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Image: Robert Geiss/picture alliance Image: Robert Geiss/picture alliance

Slavery

Slavery today looks very different from the trans-Atlantic trade or historical enslavement. But some 50 million people are victims of modern-day slavery. The UN has chosen March 25 as the day to remember the victims.

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All Content on this topic

Two men work shovelling soil on a construction site

Saudi eases abusive sponsorship system for foreign workers

The kingdom's foreign workers suffer the region's most severe restrictions. Are promised reforms enough to end abuse?
SocietyNovember 7, 2020
The memorial covered in flowers and protest pamphlets

Berlin halts demolition of 'comfort women' memorial

A recently unveiled memorial to the victims of forced sex work in WWII has sparked controversy and diplomatic tensions.
HistoryOctober 14, 2020
Moderne Sklaverei

Cocoa price hike benefits Ghanaian farmers

Ghana has announced an increase of the guaranteed the cocoa price it pays to farmers for the upcoming growing season.
PoliticsOctober 13, 2020
A close-up of an artwork depicting victims of the transatlanic slave trade shackled together

Benin reckons with its slave trade past

Benin is coming to grips with its dark history as it tries to heal the rifts still prevalent in today's society.
HistoryOctober 10, 20206 images
A statue symbolizing the issue of so-called comfort women forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels is unveiled in Berlin on September 28, 2020

'Comfort woman' statue in Berlin angers Japan

Japan has said a new statute detailing sexual violence against Korean women is out of context and damages relations.
SocietyOctober 1, 2020
Members of Indonesia's National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) assist health quarantine officers

Coronavirus makes 'modern slaves' of ship crews, UN told

A UN maritime meeting has highlighted the plight of many seafarers awaiting COVID-delayed crew changes on cargo ships.
BusinessSeptember 25, 2020
French lawmaker Daniele Obono

French magazine shows black lawmaker as a slave

An article portraying Danielle Obono as a slave has prompted criticism from numerous political figures in France.
PoliticsAugust 29, 2020
Pressebild Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland

Street name change major step in decolonizing Berlin

The renaming of a Berlin boulevard after Germany's first African-born scholar results from a long anti-racist struggle.
CultureAugust 28, 2020
Marokko Saisonarbeiter auf einem Erdbeerfeld

Strawberry pickers' plight exposes 'modern slavery'

Moroccan strawberry pickers are trapped in Spain, while farmers want to end their dependence on migrant workers.
BusinessJuly 20, 2020
Deutsche Kolonialbeamte in Lome Togo

The shadow of German colonialism

Amid the global anti-racist movement, a reckoning is due over how to handle leftover colonial symbols.
HistoryJune 22, 2020
USA Philadelphia Juneteenth Jahrestag

AfricaLink on Air – 19 June 2020

US marks Juneteenth, a historic day to celebrate the official end of slavery +++Kenya returns to the UN Security Council
PoliticsJune 19, 202030:00 min
Men dressed in Union soldier uniforms celebrating Juneteenth in 2019

Juneteenth: The end of slavery in the US

Why does a holiday commemorating the end of slavery go unnoticed by many in the United States?
SocietyJune 18, 2020
Archive image of a 2013 anti-slavery protest in front of Britain's Parliament.

British firms promise to compensate for slavery links

Lloyds and Greene King have pledged to invest in projects that support black and other minority ethnic communities.
BusinessJune 18, 2020
Chrispin Mwakideu DW

Africa must decide to scrap or keep colonial relics

Chrispin Mwakideu
As protesters elsewhere topple colonial-era statues, Africa needs to decide how to confront its colonial past.
PoliticsJune 18, 2020
Deutschland Berlin | DW Journalistin | Wafaa Albadry

Let's topple statues to decolonize

Wafaa Albadry
Taking down statues that celebrate slave traders and colonialists doesn't mean erasing history, says DW's Waafa Albadry.
SocietyJune 17, 2020
Großbritannien London | Protest gegen Rassismus | Statue von Robert Milligan

Britain's slaving past catches up

Millions were enslaved or traded by the British, who reaped economic gains. DW examines the debate in Britain today.
BusinessJune 17, 2020
Gone with the Wind film still picture-alliance/United Archives/IFTN)

