Contemporary Slavery: Understanding the New Face to an Old Evil

June 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Contemporary Slavery: Understanding the New Face to an Old Evil


09.00 – 12.00

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Room P5B001, PHS Building, European Parliament, 60 Rue Wiertz, Brussels



Brussels, 11 June 2012 –  There are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history. This deplorable phenomenon, that deprives human beings of their fundamental human rights, still occurs despite the fact that all governments officially abolished slavery.

Modern-day slavery, although not a very visible phenomenon, can take many different forms, from debt bondage and domestic work to descent-based slavery and human trafficking, all of them keeping human beings in a vulnerable and exploitable position.

This situation spreads from the refugees working in South East Asian sweatshops to the domestic slaves of Mauritania and permeates Europe’s borders, with the sexual trafficking of adults and minors and exploitation of  economic migrants.

To address this persistent but neglected international issue, Metin Kazak, MEP, will convene the conference “Contemporary Slavery: Understanding the New Face to an Old Evil” in the European Parliament, Brussels on 27 June 2012 from 09.00-12.00.  

Providing insights and recommendations will be Gulnara Shahinian (UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery), Gert Bogers (EC Trafficking in Human Beings), Irene Wintermayr (ILO), Barbara Caracciolo (SOLIDAR), Joanna Ewart-James (Anti-Slavery International), Artwell Cain (Ninsee), Ulrich Delius (Society for Threatened Peoples), and Donka Patrova (Animus Association Foundation).

By bringing together actors working to make a substantial change to the inhumane situation 30 million people find themselves in, this conference is an important step in tackling the malign phenomenon of contemporary slavery and putting forward concrete proposals for action now and into the future.

To attend, please send full name, nationality, date of birth, passport number, place of residence and organization to m.vanwalleghem@unpo.org or call +32 251 314 59.

Deadline for registration is 21 June 2012.