategies options for labour including multinational collective bargaining and a global organised "presser group" to facilitate solidarity of global workers[10].

Modern Slavery

Slavery is defined by Geneva Convention 1926, as, "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised"[11]. Supplementary convention added the terms 'Debt bondage', 'Serfdom' to widen the area. The UN estimates that some 200 million such slaves exist, principally in Asia, Africa and South America, where banded labours and child slavery are wide spread[12]. There are some critics for this definition, for example: This definition may cover the high skilled employee in developing country with good wages but very low compare to equal skilled employee in developed country, because s/he is unable to withdraw her/his labour to migrate in developed country because of immigration law[13]. Dieting by overweight man cannot be compared with hungry person. Initiation for the global labour standards as ILO's core Conventions, (1) Forced Labour No. 29 (1930), and (2) Abolition of Forced Labour No. 105 (1957) are the results in the context of increasing international trade. The result has been at the core of labour struggles and political debate at the national for well over a century and a subject of contention at the international level more than a hundred years[14].

Bonded labour or debt bondage happens when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan or when they inherit a debt from a relative. On July, 2000 (2057/3/2 BS) a emancipation proclamation was issued by the prime minister Girija Prashad Koirala in Nepal, but bonded labour problem still remains because the government has not done anything enough to provide them alternative employment or any resources to survive[15].

Human trafficking, the involuntary smuggling of people between countries, often by organized crime, has become a huge concern, especially in Europe and Southeast Asia. Many people, lured by economic opportunities, pay smugglers to slip them across borders but then find themselves sold to sweatshops[16], brothels or domestic service to pay for their passage; others are kidnapped and smuggled against their will. In certain areas, notably Brazil and West Africa, labourers have been enticed into signing contracts and then taken to remote plantations and prevented from leaving. In parts of South Asia and North Africa, slavery is a millennia-old tradition that has never truly ended[17].

When capital has the freedom to move, but workers do not, free trade has a tendency, at least in certain regimes, to evolve as unfair trade labour markets, overcrowded with job-seekers, lose their allocative efficiency[18]. When people illegally migrate for earning, they do not know the time limitation to full fill their minimum requirement because host country may send them back anytime and they struggle with karoshi[19] risk. For example the Guardian reports: when Zhang Guo Hua dropped dead in Hartlepool, after stamping the word Samsung on microwave ovens for 24 hours on end, it turned out to be in no one's interests to make too much of a fuss- not his employer, nor his workmates, nor the gangmaster who brought him in the UK, nor even his widow back home[20]. His master should have cared for him to save his life to exploit some much work if he was a chattel era slave.

UK's policy picture

Peter Mandelson, MP(UK) 1996, wrote, "Some have the impression that the success of the tiger economies is based on sweatshop labour…This is a false picture."[21] Some 28 UK companies have outsourced about 50,000 jobs serving UK customers to Asia, according to the Communications workers' union[22]. Huge savings associated with taking advantage of the graduate labour force in developing countries, particularly India, while trade unions have issued dire warnings that 200,000 British jobs could go to Asia in the next five years as a result[23]. The Amicus union called on the Government to start urgent talks to protect service sector jobs[24].

The issue has also become increasingly political. The British government has distanced itself from the issue, saying it is a matter for companies[25]. Wilson and Palmer v UK[26] case has already proved that the UK law has been failing to protect the collective bargaining rights[27]. Final report of the Company Law Review Steering Group recommends modern company law for competitive economy to protect employers rather than worker[28]. The report's main aim is to drive in designing conditions and rules must so as provide the means for effective collaborative business activity and in particular effective generation of wealth, in the broadest sense[29].

Future problem

There is no doubt that work is going to developing countries from the developed countries. Will the developing countries (eg. India) provide visa for British citizens to work in migrated job from UK to India without any hesitation when the labour market would be better in India than UK in future (not sure)? Labours are coming from developing country to developed country hitherto. But in future, the situation would be just opposite and workers want to go to India for work, the present global labour policy will make British citizens slaves.

Trade unions in the global industrial democracies are on the defensive. In some countries, their numbers have been decimated. Investor companies and diplomats put pressure to make law in their own favour for surplus that results in damaging the workers' rights.

Method

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Data Collection: I will collect some slavery practices on 21st century, which are already published and make some field visit such as sugarcane firms in Brazil, bonded labours in Nepal, Illegal immigrants in the UK and chattel slavery in the Sudan etc.

Interviews: I will interview the leaders of political parties and Trade unions, including underground, working on slavery abolition movements to find out their interest and problems to work together on the issue. Main focus on the research would be on global workforce trade slaves.

Seminars: I will participate seminars in the issues in different countries. My focus on seminars will be on conflict management for government, NGOs and other activists to discourage organised crime such as human trafficking etc.

Options for Remedies

There have been innumerable laws passed by legislatures for protecting the rights of the workers. The law retains considerable vagueness and loopholes which are used to undermine the rights[30]. Even when the law is effective, enforcement powers remain with the state authorities whose organic sympathies remains for the employers [31].

Labour movement must learn to think globally for effective organisation. Organising in the political context with political means, centred on the defence of human rights, the core issue around which is not only with the workers but with all other victims of the New World Order[32].

Even many intellectuals disagree for the International socialist movement; the movement (legal or illegal) promotes labour rights. Ruling class enjoying with slaves is not real democracy. Democratic activists should pay effort for public awareness to minimise damages on the society from the illegal movement not the intervention to abolish slavery in any corner of the world.

