Slavery is illegal throughout the world, yet more than twenty-seven million people are still trapped in one of history's oldest social institutions. Kevin Bales's heart-wrenching story of slavery today reaches from brick kilns in Pakistan and brothels in Thailand to the offices of multinational corporations. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a "new slavery," one intricately linked to the global economy. The new slaves are not a long-term investment as was true with older forms of slavery, explains Bales. Instead, they are cheap, require little care, and are disposable. Bales offers suggestions for combating the new slavery and provides examples of very positive results from organizations such as Anti-Slavery International, the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil, and the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan.

Table of Contents

• 1 The new slavery 1
• 2 Thailand : because she looks like a child 34
• 3 Mauritania : old times there are not forgotten 80
• 4 Brazil : life on the edge 121
• 5 Pakistan : when is a slave not a slave? 149
• 6 India : the ploughman's lunch 195
• 7 What can be done 232
  • Coda : three things you can do to stop slavery 263
  • App Excerpts from international conventions on slavery 275