U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

69–751 CC WASHINGTON : 2001

S. HRG. 106–881

SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

SEPTEMBER 28, 2000

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman

RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana

CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon

ROD GRAMS, Minnesota

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas

CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming

JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri

BILL FRIST, Tennessee

LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware

PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin

PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota

BARBARA BOXER, California

ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey

STEPHEN E. BIEGUN, Staff Director

EDWIN K. HALL, Minority Staff Director

(II)

CONTENTS

Page

Dr. Kevin Bales, Trustee, Anti-Slavery International, United Kingdom ............ 20

Disposable People: An Introduction to the New Slavery ................................ 24

Francis Bok, Associate, American Anti-Slavery Group ........................................ 18

Caruso, Stacy, Student, Member of the S.T.O.P. Campaign ................................ 6

Cadet, Jean Robert .................................................................................................. 43

Cimino, Nicole, Student, Member of the S.T.O.P. Campaign .............................. 8

Cho, Dong Hyan, Student, Member of the S.T.O.P. Campaign ........................... 5

Hayes, Charles, III, Student, Member of the S.T.O.P. Campaign ....................... 6

Jacobs, Dr. Charles, President, American Anti-Slavery Group ........................... 14

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16

Teyeb, Moctar ........................................................................................................... 37

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40

Vogel, Barbara, Founder, S.T.O.P. Campaign; Educational Director, American

Anti-Slavery Group .............................................................................................. 10

Young, Kristin, Student, Member of the S.T.O.P. Campaign .............................. 7

(III)

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SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Thursday, September 28, 2000

U.S. SENATE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:37 a.m. in Room

SD-419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jesse Helms presiding.

Present: Senator Helms, Senator Brownback

The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order. This is the

morning that Senator Brownback and I have been awaiting for a

long time. I fell in love with this group of young people—when was

it? How long has it been?

Ms. VOGEL. June.

The CHAIRMAN. June. And I love you for what you are and what

you stand for and what you are trying to do. And it is a special

personal pleasure to welcome all of you to study the issue of slavery throughout the world. And it is a pleasure because Barbara

Vogel, seated right there, and her students are very special in a

very special way. And they have come all the way from Aurora,

Colorado, as they did this past spring, to campaign against slavery

in the Sudan.

Now, as I was mentioning a minute ago, when I first met this

group of young people, I was so impressed by their enthusiasm that

I invited them to come back to discuss the practice of slavery in

the Sudan before the committee in a formal sort of way. What you

say and what you do is being taped by a very fine network:

CSPAN. I am delighted to see all you young people this morning

and I hope you will not miss too much school in order to come and

be with us.

We also welcome our additional witnesses, Mr. Francis Bok, and

Dr. Charles Jacobs from The American Anti-Slavery Group, and

Dr. Kevin Bales from the University of Surrey, Mr. Jean-Robert

Cadet from the University of Cincinnati, and Mr. Moctar Teyeb,

the United States Coordinator for El-Hor.

Now, let me explain that the Foreign Relations Committee has

conducted numerous past hearings focusing on specific examples of

human suffering throughout the world. This is a meaningful thing

for many of us.

Senator Brownback has been a leader. And perhaps some of you

know Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, who is conducting

his ministry in part in that part of the world.

We have found an abundance of witnesses to describe such problems as war and famine and torture and religious persecution,

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among other deplorable suffering. But the issue that raises such a

broad emotional response is slavery.

The pitiful plight of so many in our world today, that even one

person is enslaved is such a shocking consideration that it defies

comprehension. Slavery is too real in so many parts of the world;

and most people do not realize that. And that is the reason that

Senator Brownback and I, and others, have felt obliged to raise this

issue formally and officially in the United States Senate.

We want to work and to try to make sure that this cruel conduct

is ended. Slavery is such an emotionally charged issue, and I believe it is imperative that we look carefully at the circumstances

giving rise to it.

So once again, I look at you, and you are a handsome group bless

your hearts, and I appreciate your coming.

[The prepared statement of Chairman Helms follows:

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR JESSE HELMS

It’s a special, personal pleasure for me to welcome our witnesses this morning,

as the Foreign Relations Committee studies the issue of slavery throughout the

world.

It’s a pleasure because Barbara Vogel and her students are very special to me.

They have come all the way from Aurora, Colorado, as they did this past Spring

to campaign against slavery in the Sudan.

