On the International Day on Abolition of Slavery

2nd of December is the nternational day for the abolition of slavery.

When we think about Slavery, the gruesome images of slave trade and colonial times come to mind. And while the consequences of that system are still alive today, so is slavery in practice, hidden in plain sight.

You can see it in Europe, in many of the faces of women selling their bodies, kidnapped and without passports. Of the numbers we know, more than 10,000 people in 2023 in Europe were identified as victims of human trafficking. 

Human Trafficking is only part of modern slavery. By International Labour Organization estimates, over 50 million people around the world were under this modern slavery. More than half happens in upper-middle income and high income countries.

Finally, talking about modern slavery, the question of global Supply Chains cannot be ignored. Sprawling and multilevel chains with reduced accountability effectively hide the price in blood and human suffering behind many of our everyday's products.

Let this day not just be a reminder of how low humans can fall, but also a call to action to change this. If the slave trade system was abolished, this can be changed too.

Strong labour protection, strict observance of ILO's conventions, effective due dilligence legislation, and resources to enforcement bodies are fundamental. So is cooperation with civil society, and respecting social dialogue and collective bargaining so that the job market does not become a 'wild west' in which the less powerful are mercilessly exploited.