Africa is the centre of modern slavery – report

By Felicity Duncan

The recently released Global Slavery Index 2018 makes for sobering reading. According to the Index, 40.3 million people worldwide are enslaved. Seventy-one percent of the world's slaves are women and girls, many of them numbering among the 15.4 million people who are in forced marriages. Twenty-five million people are in forced labour.

There are an estimated 155,000 people living in modern slavery in South Africa. Across the African continent, some 9.2 million people are enslaved — almost a quarter of the global total. Among the worst-affected countries are Eritrea, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Mauritania, and South Sudan. Forced marriage is especially widespread in Africa – 63% of enslaved Africans are in a forced marriage, 37% are in forced labour. 

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