Anti-Slavery International

While slavery is illegal everywhere, and prohibited by international conventions, involuntary servitude still exists all over the world. Anti-Slavery International is a nongovernmental organization that militates against debt bondage, trafficking and all forms of involuntary servitude. Headquartered in the UK, its roots stretch back to 1787 when the first abolitionist society was formed and the merger in 1909 of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society with the Aborigines' Protection Society. Today the society emphasizes the fight against: * Bonded labor (which affects millions of people around the world); * Early and forced marriage; * Forced labor (people illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties); * Slavery by descent (people are either born into a slave class or from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labor); * Trafficking (involves the transport and/or trade of people -- women, children and men -- from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into slavery conditions); * The Worst forms of child labor (which ASI estimates affect an estimated 126 million children around the world in work that is harmful to their health and welfare). The organization's website provides many documents about slavery as well as information about the organization and its programs.

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Contributor: John Daly
Published Date: April 29, 2008