[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] called Wednesday for an end to modern slavery during remarks [text] at the unveiling of The Ark of Return, Memorial to the Victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. He stated that the memorial will commemorate the millions of victims of the transatlantic slave trade. He honored the women of Africa who constitute one-third of the slaves traded from Africa. Ban also said,”I hope The Ark of Return will also serve as a call to action against the many contemporary manifestations of slavery, from human trafficking and sexual enslavement to debt bondage.” He said the memorial reemphasizes the goals of the UN set forth 70 years ago to protect human rights and dignity of all people.

Approximately 36 million people in the world live in a form of modern slavery [JURIST report], the Global Slavery Index (GSI) [advocacy website] reported [text, PDF] in November. For the purposes of the study, GSI defined modern slavery as involving “one person possessing or controlling another person in such as a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty, with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal.” The data found within the 2014 report was based on random sampling surveys which GSI claims used an improved methodology to uncover statistics of modern slavery that have been previously unknown. The report also provided an analysis of how governments are working to eliminate acts of modern slavery within their countries and which nations are vulnerable to continued human rights violations. GSI found that countries with government instability and high levels of prejudice have the highest levels of modern slavery and are the most vulnerable.