Editing Debt bondage (section)

==Modern practice==
{{Missing information|this practice among Guatemalan migrant children in the United States|date=May 2024}}
Though the figures differ from those of the [[International Labour Organization]], researcher [[Siddharth Kara]] has calculated the number of slaves in the world by type, and determined that at the end of 2011 there were 18 to 20.5 million bonded laborers.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia|last=Kara|first=Siddharth|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780231158480|location=New York}}</ref> Bonded laborers work in industries today that produce goods including but not limited to frozen shrimp, bricks, tea, coffee, diamonds, marble, and apparel.<ref name=":7" />

=== South Asia  ===
Although [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Kamaiya and kamlari|Nepal]] and [[Bangladesh]] all have laws prohibiting debt bondage, figures by the [[Human Rights Watch]] in 1999 are drastically higher estimating 40 million workers, composed mainly of children, are tied to labor through debt bondage in India alone. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/22/small-change/bonded-child-labor-indias-silk-industry|title=Small Change: Bonded Child Labor in India's Silk Industry|date=23 January 2003|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bonded Labor in India|last=Finn|first=Devin|publisher=HUMAN RIGHTS & HUMAN WELFARE}}</ref> It is estimated that 84 to 88% of the bonded laborers in the world are in South Asia.<ref name=":7" /> 

==== Brick kilns ====
[[File:Child Labour in Brick Kilns of Nepal.jpg|thumb|Child labor in brick kilns in South Asia]]

Research by Kara estimates there to be between 55,000 and 65,000 brick kiln workers in South Asia with 70% of them in India.<ref name=":7" /> Other research estimates 6,000 kilns in Pakistan alone.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Ercelawn|first1=A|last2=Nauman|first2=M|date=2004|title=Unfree Labour in South Asia: Debt Bondage at Brick Kilns in Pakistan|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=22}}</ref> Total revenue from brick kilns in South Asia is estimated by Kara to be $13.3 to $15.2 billion.<ref name=":7" /> Many of the brick kiln workers are migrants and travel between brick kiln locations every few months.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /> Kiln workers often live in extreme poverty and many began work at kilns through repayment of a starting loan averaging $150 to $200.<ref name=":7" /> Kiln owners offer laborers "friendly loans" to avoid being criminalized in breaking bonded labor laws.<ref name=":8" /> Bonded brick kiln laborers, including children, work in harsh and unsafe conditions as the heat from the kiln may cause heat stroke and a number of other medical conditions.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Madheswaran|first1=S.|last2=Paik|first2=Saswati|date=2010|title=Labour Vulnerability and Debt Bondage in Contemporary India|journal=Journal of Social and Economic Development|publisher=Business Insights|volume=2}}</ref> Laborers are discouraged from defaulting on loans through fear of violence and death from brick kiln owners.<ref name=":8" />

==== Rice harvesting ====
[[File:Storing rice, India, 1956 (16795758519).jpg|thumb|Workers storing rice in India in 1952]]

An essential grain to the South Asian diet, rice is harvested throughout India and Nepal in particular.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":4" /> In India, more than 20% of agricultural land is used to grow rice.<ref name=":4" /> Rice mill owners often employ workers who live in harsh conditions on farms.<ref name=":4" /> Workers receive such low wages that they must borrow money from their employers causing them to be tied to the rice mill through debt.<ref name=":4" /> For example, in India, the average pay rate per day was $0.55 American dollars as recorded in 2006.<ref name=":4" /> Though some workers may be able to survive minimally from their compensation, uncontrollable life events such as an illness require loans.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":16" /> Families, including children, work day and night to prepare the rice for export by boiling it, drying it in the sun, and sifting through it for purification.<ref name=":4" /> Furthermore, families who live on rice mill production sites are often excluded from access to hospitals and schools.<ref name=":4" />

