Unfree labour

Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to members of their families. Many of these forms of work may be covered by the term forced labour, although this tends to imply forms based on violence. Unfree labour includes all forms of slavery. (Although serfdom is technically a form of unfree labour, the term "serf" is usually only used in relation to pre-modern societies, under feudal political systems.)

The present situation

The International Labor Organization estimates that:

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• 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour
• more than 2.4 million have been trafficked
• 9.8 million are exploited by private agents
• 2.5 million are forced to work by the state or by rebel military groups

The profits from forced trafficked labor are estimated to be in excess of $30 billion dollars.

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