When I first met with this group of young people, I was so impressed by their

enthusiasm that I invited them back to discuss the awful practice of slavery in

Sudan before the Committee. I am delighted to see them again this morning, and

I hope they will not miss too much school work in order to come here.

We also welcome our additional witnesses: Mr. Francis Bok and Dr. Charles Jacobs from the American Anti-Slavery Group; Dr. Kevin Bales, from the University

of Surrey; Mr. Jean-Robert Cadet, from the University of Cincinnati; and Mr.

Moctar Teyeb, the United States Coordinator for El-Hor.

The Foreign Relations Committee has conducted numerous past hearings focusing

on specific examples of human suffering throughout the world. We have found an

abundance of witnesses to describe such problems as war, famine, torture, and religious persecution—among other deplorable suffering.

But the issue raising such a broad emotional response is slavery. The pitiful

plight of so many in our world today, that even one person is enslaved is such a

shocking consideration that it defies all logic. But slavery is all too real in parts of

the world, and I feel obliged to raise this issue, and to work to try and make sure

this vile, cruel conduct is ended.

Slavery is such an emotionally charged issue, and I believe it is imperative that

we must carefully look at all the revolting circumstances giving rise to this vicious

inhumanity—particularly in the Sudan. Whether it is religious persecution, manmade famine, or slavery, human suffering is unacceptable in all its forms, whenever

and wherever it happens.

Once again, it is with pleasure that I welcome our witnesses, and I look forward

to hearing your testimony.

The CHAIRMAN. And now I am going to call on Senator

Brownback for any comments he may have.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. This

is an historic hearing; and I sit here looking at these young brilliant faces, and I think of the verse of a child shall lead them. This

group from Aurora, Colorado, what they are doing to speak to the

world about what we would consider unspeakable in the year 2000,

that slavery exists and it continues yet today.

And to my knowledge, this is the first hearing in recent times

that this committee or any committee in the Congress has heard

from past slaves, people who have been enslaved. And I met with

two of the three gentlemen that will be testifying today. And I

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think the stories that they will reveal will be absolutely, they will

be shocking to all of us.

I am honored to join Senator Helms in raising this critical issue

that still troubles us in the world. It is an issue with historic significance to me growing up in Kansas, a state that was born in the

battle in our country over whether it would be a free or a slave

state. My mother used to own the property where John Brown

would stay when he was in Kansas during those days of what is

referred to as Bleeding Kansas. Because it was under self-determination that we would come in a slave or a free state. And many

people lost their lives in that battle and that fight.

But they wanted freedom and they stood for freedom and they

fought for it. And people moved to Kansas at that time, not particularly looking for economic opportunity. But they moved there

specifically to see that the place would be free. They were called

abolitionists.

I see some of them at the table today, the ancestors have gone

before them. And here is the next generation to come forward as

abolitionists.

We also have testifying Dr. Kevin Bales. I have his book and I

have read portions of it already. And I look forward to reading the

rest of it. He will attest that slavery is a worldwide practice with

at least 27 million in bondage.

It comes in numerous forms, but it is always degrading. Young

men from northeast Brazil are forced into slavery in Amazonia, defrauded into working in remote camps without pay. Sydney’s

women and children are abducted as booty, suffering religious persecution, marriage, so to speak, to their rapist, physical branding

as well as heart breaking loss of home, family and identity.

Young girls are forced into temple prostitution in remote villages

while other children throughout Southeast Asia are forced into

bonded labor for decades as collateral for loans amounting to as little as $50.

You will hear about people known as restavecs who suffer the indignities of slavery peculiar to Haiti. We have a witness to testify

who has written a book on that and has experienced that.

We will hear about Mauritania where approximately half of the

population is enslaved. The Arabs enslaving the Africans in an institutionalized unbroken chain reaching back at least 700 years.

Recently, the subcommittee I chaired for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, heard testimony in two previous hearings on

the international trafficking of persons which is another form of

slavery, sex trafficking.

According to our government estimates, at least 50,000 women

and children are trafficked into America each year. And the CIA

reports globally the number is approximately 700,000. They also

estimate that in the next 10 to 20 years this trade may exceed the

drug trade in value.

Today Senator Wellstone and I will attend a conference with the

House on our Senate legislation which combats trafficking, one of

the largest manifestations of slavery today.

