Read the Topic Sheet

At least 12.3 million people around the world are trapped in forced labour. Forced labour takes different forms and targets the most vulnerable victims – women and girls forced into prostitution, migrants trapped in debt bondage, and sweatshop or farm workers kept there by clearly illegal tactics (e.g. confiscated ID papers) and paid little or nothing.

Source: adapted from ILO http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Forced_Labour/lang--en/index.htm

Modern slavery may for instance take the form of domestic bondage.
Women, men and children who work as domestic workers may be subjected to degrading living and working conditions, equivalent to the conditions experienced by victims of slavery. Because this target group works in the privacy of the home, the abuse is usually “invisible”, and often difficult to detect and tackle.
Victims are recruited in their home country directly by employers who promise a well-paid job, or schooling in Europe in the case of minors. Some are recruited via employment agencies, in particular as domestic staff workers for diplomats, in which case the employer is protected by diplomatic immunity and court actions often prove to be virtually impossible.

Source: adapted and/or translated from Victims of trafficking http://victimsoftrafficking.esclavagemoderne.org/UK/index.html

Rape is defined as a non-consensual sexual act forced upon the victim by physical force or coercion, including but not limited to vaginal, anal or oral penetration. This type of sexual violence is sometimes used among other as a “weapon of war” in armed conflicts.

Sexual violence is a pervasive global health and human rights problem. In some countries approximately one in four women may experience sexual violence by an intimate partner. Sexual violence has profound immediate and long-term consequences on women's physical and mental health.

Source: WHO http://www.who.int/gender/violence/sexual_violence/en/index.html

The following may be qualified as sexual violence:
- Rape or attempted rape
- Sexual assaults
- Incest
- Sexual harassment
- Paedophilia
- Female genital mutilation
- and any other forms of non-consensual sexual physical abuse