Can you still buy slaves

Many of them were beaten and even burned, and barely given enough food to live. The trafficking of women and children into forced marriages and the sex trade is also a huge issue, according to the GSI. Female immigrants who are in the country illegally and reach out to others for help are especially at risk of being secretly sold as brides. An estimated 20, to 30, North Korean women were living in China and enduring different types of slavery in , The Christian Science Monitor reports.

In Uzbekistan, 3. The country is one of the largest producers of cotton, but at great cost; every year, the government forces over one million citizens to work in the cotton fields for weeks on end, Geographical reports.

And only people of pure mind and beautiful soul are capable of farming it. According to slavery expert Siddharth Kara, modern slave traders now earn up to 30 times more than their 18th and 19th century counterparts would have done. Human trafficking is just one way of enslaving someone. Trafficking involves the recruitment, transfer or obtaining of an individual through coercion, abduction, fraud or force to exploit them.

That exploitation can range from forced labour to forced marriage or commercial sex work — and the exploiter can be anyone, including strangers, neighbours or family members. Most people are trafficked within their own countries , although they can also be trafficked abroad; most often the individual is trafficked into forced labour.

Guardian investigations have revealed a slew of abuses from Qatar to Thailand, India to the United States. Qatar was forced to take action after revelations of abusive practices foisted on migrant workers helping build its infrastructure for the World Cup. Trafficking on to fishing boats is still widespread , particularly in south-east and east Asia, where men are lured by the promise of jobs in agriculture or construction, then drugged or beaten and wake up at sea.

There is no definitive answer to this question. But the law was not popular with everyone. Apps including 4Sale and Instagram enable employers to sell the sponsorship of their domestic workers to other employers, for a profit. This bypasses the agencies, and creates an unregulated black market which leaves women more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. This online slave market is not just happening in Kuwait. In Saudi Arabia, the investigation found hundreds of women being sold on Haraj, another popular commodity app.

There were hundreds more on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The BBC team travelled to Guinea to try to contact the family of Fatou, the child they had discovered being offered for sale in Kuwait. Every year hundreds of women are trafficked from here to the Gulf as domestic workers. Fatou was found by the Kuwaiti authorities and taken to the government-run shelter for domestic workers.

Two days later she was deported back to Guinea for being a minor. She told the BBC about her experience working in three households during her nine months in Kuwait: "They used to shout at me and call me an animal. It hurt, it made me sad, but there was nothing I could do.

Now she is back at school in Conakry, where the BBC visited her. My life is better now. I feel like I'm coming back from slavery. Shop with businesses that are transparent, examine their supply chains and buy fair trade or locally-sourced products.

We've reviewed dozens of companies and certification processes, so that we better understand which brands and product lines are slave-free. Download our free guide to learn which coffee, chocolate, home goods and other brands are okay to purchase.

It's intimidating, but checking out which products you use are connected to slave labor is eye-opening! Products labeled "fair trade" are produced in an ethical manner , which include fair labor conditions, fair prices, community development and environmental sustainability.

See our list of featured fair trade products and companies here.