Slavery comes in many forms, but its methods are chillingly repetitious. Slavers employ force or fraud to trap their victims into a

life of exploitation, somehow escaping the indigenous legal system.

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Slavers trap the unsuspecting with false contracts and empty

promises involving better work in a factory, shop or restaurant.

Slavers strip their prey of all legal documents after transport to a

strange country. These same people are then fraudulently forced

into years of bondage to pay off the price of their abduction and

keep.

I personally met with a number of young girls in Nepal and Katmandu earlier this year who had been trafficked, mostly by deception and trickery, into India, into the brothels, the sex trade there,

at ages 11, 12 and 13 years of age. They were coming back to

Nepal, having been released in some cases because of illness, in

some cases being found and brought back by family members. Twothirds of them, Mr. Chairman, had AIDS and/or tuberculosis coming back. Girls at the very point of entering adulthood with a death

sentence. It is one of the most tragic things I have seen anywhere.

You will hear testimony from three people who were formerly

enslaved in Sudan, Mauritania and Haiti, all countries where slavery is common if not even prevalent. In Sudan, slavery is an act

of war. While in Mauritania and Haiti, it takes a different form,

including people born into generational slavery which promises the

same degrading fate to their children and offspring with little hope

of escape.

While working against Sudanese slavery, I was reminded of a

time in our nation’s history when we also tolerated and even condoned slavery. This turbulent and grievous history, however, also

includes a great courage and perseverence among the African

Americans who suffered slavery and fought for freedom.

As I contemplated this history, I wondered why there were no

museums, such as the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in

Washington, D.C., dedicated to telling this story. We have many

fine museums which tell bits and pieces, but none are dedicated to

telling the whole incredible story of the African American struggle

as it relates to slavery on a national level. That is why I am exploring ways to honor and remember those who suffered in that plight

and in that terrible situation in our country. I would enjoin others

to join me in that effort.

We will hear compelling testimony today from people who have

dedicated their lives revealing the truth about modern day slavery.

These are abolitionists in the great traditionalists of William

Wilberforst. These are the new abolitionists, including Dr. Charles

Jacobs of the American Anti-Slavery Group as well as Barbara

Vogel and her children that are assembled in front of us today from

Highline Community School. We will hear testimony from Dr.

Kevin Bales, as I mentioned, who has written a definitive book on

this.

All this I go to say that this is an important topic and real people

are being impacted in many places. And I look forward to this light

being shined on such an important dark subject. Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, for holding the hearing.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. Barbara, I am going to ask

you to be sort of a lieutenant of ours and you introduce each of

these young people and tell us anything that you will about their

special personality and so forth. So the floor is yours and you may

proceed.

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Ms. VOGEL. Senator Helms, thank you. May God add, and I know

he already has, another star to your crown. First, this is Dong Cho.

And you should never give a teacher that license to brag about her

children. This could take far too long. I would say that each of

these children are our blessing and our future and truly are the

most remarkable—as all children are—human beings. I had all

these children for two years in fourth and fifth grade. Dong is now

in sixth grade.

This is Stacy Caruso. And she is a lovely human being. She is

here today. Stacy has been through many difficulties in her life.

And that has caused her to understand the pain of others. And she

will testify about that.

This is Charles Hayes, III, who you will hear him testify his family was enslaved in the south. And Charles here is to represent his

family, his people and his country. And you will hear that in his

testimony.

This is Kristin Young. Kristin has herself been a victim of hurt

in her life, beyond what any of you would like to know. But Kristin

has put that aside. If you look at her, you do not see it. You are

looking at a pillar of strength and a heart much bigger than this

room.

Nicole Cimino is on the end. The little one. We have the little

ones anchoring the ends. This will probably be our first woman

President of the United States down here. So get ready.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. I tell you we are going to start from

this end. Nicole, we will call on you first. Does that scare you to

death? No, it does not.

Ms. VOGEL. Senator Helms, would it be all right when the children decided to practice, they decided to go kind of this order.

Would that be okay?

The CHAIRMAN. Okay.

Ms. VOGEL. They have kind of a reason for doing that.

The CHAIRMAN. I usually start at the left because in our grown

up witnesses they get more and more conservative as they get to

this. You may proceed, sir. And pull the microphone a little bit

closer and speak up. That is right.

STATEMENT OF DONG HYAN CHO, STUDENT, MEMBER OF THE

S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN

Mr. CHO. The S.T.O.P. campaign has changed my life forever!