'Gone with the Wind' removed from HBO Max

The classic US Civil War movie has long been criticized for its depiction of contented slaves and likable slave-owners
SocietyJune 10, 2020
England Black Live Matter Proteste in Bristol

Protesters topple statue of British slave trader

Protesters in the UK have pulled down the statue of a slave trader during a demonstration in honor of George Floyd.
PoliticsJune 7, 2020
Local authorities carry out checks at the slaughterhouse

'Modern slavery' at the heart of slaughterhouse outbreak

Hundreds of slaughterhouse workers in western Germany have contracted COVID-19 — just as lockdown measures are lifting.
HealthMay 11, 2020
Woman carrying heavy load at construction site in India

What slavery looks like in the 21st century

To mark International Anti-Slavery Day, DW spoke to an organization that's been combating slavery for nearly 200 years.
GlobalizationMarch 25, 2020
Despite the fact that slavery is prohibited worldwide, modern forms of the sinister practice persist. More than 40 million people still toil in debt bondage in Asia, forced labor in the Gulf states, or as child workers in agriculture in Africa or Latin America. 

Modern-day slavery

Despite the fact that slavery is prohibited worldwide, modern forms of the sinister practice persist.
Human RightsMarch 25, 20208 images
Woman with dusty face carrying brick load in an Indian brick factory

World in Progress: How to fight modern slavery

Jakub Sobik from Anti-Slavery International explains why modern slavery persists and how to help people.
Human RightsMarch 11, 202006:16 min

World in Progress: Harriet Tubman — a life fighting slavery

Famous abolitionist Harriet Tubman has been inspiring the fight for freedom in the US since escaping slavery in 1849.
PoliticsMarch 11, 202022:30 min
Woman with colorful scarf

World in Progress: Fighting slavery

Find out what's being done to fight modern slavery and meet one of the most famous icons of the abolitionist movement.
Human RightsMarch 11, 202029:59 min
Frankfurt Higher Regional Court

Germany indicts Iraqi man over death of Yazidi slave girl

The man has been accused of letting the 5-year-old die of thirst after he and his wife kept her as a slave.
CrimeFebruary 21, 2020
A supposed "re-education" camp for Uighurs near Hotan, Xinjiang, China

Uighur persecution: 'I am ashamed of our human race'

Activists and political leaders say Germany and the EU must take a harsher stance toward China's treatment of Uighurs.
Human RightsFebruary 19, 2020
Kenia | Symbolbild LGBTI-Rechte in Nigeria

AfricaLink on Air - 05 February 2020

The trial of men charged with homosexuality in Nigeria is adjourned+++Guinea plans to go ahead with disputed referendum
PoliticsFebruary 5, 202029:59 min
A woman is sorting tea leaves in China

AI, Blockchain tech to rescue modern slaves

Technology is forcing consumers to reflect on their choices by exposing their complicity in slavery.
BusinessJanuary 24, 2020
Residents collect bricks after their house collapsed following heavy rain and winds in Peshawar, Pakistan in April, 2015

Life of slavery — bonded labor in Pakistan

Bonded labor was outlawed in Pakistan years ago, but the practice has continued, and even expanded, in the country.
SocietyDecember 25, 2019
Ahmed Maiteeq Libyen Conflict Zone

Ahmed Maiteeq on Conflict Zone

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have become prey to traffickers in Libya. The Deputy PM is on Conflict Zone
PoliticsNovember 20, 2019
Prince Andrew

Prince Andrew's sex-slave claims rebuttal panned

UK media have hit out at Andrew's rebuttal of allegations he forced a teen, trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, to have sex.
PoliticsNovember 17, 2019
Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Prince Andrew (U.S. District Court Southern District of New York)

UK Prince Andrew: 'No recollection' of Epstein sex slave

The UK royal cannot remember meeting the woman who claims she was forced to have sex with him as a teenager.
CrimeNovember 16, 2019
Kenia Zugverbindung Standard Gauge Railway SGR zwischen Mombasa und Nairobi

AfricaLink on Air - 16 October 2019

Kenya opens $1.5 bln Chinese-built railway amidst mixed reactions+++One killed during vote counting in Mozambique
PoliticsOctober 16, 201929:58 min
Refugee woman in a tent in Iraq

Germany charges man with genocide over Yazidi killing

The suspect and his wife, German national Jennifer W., are believed to be members of the "Islamic State" group.
CrimeOctober 11, 2019
A 'comfort woman' statue, one of the art works at an exhibition at the Aichi Triennale in Japan on August 3, 2019

Japan reopens exhibit closed over 'comfort woman' statue

The show, featuring a controversial South Korean statue of a wartime sex slave, was forced to close in early August.
SocietyOctober 8, 2019
Eine historische Darstellung angeketteter Sklaven.

