Two hundred years ago today, William Wilberforce achieved the first major victory in his anti-slavery campaign when Britain’s House of Commons outlawed the slave trade. Even though slavery is now illegal in most countries of the world, it is probably safe to say that it is even more of a scourge than it was in Wilberforce’s day. World Magazine puts the issue into perspective with an article titled "Let my people go". In the story line preceding the article, the writer—Priya Abraham—makes the astonishing statement that the lives of modern slaves are "worth far less than any colonial era slave." Read on (emphasis in the piece is mine):
Premila’s parents sold their daughter for $18 on her 18th birthday. The buyer, from hundreds of miles away, said his Indian village had no good women to marry so he had to buy a wife. He took Premila as a concubine, then sold her into 10 grinding years of prostitution in two cities before rescuers returned the shattered woman to her home.
Premila is a modern slave, one of 27 million in the world today. Two hundred years ago, slaves were relatively scarce, expensive, and publicly owned by men holding title deeds to them. Today, they are plentiful and cheap like Premila—and much harder to spot.
This week Western countries celebrate the life of William Wilberforce, the pioneering abolitionist who labored 20 years to end the British slave trade, a fight he won on Feb. 23, 1807. Today’s abolitionists are no less tenacious but find their work is different: Unlike in Wilberforce’s time, slavery is illegal almost everywhere. Yet modern slavery flourishes because corrupt governments and law enforcers do not enforce the law.
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) of the U.S. Department of Justice offers a number of incredible statistics regarding human trafficking and slavery:
- "Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity, following only drug and arms trafficking. An estimated 9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from all trafficking activities, with at least $4 billion attributed to the worldwide brothel industry."
- "Each year, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders (some international and non-governmental organizations place the number far higher), and the trade is growing."
- "Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade."
- "Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry."
May we not have the typical reaction of "Oh, that’s terrible!" and then continue our self-centered existence. Let us make our voices heard to those in government and lend a helping hand to those near us. Psalm 82:3-4 (King James Version) urges us to . . .
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Helping our fellow human being is not a political issue; it’s a Christian one. May believers realize that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit [relieve] the fatherless and widows [and, we may add, as does Psalm 82:3, all 'the afflicted and needy'] in their affliction" (James 1:27, King James Version).
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