The latest report on the global estimates of modern slavery, published by Walk Free Foundation, is worrying as approximately 50 million people are trapped in situations of modern slavery, a significant increase of 10 million since the last measurement in 2016. This number includes 28 million individuals subjected to forced labour and 22 million living in forced marriages. This report titled as Global Slavery Index (GSI) estimates a total of 15 million people trapped in modern slavery in six countries of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the South Asia region.

This means almost 30 per cent of modern slavery exists in these six countries in South Asia.

The methodology of this national estimates of modern slavery for 160 countries presented here in Walk Free's flagship report draw on thousands of interviews with survivors collected through nationally representative household surveys across 75 countries and the assessment of national-level vulnerability.

Modern slavery refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats,violence, coercion or deception.

Afghanistan (13.0) and Pakistan (10.6) are the two top countries with the highest level of modern slavery among South Asian countries per 1,000 population.

With 3.3 per 1000 population, Nepal's situation is better compared to the other five South Asian countries.

The wide scale discrimination on the basis of gender, race, caste and ethnicity mostly drives such vulnerability to modern slavery in South Asian countries.

This vulnerability is multiplied by conflict, as seen in the case of the mass displacement of the Rohingya population in Myanmar, political instability, as seen in Afghanistan by the Taliban, and the economic crisis and humanitarian emergency as seen in Sri Lanka.

To varying extents, the effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have further complicated the situation of vulnerability across the South Asian region – driving increased inflation, violence, unemployment, poverty and gender inequality. In such a difficult time, families may resort to negative coping mechanisms, such as marrying their young daughters, to deal witheconomic stress. In other countries with a high prevalence of modern slavery, such as Pakistan, economic insecurity drives workers to take on risky jobs or loans from unscrupulous employers.

Such vulnerability, which leads to slavery of millions of people, is generally created because of a largescale conflict situation, emergence of disenfran-chised groups, inequality, lack of basic needs, and governance issue. Again in South Asian countries, Afghanistan with 86 per cent and Pakistan with 80 per cent are the two worst performer countries on these five indicators.

The discriminatory social norms and wrong practice in Afghanistan and Pakistan that undervalue the vulnerable groups on the basis of their migration status, race, religion, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientationare the greatest driver of vulnerability in the region.

Similarly, the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh generally face increased risks of modern slavery as offenders prey on their extreme vulnerability.

The report further analysed that political inequality and instability pervade Afghanistan and now Pakistan, driving vulnerability to modern slavery. Notably,Afghanistan is considered the least peaceful country in the world. The crisis has caused many civilians to turn to smugglers to flee the country, often to countries with measures in place to actively deter Afghan refugees, which compounds their vulnerability to exploitation. Afghan women and girls have reportedly been forced into marriages by their families to escape the country.

Economic instability and increasing poverty limit ac-cess to essential needs for survival such as shelter, food, and water, and increase vulnerability to all forms of modern slavery in South Asia. This is underpinned by widening richpoor gaps: in 2021, an additional 80 million people were forced into poverty groupbecause of pandemic-led economic situation.

This risk is compounded for disenfranchised groups who were already living in precarious conditions. In India, for example, a sudden lockdown without giving time and support to people, left thousands of migrant workers, who were largely employed as day labourers, stranded and without support from the government or their employers.

After a devastating second wave of COVID-19 buckled the Indian health system in 2021 and caused many deaths from the disease, thousands of newly orphaned children were exposed to higher risks of abuse and trafficking. The risk of modern slavery also increases through reliance on negative coping mechanisms.

For example, in Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, extreme weather is connected to child marriage to both minimise household expenses and protect daughters from the heightened risk of sexual violence.

While almost all countries have criminalised corruption, there were reports that official complicity in modern slavery cases were not investigated in this region.

Further, despite National Action Plans in some of these countries, only a few governments routinely reviewed their modern slavery response, and just two countries monitored the government response to modern slavery through an independent entity, such as the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons in Nepal, which is tasked with monitoring human trafficking in the country and making recommendations to the government.

In 2015, one of the UN goals adopted by world leaders was to end modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking by 2030.

But, the significant increase in the number of people living in modern slavery and stagnating government action highlight that this goal is even further from being achieved.

Satapathy is the Director, AF Development Care, New Delhi director@afdc.in twitter; @DevelopmentAf

A version of this article appears in the print on May 29, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.