UN Says 50 Million Around The World Stuck In Modern Slavery

Around 50 million people around the world are trapped in forced labour or forced marriage, the United Nations' International Labor Organisation (ILO) said on Monday.

The agency said crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change have led to unprecedented disruption to employment and education while exacerbating extreme poverty and forced migration.

"Coupled with the effects of climate change and armed conflicts, it has contributed to unprecedented disruption to employment and education, increases in extreme poverty and forced and unsafe migration, compounding the threat."

It adds that women and children are by far the most vulnerable.

Children account for one out of five people in forced labor, with more than half of them stuck in commercial sexual exploitation, the report added.

The study by the U.N.'s agencies for labour and migration along with the Walk Free Foundation found that at the end of last year, 28 million people were in forced labor, while 22 million were living in a marriage they had been forced into.

That means nearly one out of every 150 people in the world are caught up in modern forms of slavery, the report said.