Ghana: Commemorating 400 years of slavery

The first shipment of African slaves reached the USA in 1619. This is why Ghana declared 2019 a year of remembrance.
HistoryAugust 22, 201910 images
Three statues of slaves in Zanzibar

East Africa's forgotten slave trade

400 years on, experts say it's time for an open discussion of East Africa's slave trade.
HistoryAugust 22, 2019
Boko Haram

Thousands of Nigerian women, girls trapped in slavery

It's estimated that over 40 million people are being held as slaves worldwide.
BusinessAugust 19, 201902:35 min
Unruhen im Sudan

Africalink on Air - 31 July 2019

Schools in Sudan remain closed+++U.S. House Speaker addresses Ghanaian parliament on slave trade anniversary.
PoliticsJuly 31, 201929:59 min
Auf Humboldts Spuren

In Humboldt's Footsteps: Slavery, the Greatest of All Evils

Humboldt denounced slavery in the Americas. Yet its legacy persists in Colombia — a visit to Palenque.
ScienceJuly 12, 201910:22 min
This door signalled the commencement of the journey to the Americas and the Carribean. The door is currently a famous part of the guided tour of the castle.

Ghana 'Year of Return' campaign aims at slave descendants

Year of Return commemorates 400 years of the start of the transatlantic slave trade.
PoliticsJuly 9, 2019
A Pakistani girl holds up a marriage certificate

Pakistani brides tricked into sexual slavery

Rights activists estimate that as many as 1,000 young women from Pakistan's impoverished Christian minority have been trafficked to China and forced into prostitution. The criminal networks lure their victims with promises of a wealthy husband and a better life in China. But the reality awaiting them couldn't be more different.
CrimeJuly 3, 201905:44 min
Nike's controversial shoe featuring colonial-era flag

Nike withdraws sneaker for controversial flag

A shoe from the US firm featuring a former version of the American flag has been withdrawn.
PoliticsJuly 3, 2019
Soburn, an 11-year-old girl, collects what can be used as food for pigs at landfill dumpsite outside Siem Reap March 19, 2015

Cambodia jails translator over child sex documentary

A Cambodian court has imprisoned a translator for his work on a film about sex trafficking in Cambodia.
PoliticsJune 26, 2019
The family tree of Lorna Gail Woods, a direct descendant of slave ship Clotilda survivor Charlie Lewis, in Africatown

Wreck of last US slave ship Clotilda found

The ship continued to sail decades after transporting slaves to the US was outlawed.
HistoryMay 23, 2019
A view of Elmina Castle showing the white outside walls of the fort

Ghana's crumbling castles are a grim reminder of its slave trade past

This year, Ghana is marking the 400th anniversary of the start of the slave trade.
HistoryApril 3, 20199 images
A factory in Chongqing, China

Dutch shipbuilder in the dock

A North Korean man is suing a Dutch firm over claims it profited from contact with a Polish firm he says enslaved him.
BusinessFebruary 14, 2019
A painting of slaves dancing on a plantation in South Carolina

Slave trade survivor

In the 1920s, the last US slave trade survivor told his experiences. They've now been published. Ashley Byrne reports.
SocietyFebruary 9, 201909:11 min
Banner reading "There is dictatorship in Hungary" at a protest in Budapest against the country's new labor reforms

Fresh protests against Hungary's 'slave law'

Thousands have once again rallied in Budapest, with the country's largest union threatening to call a general strike.
PoliticsJanuary 5, 2019
A fully veiled woman in Frankfurt in 2011

German IS wife 'let child die of thirst'

German prosecutors have charged a woman with taking a 5-year-old as a slave in Syria and letting the girl die of thirst.
CrimeDecember 28, 2018