What is Debt Bondage?
Debt bondage, also known as bonded labor, is a means by which traffickers exploit people and trap them in human trafficking. As payment for debt, traffickers offer individuals the ability to work to pay off the debt.
What Does Debt Bondage Look Like?
First, a victim is offered a job to pay off a debt. Next, the victim is paid below the minimum wage. Then, the trafficker adds more to the debt for items such as shelter or food. The debt then continues to increase because of the added expenses. In the end, the victim’s debt continues to increase and they can never pay it off.
“Bonded labor, also known as debt bondage and peonage, happens when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan or when they inherit a debt from a relative. It can be made to look like an employment agreement but one where the worker starts with a debt to repay – usually in brutal conditions – only to find that repayment of the loan is impossible. Then, their enslavement becomes permanent.”
End Slavery Now
How Does Bonded Labor Continue?
Debt is passed down to the next generation. End Slavery Now explains that when someone dies without paying off their debt, the next generation has to work to pay it off. This means that children pay the debts of their parents and accrue more debt in the process. Bonded labor is an endless cycle.
Who is at Risk?
Migrant workers are one of the most vulnerable groups to debt bondage. These individuals are looking for work in a new country. Migrant workers usually do not know the culture, and traffickers often exploit these people adding their immigration expenses to their debt. In addition, traffickers sometimes hold immigration documents as collateral.
What Does Forced Labor?
Bonded labor work is often done in brick kilns, agriculture, and industry. The work is typically hard labor jobs that no one wants to do. Forced labor can look like work on tea plantations or in textile factories.
What Does the Center for Global Justice Do?
The Center for Global Justice advances the rule of law and combats human trafficking. The Center educates students on the issues as well as provides pro-bono legal support to human rights organizations that are working on the front lines to combat these issues, including Justice Ventures International. Please learn more about us here. Please contact us at globaljustice@regent.edu for more information on how to combat debt bondage. In addition, please subscribe to our mailing list for more content.