Women and slavery

“Do you remember the days of slavery?” Jamaican Roots Reggae artist Burning Spear asks in his 1975 song ‘Slavery Days’. He was referring of course to the dark 400-year period of our global history during which more than 18 million men, women and children were victims of the horrific transatlantic trade in humans that saw their movement from the continent of Africa to the Americas and Europe. That dreadful period was commemorated yesterday as the ‘International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.’

March 25 is set aside every year by the UN to remember those who suffered and died during the four centuries beginning in the 16th century and to honour them as well. This year, its theme looks at ‘Women and Slavery’ paying tribute to the millions of women who also endured the unspeakable horrors of slavery. At the same time it seeks to celebrate those who successfully and unsuccessfully fought for freedom and advocated an end to slavery as well as the many who risked much in transmitting their culture and traditions to their descendants.

Yesterday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon unveiled a permanent memorial to honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the grounds of the United Nations in New York. Titled ‘The Ark of Return’, the memorial was built by Haitian-American architect Rodney Leon. This was followed by a commemorative meeting of the General Assembly. Today at 11 an NGO briefing is scheduled to be held, followed by a global video conference for students tomorrow.

The day of remembrance is to ensure that those dark days are never forgotten. However, it is still mostly a UN observance and has not really spread throughout the world as yet, though the global NGO community is making a valiant effort to do this. This being the ‘Decade for People of African Origin’ so designated by the UN in December last year, expands the likelihood of the observance taking better root.

Burning Spear’s question might have been rhetorical since it would be impossible to forget a period in world history unmatched by any other in terms of its utter degradation of humans. But there’s also the fact that man’s inhumanity to man did not end with the abolition of the slave trade. Unfortunately, the ‘days of slavery’ still exist in many parts of the world in the form of trafficking in persons (TIP).

While not as horrific as the period that spawned ‘the Middle Passage’, contemporary slavery is to be abhorred and condemned. And while men, women and children fall victim to its many forms, which include forced labour, captivity and sexual exploitation, women and girls are by far the more vulnerable to and most affected by modern day slavery.

Reports abound of the countless women and girls here and around the world who have been and still are being duped into captivity every day by heartless traders and their facilitators promising jobs and a better life. The naïve, the poor and the vulnerable are usually targeted. In every case, the enslaved are taken away from their homes and familiar surroundings. In some instances, they are actually locked away to prevent their escape which would be natural once they learned that they had been lied to and falsely recruited. In those instances where they would have journeyed overseas, their travel documents are also confiscated to prevent flight. In the majority of cases, women and girls are forced into the sex trade.

Local anti-TIP activist Simona Broomes and the members of her group, Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), have been the crusaders behind the rescue of most of the women and girls, some of them minors, from unscrupulous ‘shop owners’ in interior locations. These shops would have been set up ostensibly to trade in items which miners in the interior would have a hard time accessing because of the distance from shopping areas. However, some of them having recognised the lucrativeness of the sex trade, seek to illegally supply the demand at no cost to themselves. They had operated under the radar for years before Ms Broomes and her group began to take action, putting their lives and reputations on the line in some cases, for which they are to be commended.

Unfortunately, the action too often ends with the women miners removing the enslaved victim. Follow-up, which should include criminal charges being brought against the traffickers by the police and rehabilitation for the victims by the Ministry of Human Services has been lacklustre. In one poignant case a young woman who had been rescued by Ms Broomes disappeared just before she was due to testify against her alleged trafficker in court in November 2013. The young woman’s grandmother suspected that she had been abducted along with her 17-month-old child to reduce the likelihood of conviction of the alleged trafficker. She reportedly reappeared some time in January this year, by which time the case had been dismissed.

The GWMO is set to open a sanctuary for victims of TIP soon, which will be heavily devoted to their rehabilitation for a chance at a fresh start in life. Such estimable moves should be supported by all.