Mexico And Peru Among The Countries With The Most People Living In Modern Day Slavery

According to the Global Slavery Index, in America it is estimated that there are more than 2 million people caught in some form of modern day slavery.  Mexico has the highest number of all countries in the Americas with 376,800 slaves. Peru has the third highest number in the Americas and is 18^th on a list of 181 countries worldwide, with much of the population suffering from the denial of their freedom to choose their own destiny.  This is according to the report presented by the Walk Free foundation the last week of May 2016.

Mexico, with an estimated 376,800 people in slavery, has .29% of its total population enslaved.  The Global Slavery Index detected red flags in Mexico in sexual exploitation, as well as forced labor in construction, manufacturing, farming, and retail sales. 

Human trafficking affects men, women, and children and can take the shape of forced labor, sexual exploitation, and forced begging.  It is worth mentioning that the forced labor affects primarily men and women in the agricultural, mining, construction, and domestic service industries, primarily in North and Central America and the Caribbean.  However, forced labor is also common among indigenous groups in Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. 

In the same way, the gold mines of Colombia and Peru compared to other American countries, had the greatest prevalence of sexual violence and human trafficking.  In Peru it was estimated in 2010, in just one single mining camp, there were 2,000 sex slaves, 60% of whom were children.  In 2011 it was estimated that 1,200 children between the ages of 12-17 were victims of sex trafficking through the mining industry. 

The countries in the Americas that have the lowest rates of human trafficking are Canada (.018%), the United States (.018%), and Brazil (.078%) in that order.  However Brazil with an estimated 161,100 slaves and the United States with an estimated 57,700 slaves still show significant statistics in terms of the total number of captives in this modern day slavery, and there is still a lot of work to be done there as well.