Multinational collective bargaining[33] would counterbalance the power of Multinational Corporations and strengthen the solidarity of global workers[34] that may encourage slave abolition.

Conclusion All sound-minded people want to abolish the 'modern slavery' but the social structure is very complicated to abolish the practice. International organisations including ILO and many movements are working on this issue. One 'global pressure group' can facilitate on this movement. The pressure group must be independent and must support every antislavery movement. I purpose to research for possibility, prospects, opportunity and problems for independent 'global pressure group' consist of human rights activists to abolish slavery.

The 'Global pressure group' may directly involve on public interest litigation all over the world and support and integrate all legal and illegal antislavery movement activities but the group should not involve itself directly in illegal movements. The main concentration of the research is to integrate the slavery abolition movements.



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[1] Charles Adams, January 2000, http://www.fff.org/freedom/0100g.asp visited on 13/02/04

[2] Hsiao-Hung Pai and David Leigh, Tragic Death that uncovered the shadowy world of Britain's hidden Chinese workers, The Guardian Tuesday January 13, 2004; also see 09/02/04 issue for 19 cockle-pickles death

[3] Annual Report 2003 of Anti-Slavery International, http://www.antislavery.org visited on 1/09/2004, & Tilak Prashad Tiwary , Local Jana Dharana Weekly (Nepali vernacular) 1/15/2004 also available on http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/nepaliweekly/jandharana/2004/jan/jan15/local.htm visited on 1/20/2004 & K. P. Ghimire, Kantipur Daily 1/23/2004 (Nepali vernacular) http://www.kantipuronline.com/php/desh.php visited 1/24/2004

[4] Kevin Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, 1999, University of California press, Reported by Gold Diggers 8 June 1999, http://www.fatdawg.com/slavery2.html visited on 1/9/2004; also see BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/2010401.stm visited on 13/02/04

[5] Ibid; & see BBC News US decries 'modern day slavery' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1436329.stm visited on 13/02/04

[6] Josh Levin, Uncle Tom's Cell Feb. 1999, http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/cyberjournal/msg00677.html visited on 1/24/2004

6a Felicity Lawrence, The Guardian 9/2/04 page 9 and 18 & Jaya Narain, The Daily Mail 9/2/04; both reports are about the 19 cockle-pickers death who were working for £1.00 per hour

[7] William Wilberforce (1759-1833), MP, Successfully promoted a bill outlawing slavery practice in the British West Indies (1807). His efforts resulted Slavery Abolition act 1833.

[8] http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194062.html visited on 1/27/2004

[9] Gallin, D. (1994) 'Inside the new world order: drawing the battle lines' New Politices V(1) Summer, also available on http://www.global-labour.org/drawing_the_battle_lines.htm visited on 1/20/2004

[10] Ozay Mehmet, Errol Mendes and Robert Sinding, 1999, Towards a Fair Global Labour Market, Avoinding a new slave trade, Publisher 'Routledge'.

[11] International Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery (Geneva, 25 Sep. 1926); & also see supplementary convention on the abolition of slavery … (Geneva 7 Sep. 1956).

[12] See Dr. Leslie Jermyn 2002, Slavery, www.globalaware.org/articles_eng/slave_art_eng.htm visited on 13/02/04

[13] see Comment, Alternate views, March 22, 2003 1:53 on Modern Slavery, what is freedom worth to you? By Etelka Lehoczky available on http://www.gettingit.com/article/466 visited on 1/26/2004

[14] ILO, The Global Labour Standards Controversy, Annex 1, International Initiatives to Establish Global Labour Standards, http://www.ilo.org

[15] Tilak Prashad Tiwary , Jana Dharana Weekly (Nepali vernacular) 1/15/2004 also available on http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/nepaliweekly/jandharana/2004/jan/jan15/local.htm visited on 1/20/2004 & K. P. Ghimire, Kantipur Daily 1/23/2004 (Nepali vernacular)

[16] Paul Samuelson, Lecturing in Italy in 1992, quoted by Dan Gallin Ibid-9; see also Jim Wu and Oliver August, The Times 12/02/004, Gang handler held pickers to ransom on pay

[17] Ibid 5

[18] World Bank 1995a: 70, Quoted by Ibid-10, page-x. & see also Joseph Stiglitz, 2000, Globalization, Penguin Books

[19] Rory O'Neill, Hazards editor, Hazards 83, 2003, http://www.hazards.org/workedtodeath/workedtodeath2.htm visited on 13/02/04

[20] Ibid-2

[21] Quoted on Ibid-2

[22] Offshore call centres threaten thousands more UK jobs in run up to Christmas http://crm.insightexec.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=130189 visited on 13/02/04

[23] Ibid & Gary Duncan, The Times (UK) 1/15/2004

[24] Sarah Getty, Metro (London) January 15, 2004

[25] Ibid-22

[26] Wilson and the National Union of Journalists; Palmer, wyeth and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers; Doolan and others v United Kingdom [2002] IRLR 128

[27] K. D. Ewing, 2003, IMPLICATIONS OF WILSON AND PALMER, Industrial Law Journal, Vol, 32, No. 1, March 2003, Page 1-22

[28] DTI Modern Company Final Report, available on DTI‘s website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/companiesbill

[29] Ibid

[30] see Ibid 27

[31] Minimum wages, Maximum working hours and health & safety etc. laws already exist in the UK but law allows employers to exploit workers technically through agencies. See Worker's tragic death story on Ibid-2; and also see Ibid 27

[32] Ibid-9

[33] Ibid-9

[34] Ibid-10, p. 218