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.

In his statement marking the Day, celebrated each year on 2 December, Ban noted that despite the approval of the Slavery Convention 85 years ago in which signatories vowed to prevent and suppress the slave trade, the practice had acquired new manifestations as it adapted to an ever-changing world.

“The movement against slavery brought together the international community to declare that slavery practices constitute an affront to our common humanity and that no human being should be another’s property,” stated Ban.

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery marks the date of the adoption by the General Assembly of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on 2 December 1949.

The Day’s focus is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as debt bondage, serfdom and forced labour; trafficking of persons and trafficking for the purpose of organ removal; sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, but also forced marriage, the sale of wives, widow inheritance.

According to the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), some 21 million women, men and children are currently trapped in slavery all over the world.

Pointing to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, the Secretary-General acknowledged that the UN already boasted “important tools” to advance the goal of slavery’s eradication but that maintaining adequate financing was difficult.

“Over the past two decades, the Fund has assisted tens of thousands of victims of slavery in more than 90 countries. Yet the fund is in dire need of funding to fulfill its mandate and respond to the growing need,” Ban said as he appealed for governments and private enterprises to funnel investments into the Fund’s activities.

“Together, let us do our utmost for the millions of victims throughout the world who are held in slavery and deprives of their human rights and dignity,” the UN chief stated.

Drawing a particular emphasis on the nexus between bondage and forced marriage, the UN independent expert on contemporary forms of slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, also called for greater anti-slavery legislation, including the criminalization of all servile marriages.

“Women and girls who are forced to marry and find themselves in servile marriages for the rest of their lives,” Shahinian said in a statement for the Day. “Women and girls should not be forced to marry. Women and girls should not be forced to spend their life time in slavery. Nothing can justify that.”

The UN expert noted that women in servile marriages frequently experience human rights violations, such as domestic servitude and sexual slavery, and often suffer from violations to their right to health, education, non-discrimination and freedom from physical, psychological and sexual violence.

She added, however, that solely focusing on the criminalization of servile marriages would not succeed in effectively combating the problem.

“Such legislation should go hand in hand with community programmes to help detect, provide advice, rehabilitation, education and shelter where necessary,” the statement continued. “Public awareness raising campaigns should be implemented to highlight the nature and harm caused by forced and early marriages.”