The S.T.O.P. campaign gave birth to my larger and more noble

heart. It taught me that everybody was not free in the world that

we live in. It showed me love for all people. The S.T.O.P. campaign

transformed me into an adolescent abolitionist. As my heart grew,

so did my hope to eradicate slavery. The S.T.O.P. campaign is also

a campaign of hope for the Sudanese people.

The campaign has grown to include schools in all fifty states and

many countries around the world. As it grew so did our message

that there is still slavery in the world today.

The government should get involved and not sit idly by. Even

though Sudan is far away, the children are still people just like us

and they deserve our help.

Article four of the Declaration of Human Rights states that slavery and servitude in all its forms are outlawed in the world. Doing

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nothing only makes it worse for the Sudanese people and breaks

international laws.

We are just kids and we have helped free over 35,000 slaves in

Sudan. Our government is probably the most powerful government

in the world, and if they are so powerful, why can’t they help free

the Sudanese people?

I have to do homework, chores, and go to school and I still have

time to help. Is Congress too busy? Why can’t the Congress take

real action to get these people out of this horrific tragedy?

We have asked our government for over three years to help. How

much longer will we have to wait for an answer?

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, sir. Well done. Now, you want Stacy

to go next? Stacy, you are on.

STATEMENT OF STACY CARUSO, STUDENT, MEMBER OF THE

S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN

Ms. CARUSO. Over two million dead and the only ones that seem

to care are children. Can you believe that these children are making such a big difference in this world?

Well, I can, because I am one of them.

The S.T.O.P. Campaign has helped free over 35,000 slaves in

Sudan. I have never felt so bad about a tragedy in this world as

I do about this one. I have put my heart and soul into stopping

slavery. This is wrong and adults are not doing enough. Children

are doing more than the government to end slavery.

God made us different. But just because these children live half

way around the world and are different from me does not mean

they should be beaten, raped and mutilated. Every person in this

world has the right to be free.

I have put my heart into these people of Sudan and I will not

give up hope. We must do something about this.

The government’s lack of action has caused the Sudanese people

to give up hope. They think the world does not care. I have grown

up with many problems, and I understand the pain that they are

going through.

This is more than a problem, this is a holocaust. Two million people have died. Do you not see another holocaust in this? There are

more dying every day. So, please join us and free the slaves. Please

help free what I consider to be my worldwide family in this hopeless moment.

The CHAIRMAN. Bless your heart. Charles.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES HAYES, III, STUDENT, MEMBER OF

THE S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN

Mr. HAYES. I am here today to speak to you about the slaves in

Sudan who have lost all hope. When I first heard about slavery in

Sudan, I brought this issue to my parents, and they were shocked

that people of color were still enslaved. My parents then helped me

research my own family history. I learned that many of my ancestors had been held in slavery in North Carolina and were sold to

third parties with only the clothes on their back. After learning

that my ancestors were slaves, I found that the S.T.O.P. campaign

gave me the courage to pursue the issue of slavery.

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I know what the families feel like when their loved ones are captured and enslaved. I felt distraught and heart broken that this

was still going on in the world today. I vowed to make a difference

to my family, community and country. In the S.T.O.P. campaign,

we have achieved our goal of raising awareness, but we have not

succeeded in stopping slavery. We need your help and guidance.

Many of you who are here today have believed in us and we thank

you for showing empathy for the slaves and us. Yet, this has not

been enough. We still need our government to take a stand and

fight for the most precious gift of freedom.

What I would like is for our government to work together with

other countries to come up with a plan to retrieve and return all

Sudanese slaves to their villages. I would also like to help the other

27 million people who are in some sort of slavery, and I would like

for you to recognize and condemn all forms of slavery worldwide

and take action. Many, if not all, are children like me with mothers

like mine.

My classmates and I have grown into talented, smart and determined abolitionists. We have been questioned by some, but we will

not give up. We will call upon you until you take real action. We

hope to be the all-star team of kindness. We love all people even

those who criticize us for our actions. Love is what life is all about.

You may be thinking this is just a waste of time, but this is a matter of life and death.

This is also a matter of upholding the greatest principals that

are the foundation of your future and mine.

I thank you for taking the time to listen to my heart.

The CHAIRMAN. Charles, we thank you. Kristin.

