Modern Slavery Persists in Debt Bondage

Debt bondage occurs when a person is forced into debt, or voluntarily commits themselves as a form of collateral to pay off a debt.

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The punitive nature of the system undervalues work performed and undercredits the debt being paid down. Circumstances of debt bondage are uncertain as to scope of tasks performed and duration of labor. As a result little progress is made towards paying down the debt. It can often turn into an intergenerational debt burden.

The United Nations officially considers debt bondage as a type of "modern day slavery". Since the mid-fifties, it has been legally banned by article 1(a) of the United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. But nonetheless, it continues unabated in underdeveloped countries, such as South Asia and the Caribbean. In these places, no infrastructure exists to declare bankruptcy or be protected by consumer protection laws. Small- or mid-size businesses can't get approved for credit because they own no land titles or liquidity assets as forms of collateral.

Debt bondage is looked upon as a kind of slavery due to the involuntary commitment of those usually tricked into it without foreknowledge. No laws exist that require paid wages under this system. Pawnage is similar to debt bondage. In this instance, a person is used as collateral to secure the debt.

Modern industrial cultures require less manual labor, but the same abuses of toil being undervalued and undercredited to pay down the debt still occur. Debt bondage slaves world-wide have been recently estimated at 18.1 million.

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