=== Western and Southern Africa ===
Though there are not reliable estimates of bonded laborers in Western and Southern Africa to date from credible sources, the [[Global Slavery Index]] estimates the total number of those enslaved in this region is 6.25 million.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url=http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/#footnote-%5B22%5D|title=Sub- Saharan Africa - Global Slavery Index 2016|newspaper=Global Slavery Index|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425191002/https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/#footnote-%5B22%5D|archive-date=25 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> In countries like [[Ghana]], it is estimated that 85% of people enslaved are tied to labor.<ref name=":9" /> Additionally, this region includes [[Mauritania]], the country with the highest proportion of slavery in the world as an estimated 20% of its population is enslaved through methods like debt bondage.<ref name=":9" />
[[File:Filleting the catch at Hout Bay Harbour.JPG|thumb|A worker preparing fish caught off the coast of South Africa]]

==== Fisheries ====
The [[Environmental Justice Foundation]] found human rights violations in the [[Fishery|fisheries]] on the coasts of South and West Africa including labor exploitation.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_214472.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_214472.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Forced labour and trafficking in fisheries|publisher=International Labour Organization}}</ref> Exporter fish companies drive smaller businesses and individuals to lower profits, causing bankruptcy.<ref name=":11" /> In many cases, recruitment to these companies occurs by luring small business owners and migrant workers through debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theoutlawocean.com/irish-times-shackled-whipped-beheaded/|title=The Irish Times: Shackled, Whipped and Beheaded.|last=Urbina|first=Ian|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2019-10-20|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":11" /> In recruiting individual fishers, fees are sometimes charged by a broker to use ports which opens the debt cycle.<ref name=":11" />

==== Domestic labour  ====
After countries began to formally abolish slavery, unemployment was rampant for black people in [[South Africa]] and [[Nigeria]] pushing black women to work as domestic workers, largely to other black people.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last1=Seedat-Khan|first1=Mariam|last2=Gunasekharan|first2=Dharmaraja|title=A New Form of Bonded Labour: A Comparative Study between Domestic Workers of South Africa and India|url=http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/JSSA-00-Special%20Volume/JSSA-SV-04-14-Singh-Anand/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat-Tx[5].pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220064508/http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/JSSA-00-Special%20Volume/JSSA-SV-04-14-Singh-Anand/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat-Tx%5b5%5d.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-12-20|journal=Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology|volume=6}}</ref> Currently, estimates from the [[International Labour Organization]] state that between 800,000 and 1.1 million domestic workers are in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/domestic-workers/lang--en/index.htm|title=Domestic workers (Domestic workers)|website=www.ilo.org|language=en|access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref> Many of these domestic servants become bonded to labor in a process similar to other industries in Asia.<ref name=":10" /> The wages given to servants are often so poor that loans are taken when servants are in need of more money, making it impossible to escape.<ref name=":10" /> The hours of working for [[Domestic worker|domestic servants]] are unpredictable, and because many servants are women, their young children are often left under the care of older children or other family members.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":10" /> Moreover, these women can work up to the age of 75 and their daughters are likely to be servants in the same households.<ref name=":10" />

=== Prostitution  ===
In the context of [[prostitution]], [[Smuggling|traffickers]] often [[Sexual slavery|exploit women]] by forcing them into sex work to pay off an unlawful debt. This debt is usually incurred through their transportation, recruitment, or even their crude "sale".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Debt Bondage |url=https://www.stopvaw.org/debt_bondage |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=www.stopvaw.org}}</ref>

The debt is often inflated with additional costs such as housing, food, and medical care, making it nearly impossible for the individuals to repay it. As a result, they remain trapped in a cycle of exploitation and abuse.<ref name="rachelwp">{{Cite web |last=rachelwp |date=2019-06-27 |title=Introduction to Debt Bondage |url=https://stopmoderndayslavery.org/2019/06/introduction-to-debt-bondage/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Stop Modern Day Slavery |language=en-US}}</ref>

It is a severe violation of human rights and a significant issue in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.<ref name="rachelwp"/>

A 1994 report of Burmese prostitutes in [[Thailand]] reports compulsory indebtedness is common for girls in [[forced prostitution]], especially those transported across the border. They are forced to work off their debt, often with 100 percent interest, and to pay for their room, food and other items. In addition to debt bondage, the women and girls face a wide range of abuses, including illegal confinement; [[forced labor]]; [[rape]]; [[physical abuse]]; and more.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/1994/01/31/trafficking-burmese-women-and-girls-brothels-thailand|title=Trafficking of Burmese Women and Girls into Brothels in Thailand|date=31 January 1994}}</ref>