STATEMENT OF KRISTIN YOUNG, STUDENT, MEMBER OF THE

S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN

Ms. YOUNG. I am Kristin Young and I am an abolitionist in the

S.T.O.P. Campaign. We are children and adults that fight against

the worst atrocity of modern times, slavery. I would like to ask the

President of the United States and the Congress if they would help

us to stop this human rights violation. The Sudanese are beautiful

African people that are being enslaved, beaten, raped, murdered,

and mutilated just because of their color, religion, and because of

greed. Two million have died and as I speak, many more are being

hurt and killed. This must stop. These beautiful people are just like

us, no different, and they need their freedom just like you and I.

If you take their freedom away, you have taken away their lives.

They have no hope. They live only with sorrow. I hope you will understand what is really happening to these loving people. Sudanese

do not need to suffer and hurt every day. Just think if you were

one of those sweet and caring people living under this violation of

human rights. I myself spent a day in D.C. with an escaped slave

named Francis Bok who was so sweet, intelligent, and caring. He

had soft, beautiful black skin and loving face. I was hurt inside

when I met him because he was enslaved as a child and abused

just because somebody did not want to do their own work. When

I met the other Sudanese, I broke into tears and was broken hearted. I could see the pain in each of their eyes and hearts. I crumbled

in my teacher’s arms and wept.

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I hope to speak with the President of the United States and tell

him what I feel. I am upset and angry because we have done so

much to help these people, but we can’t do it all. I will ask him

again to help us stop slavery. How many more letters do I have to

write before he listens to me? We have written the government for

three years now.

I appreciate all of your support and I know many of you here

have tried to get the President to listen and act. I need your help

to eradicate slavery in Sudan. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Now, Nicole, if you will pull the mike

over towards you and speak right into it. Sam, have you ever been

more impressed with any witnesses?

Senator BROWNBACK. No, I have not been.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF NICOLE CIMINO, STUDENT, MEMBER OF THE

S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN

Ms. CIMINO. For the past two years I have been one of the many

children participating in the S.T.O.P. Campaign. I joined this campaign feeling shocked about how people can treat other human

beings in a manner where they kill and beat them because of

greed. When I walked into the fourth grade, I had no idea that this

was going on and I knew immediately that I wanted to help stop

it. The objective of the S.T.O.P. Campaign is to bring awareness to

the world about the horrific tragedies going on in Sudan. Many

people have become aware and have joined our awareness campaign.

Some of the things I have learned and am trying to make other

people aware of is that two million people have died and more are

dying each day. Children are separated from their parents, and

many inhuman things are happening. Slavery is not only going on

in Sudan, but it is also going on in other parts of the world. It is

estimated that over 27 million people are in some form of slavery

today. Most of them children, just like me and their mothers, just

like mine. We must remember that it only takes one person to

make a difference and caring is never too complicated.

Unfortunately, not all of my classmates could be with us today,

but the following are some of the things that they have said regarding this subject. Amandeep Kaur says, ‘‘Freedom is what everybody needs, but not everybody has it. So, if you are free, use

your great heart to help others gain their freedom.’’ Alex Persinger

says, ‘‘Power is in people! Don’t be lazy, take action to help others.’’

Miriam Moreno says, ‘‘There is a sin, a sin from the past and kids

are doing something about it.’’

We need to stop this tragedy and we need your help in doing

this. It is, of course, the moral thing when seeing another human

being suffer to look after them.

We have continued to bring awareness about this issue and will

not stop until it ends, but you are the ones who can put an end

to the torture of these people.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that, ‘‘The greatest sin of our

time is not the few who have destroyed, but is the vast majority

who have sat idly by.’’ Please don’t be the one who sits idly by and

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let these people continue to suffer. Stand up with us for what is

right and stop this crime for humanity.

The CHAIRMAN. I know this crowd here wants to applaud these

children. [applause] Thank you very much. Barbara let me go back

to you please, madam. When you came to see me, you met with me

in the Capitol. You remember that.

Ms. VOGEL. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. In the other hearing room with the Foreign Relations Committee. And you had a bunch of folks with you then. And

I fell in love with every one of them. Now, I want you to review

maybe briefly how many young people do you have in this class?

And when did you start your working with these young people?

Ms. VOGEL. I started in February 9th, 1998 when just after

teaching a unit of American history about slavery. I had taught my

children that indeed chattel slavery was a thing of the past, owning

people as property and trading them for goats and guns and things.

