Ayana* is a young woman from Ethiopia’s Amhara region who was dedicated to building a future for herself. A college graduate with skills in accounting and finance, Ayana speaks English fluently, but due to ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, she had trouble securing a well-paying job that would support her family. 

Altogether, Ayana was the perfect target for a criminal group running a cyberscamming operation out of Southeast Asia.

“I saw a job posted online to work for an international company in Thailand, which said that Ethiopians could get a free visa,” Ayana told Global Citizen. “They told me the job was just going to be computer work.”

The job posting was meant to trap young professionals from countries across Africa, Asia, and other regions into forced labor, specifically targeting those with computer skills who could speak English. After arriving in Thailand, Ayana’s captors illegally transported her to Laos, where she was forced to scam people on social media for a year and a half.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Slavery Convention, a landmark global commitment to abolish slavery worldwide. Despite a century of progress from countries and corporations to ensure fair labor practices, exploitation has not disappeared. Instead, it has adapted to continue operating in the shadows of society.

“Most countries have abolished slavery in law, but manifestations are still alive, and emerging forms of technology are only complicating things further.” Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, told Global Citizen.

Slavery impacts millions of people globally

Prior to the 1926 Slavery Convention, descent-based slavery— in which people of certain ethnic groups, families, or societal classes are born into servitude and unable to enjoy fair wages or treatment — was permitted by many governments, corporations, and cultural practices around the world. Even as the transatlantic slave trade ended in the 19th century, the practice of slavery continued in many countries. In fact, it wasn’t until 1981 that Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery in accordance with the Slavery Convention.

Despite criminalization, slavery continues to impact every region of the world.

Ayana’s captors told her she could return home when she reimbursed them for her plane ticket, accommodation, and food, which they claimed cost $30,000. This extortionate fee is an example of what is called debt bondage, one of the most common forms of contemporary slavery. Often, the person setting the debt implements terms and conditions that make it almost impossible to pay off.

“I didn’t want to scam people, but if we didn’t bring in money, we were punished,” Ayana said. “They slapped us, they beat us, they even used electric shock. I still have kidney pain.”

Eventually, Ayana was able to contact a friend from home who sent her enough money to purchase a plane ticket back to Ethiopia. Ayana’s experience is not an isolated case, and many more people in countries around the world are being targeted through modern technology.

“The internet and social media platforms — like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok — are being used to lure more people into slavery, particularly younger individuals,” Obokata told Global Citizen. “There are increasingly sophisticated ways of finding out who people are and targeting them online.”

Traffickers lurk around online chat rooms and gaming websites to make connections with their targets, or place fake ads for jobs. They target the most marginalized in society — such as people who are LGBTQ+, unhoused individuals, and those living in conflict-ridden areas — because they are overrepresented among those living in poverty, which limits individual choice and makes it easier for exploiters to operate.

Gender-based violence, along with societal gender norms that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, increasingly play a role in who is most targeted by traffickers. Young women and girls, for example, might be trafficked for sexual slavery and servile forms of marriage, where they areforced to enter relationships without their full consent.

There’s also the problem of society’s increasing demand for cheaper goods. As economic stagnation and inflation strain consumer budgets, more corporations are seeking ways to produce goods for less money and at a faster rate.

Labor exploitation and child labor manifest when there is less oversight over fair wages and working conditions, which commonly affects employees living in rural areas, migrant workers, and children from impoverished families. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, forced labor is especially prevalent in the agriculture and fishing industries — though no sector is immune to exploitative labor practices.

“Businesses have a responsibility to know what is taking place in their supply chain,” Obokata said. “Coffee chains, chocolate producers, and fruit companies that source their goods from Latin America or Africa must know if their supply chain is tainted with child or forced labor and align their regulations with human rights standards."

How to take action to end slavery everywhere

The 1926 Slavery Convention is just as relevant today as it was 100 years ago; the root causes that allow slavery to thrive are still pertinent today, but what slavery looks like has adapted to the modern age.

Together with the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, UN Human Rights continues to uncover contemporary forms of slavery and and work with governments, businesses, survivors, trade unionists and civil society to end these practices once and for all.

Global citizens around the world can also take action to abolish slavery and support survivors with these tips:

• Report suspicious activity to law enforcement. Criminal groups can target anyone, anywhere. They might use fake photos in online profiles, ask for private information, or encourage people to meet up in private places. Practice safe online practices, such as not sharing your private information on the internet and reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement.
• Advocate for transparent labor practices — including transparent supply chains and formal labor agreements. Labor exploitation often takes place in the shadows, such as in warehouses, on farms, and in private households. Household cleaners, factory workers, and agricultural laborers might not be paid or treated fairly, particularly if they are low income, undocumented, or operating in a rural area. Talk to your friends, family members, neighbors, and employers about setting fair wages, implementing just labor agreements, and creating a more transparent culture where labor is not being exploited.
• Be a responsible consumer. The products you purchase — from clothing and smartphones to food — might be connected to labor exploitation and modern slavery, especially if they are ultra-cheap. While it may be difficult to determine exactly where goods are coming from due to complex supply chains, tools like the Fashion Transparency Index and Open Supply Hub can help you uncover how the brands you love are sourcing and manufacturing products. You can also look for the Fairtrade Label on products to ensure they were produced in accordance with environmental and social regulations — however, we recommend that this label be the beginning of your research into the product as bluewashing remains a strong possibility.
• Donate to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Established in 1991, the fund provides small grants to organizations that offer direct assistance to survivors of contemporary forms of slavery, helping them manage trauma and access basic needs. Donate now to join the fight against contemporary forms of slavery.
• Raise awareness about contemporary forms of slavery online. “Young people are at the forefront of social change,” Obokata told Global Citizen. “You can use your platform to educate others about unfair labor practices and hold corporations that engage in unfair labor practices accountable.”

*Name and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved.