Slavery exists everywhere, yet it is illegal; everywhere (Kristine, 2012).
This chilling statement is a fact, yet most people would not recognize its existence in today’s society. Tens of millions of people are enslaved today (Free the Slaves, 2015c). 78 percent of today’s slaves are in the labour industry, 22 percent are in the sex trade industry, 55 percent are women and girls, and 26 percent are children under the age of 18 (Free the Slaves, 2015c). Shocking? Yes, but the message was clear to me when viewing the TED Talk by Lisa Kristine, “Photos that bear witness to modern slavery” (Kristine, 2012). I was drawn to this topic because I am an activist for human rights. After I attended “We Day Waterloo” in 2010, I was awakened to this global issue. By the same token, a family friend shed light on his partnership with Ratanak International, after traveling to Cambodia on a rescue and rehabilitation project for victims of sex slavery. I want my essay to continue spreading the message about modern day slavery and be able to …show more content…
Kristine met, and initially became involved with an NGO, Free the Slaves, at the Vancouver Peace Summit; who are dedicated to eradicating modern day slavery (Kristine, 2012). Kristine and Free the Slaves travelled to multiple countries around the world documenting and providing relief within different slave industries (Kristine, 2012). The locations and industries included brick kilns and quarries in Nepal and India, sex trafficking in Nepal, the textile industry in India, and the fishing industry and gold mines in Ghana (Kristine, 2012). Kristine documented photos of individuals that were enslaved while holding candles to illuminate their stories to the rest of world (Kristine, 2012). The images did not represent issues, but represented people that deserve basic human rights, dignity and respect in their lives (Kristine,