I did not know that was in the world. And so I had taught them

wrong.

And that very weekend, I found an article in the Rocky Mountain

News about slavery in Sudan. And I myself was broken hearted.

And I knew that I owed it to my students to let them know that

I indeed had taught them wrong. So we meet every morning and

every afternoon in what we call family group. And that morning,

I took it in, this article, and I read it to them.

And in my over 25 years of teaching, seeing the shuttle blow up

in our faces on TV, seeing the horror in children’s faces then, dealing with the tremendous emotions with the Oklahoma bombing

with my students, my children, and, of course, the Columbine

issue.

But I have to tell you honestly nothing—nothing—prepared me

for the reaction from these students. They sat at my feet when they

heard the story about a young girl and how she had been ripped

away from her mother and they cried, boys and girls alike.

So since that time, the first thing they asked me is what are we

going to do about this? The very first thing. So since that date, we

began our awareness campaign. And we will be here.

The CHAIRMAN. You have done well. How many children are at

home? We tried to arrange earlier so we could get them all back,

but things happened and that did not work out. But this is a fair

representation of the young people I saw that day and hugged and

got hugged by. And we did a little crying that day.

I want to ask the young people what is the most important thing

that you have learned about slavery and Sudan while working with

Ms. Vogel? Anybody want to volunteer to answer that?

Mr. CHO. What I have learned from S.T.O.P is the power of one.

It means that one person can make all the difference. The Sudanese government, the bad people, have kept their people in bondage. And they are the ones that are causing it. And they are growing because no one will stand up. But if one person, just one stands

up, then they could make all the difference.

The CHAIRMAN. Do the other children in your school know about

this program?

Ms. VOGEL. Yes.

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The CHAIRMAN. What kinds of things do you think would make

them want to help you if they are not already helping you?

Ms. VOGEL. I think we look at these children today and we think

that they are extraordinary. They are extra wonderful. And to me

in my heart they are. But they represent all children. I think all

children, if they are given a chance—and that is what I love about

the campaign is that if they are given a chance to speak their mind

and to follow their hearts, they will stand up as these children

have.

The CHAIRMAN. Nicole, are you familiar with the Good Samaritan, the story of the Good Samaritan?

Ms. CIMINO. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, it is a biblical story about a man who had

been beaten by robbers and he was near death. And they had

stripped him of his clothes and taken his money and so forth. And

people just walked by him.

And then came one man, the Samaritan. And he stopped and

bound his wounds and found some clothes for him, gave him something to eat, gave him some money. And he went on about his business. To me, you young people are Good Samaritans. Sam.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all

for being here. I deeply appreciate your work, your heart. Charles,

your statements there about taking a minute to listen to your

heart, how many children in the world we need to do that to and

hear the purity of your statements and your thoughts that you

have. I am curious, Barbara, in having this situation here, I would

like for you to or one of your—some of your kids to speak out if

there are other classes, children, in this country, teachers watching

that want to become a part of this abolitionist movement, this

youth abolitionist movement, how can they do that? What could

they do?

Ms. VOGEL. If you would permit me, could I read my statement?

And I think that that would answer that.

Senator BROWNBACK. Please.

STATEMENT OF BARBARA VOGEL, FOUNDER S.T.O.P. CAMPAIGN, EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR, AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY

GROUP

Ms. VOGEL. Well, first of all, thank you. More than words can

ever express for having this hearing. When my students and I

came to Washington in June, we met with over a dozen Congressmen on the issue of slavery in Sudan. Senator Helms, you were

kind enough to take time out of your very busy schedule to hear

our abolitionist message. Senator Helms, you heard the pleas of

these young patriots. You looked into their hearts and into their

eyes. And you saw their passion. And we are here today because

of you.

Three years ago, my students and I climbed to a mountain top

in the Rockies and we shouted out for freedom. My ten year old

students stood on the mile high mountain and called out for an end

to the enslavement of children like themselves and mothers like

their mothers.

We are from Colorado. When we shout from our high mountains,

our message carries far. And today, it has carried to these Senate

11

chambers. And we thank the distinguished members of this committee for taking the time for us.

You may think that we are here to talk about Sudan. But we are

really here to talk about America, about how we Americans use our

freedom.

My students and I are here today to tell the story of our campaign against slavery, but also to make all of you a part of that

story.

If my elementary school students have exercised their liberty to

bring freedom to enslaved children in Sudan, then surely the most

powerful political leaders of America can do the same.

