Speaking at the commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, held in the General Assembly Hall (photo), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited the words of renowned Martinique-born poet Aimé Césaire, who cautioned against the risks of complacency and “spectatorship” when faced with the evils of human bondage.

“We must be more than spectators. While we recall slavery’s horrors, we must also address the lingering consequences. While we remember the victims, we pledge to fight for equality, justice and peace,” Ban urged, before adding that this was “the most meaningful way” to honour the memory of those victimized by slavery. While we recall slavery’s horrors, we must also address the lingering consequences. While we remember the victims, we pledge to fight for equality, justice and peace.

Over the course of the past week, this year’s commemoration – falling under the theme Forever Free: Celebrating Emancipation – paid tribute to the emancipation of slaves across the world through films, music, dance, poetry, exhibitions and literature.

In addition, original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the two documents credited with ending slavery in the US, were placed on public display at UN Headquarters.

Ban called yesterday’s event “the culmination of a series of powerful remembrances,” highlighting the importance of memory in fighting future instances of slavery.

“We are here to recall the struggle of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade,” he stated. “We remember their degradation and deaths. And we teach future generations to remember as well.”

In his address, Ken Kanda, Ambassador of Ghana and General Assembly Vice President, warned that the “profound social and economic inequality, hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice,” which many people of African descent around the world continue to endure today was “a distressing and stubborn legacy of this heinous trade in human beings.”

In particular, he underscored that today’s meeting was an opportunity to reflect on the past without losing sight of the present, in which “the unspeakable horror of slavery persists” in numerous forms around the world.

“Forced labour and child labour, the trafficking of persons, the recruitment of child soldiers, the sexual exploitation of women, have all been identified by the United Nations as contemporary forms of slavery,” Kanda declared.

He pointed out that although modern enslavement was neither as systematic nor institutionalized as its historic incarnation, it remained difficult to eradicate due to its clandestine nature.

“The majority of those people who suffer belong to the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized social groups in society,” he remarked.

“This meeting of nations of the General Assembly, this great pantheon of hope for humanity, must place an active role to ensure slavery is ultimately eradicated once and for all time.”

The Secretary-General, in a separate message for the Day, noted that this year not only marks 150 years since the freeing of slaves in the US but also other milestones.

In 1833, slavery ended in Canada, the British West Indies and the Cape of Good Hope. Some 170 years ago, the Indian Slavery Act of 1843 was signed. Slavery was abolished 165 years ago in France; 160 years ago in Argentina; 150 years ago in the former Dutch colonies; and 125 years ago in Brazil.

Forced labour includes people coerced into jobs which they cannot leave, trapped in debt bondage, trafficked for sexual exploitation and even born into slavery, according to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

“While most countries have adopted legislation criminalizing forced labour, punishment is not always strong enough to act as a deterrent, in some cases amounting to fines or very short prison sentences,” the agency said in a press release.

Many forced labour victims work hidden from public view, on fishing vessels and construction sites, in commercial agriculture and in factories. Identifying these victims remains a major challenge. The ILO reported that some countries fail to sufficiently support labour inspections which allow cases of abuse or possible abuse to be found before degenerating into forced labour.

“Forced labour encompasses brick kiln workers trapped in a vicious cycle of debt, children trafficked for forced begging and domestic workers deceived about their conditions of work,” according to the report.

There are an estimated 5.5 million children under the age of 18 forced into labour, or about 26 per cent of the 21 million victims worldwide.

According to the report’s authors, “vestiges of slavery” still survive in some countries, where “conditions of slavery continue to be transmitted by birth to individuals who are compelled to work for their master without payment” to pay off inherited family debt.

Domestic workers, the majority of whom are women and girls, are often victims of abusive practices by employers, such as non-payment of wages, deprivation of liberty, and physical and sexual abuse.

Forced sexual exploitation affects about 4.5 million people or 21 per cent of forced labour, according to 2012 figures released in the report.

In some cases, the victims are children trafficked across borders and abused. The ILO warns trafficking of people could increase in the future as a result of unemployment and as workers search for jobs in foreign countries.

Youth are especially vulnerable as they increasingly face bleak job prospects, with almost 74 million people in the 15-to-24 age group unemployed around the world, translating into a 12.4 per cent unemployment rate, ILO said in its Global Employment Trends report released last month.

ILO’s report is being released ahead of a meeting set for next week in Geneva with experts on forced labour representing government, workers and employers. The meeting will focus on prevention, victim protection, including compensation and trafficking for labour exploitation, and will re-examine the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention.

The 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labour found that the Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number of the 20.9 million forced labourers in the world – 11.7 million, or 56 per cent, of the global total. This is followed by Africa at 3.7 million and Latin America with 1.8 million victims.

According to ILO, forced labour takes different forms, including debt bondage, trafficking and other forms of modern slavery, with the victims normally the most vulnerable – women and girls forced into prostitution, migrants trapped in debt bondage, and sweatshop or farm workers kept there by clearly illegal tactics and paid little or nothing.

In the new estimates, 18.7 million people – 90 per cent of the total – are exploited in the private economy, by individuals or enterprises. Of these, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation and 14.2 million are victims of forced labour exploitation in economic activities, such as agriculture, construction, domestic work or manufacturing.

Another 2.2 million people are in state-imposed forms of forced labour, such as in prisons under conditions which violate ILO standards, or in work imposed by the state military or by rebel armed forces.

The ILO also found that 5.5 million forced labourers, or 26 per cent, are below 18 years of age.

“We have come a long way over the last seven years since we first put an estimate on how many people were forced into labour or services across the world,” the head of the ILO’s Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, Beate Andrees, said in a news release. “We have made good progress in ensuring most countries now have legislation in place which criminalises forced labour, human trafficking and slavery-like practices.”

She noted that it is now necessary to focus on better identification and prosecution of forced labour and related offences such as human trafficking.

“The successful prosecution of those few individuals who bring such misery to so many remains inadequate – this needs to change,” Ms. Andrees said. “We must also ensure that the number of victims does not rise during the current economic crisis where people are increasingly vulnerable to these heinous practices.”

The ILO hopes that the availability of more accurate information on the problem will enable the international community to take more effective measures to end the crime of forced labour.