On February 9th of 1998, my students were devastated when I

read them an article from our local newspaper about the enslavement of women and children in Sudan. We had just finished a unit

on slavery in American history and we thought slavery was over.

But suddenly, my students knew that children their own age are

abducted and sold into slavery, that children their own age are

ripped from their parents, beaten, forced to work, raped and murdered just because of who they are.

One of my students asked the obvious but profound question

have we not learned from our past? I believe that students should

think globally and act locally. So when the students asked what

are we going to do, I took that question seriously.

We began to research the issue and we found ourselves writing

letters to the editor, collecting pennies in a jar and becoming activists. These efforts became the S.T.O.P Campaign which stands for

Slavery That Oppresses People.

Our goal? To educate ourselves, our community and the world

about modern day slavery.

In these three years since we launched this campaign, we have

carried the message that Americans cannot sit by and enjoy our

freedom while others remain in bondage. We have been unrelenting

and so unrelenting that Time Magazine has called S.T.O.P. ‘‘the

Children’s Crusade.’’

We call ourselves abolitionists, after great Americans like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. We are an organization of

children helping children. We have raised money to help redeem

hundreds of slaves in Sudan. And we have helped educate Americans through pieces in the New York Times, on CBS Evening News.

And for years now, we have been appealing to American leaders to

take action.

And I must interject that I am not sure the people in these

empty seats heard our appeals.

Some of my students have permanent calluses on their fingers

from writing letters—hundreds which have gone unanswered.

Senators, we are not here to give you a laundry list of our accomplishments. And you did not invite us here today just to pat us on

the back. We know what we are doing to fight slavery. Today we

want to know what you will be doing to fight slavery.

We are here to ask why our government has not received our

message. We have pleaded loudly and clearly. We have followed our

conscience and the theme of democracy: that we have an obligation

to share the blessings of freedom, and to speak out against injustice wherever it occurs.

12

I want to be clear. Many American leaders have responded, and

I want to give our thanks to Senator Sam Brownback, Congressman Donald Payne, and our own Congressman Tom Tancredo for

their wholehearted support. They went so far as to travel to Sudan

to verify the conditions there, and have returned with a strong

sense of commitment. We thank Dr. Susan Rice at the State Department, who met with the students and responded with sincerity

and with encouragement.

But on the whole our government has been deaf to our pleas to

help end the atrocities in Sudan. The President remains silent on

the issue of slavery in Sudan, and on the broader issue of human

rights violations, which he has promised to address in all countries,

no matter what the nationality, religion, or color of the victims.

Presidential candidates of both political parties have not addressed

these human rights violations.

Why—why must the women and children of Sudan continue to

suffer? We can never say that we did not know. Radio, television,

newspapers, letters, and now the voices of these children will forever stand in testimony that you, the leaders of this country, do

know.

The American people know, for they are being led by these children. As adults, we must be ashamed if we fail to heed their cries.

We are told that the problem is too complicated, that political

and economic problems are interconnected in this human tragedy.

Senators, even my children can understand that the world is large

and complex. But they refuse to give in to these arguments. Where

there is greed, they bring generosity of spirit. And where there is

apathy, as witnessed by these empty seats, they bring commitment.

Where there is hate, they bring only love.

Senators, please support these children who have come before

you today. If you do not, what can I possibly teach them?

The CHAIRMAN. Take your time. Bless your heart. You are doing

well. You are making the point.

Ms. VOGEL. Can I still teach them that our government stands

for fight and for freedom? Can I still teach them that our country

stands for principles more than practicality?

The CHAIRMAN. There is some Kleenex for you.

Ms. VOGEL. Thank you. I promised I was not going to do this.

Can I still tell them—can I still tell them that we are the home

of the brave?

Senators, if you leave these hearings today and do nothing, it is

not just slaves in a far off country who will suffer, What is at stake

is also the future for our children—in every state—who have raised

their voices and asked for help because they believe this is the land

of freedom.

We have heard in this election year claims from both parties that

they will leave no child behind. But today we are leaving behind

thousands and thousands of enslaved African children in Sudan.

And by doing so, we are leaving all of our own children behind.

Today, I repeat to you the question my students asked the instant

they learned about slavery in Sudan: ‘‘Haven’t we learned from our

past?’’

The idea that inspires the S.T.O.P. Campaign was articulated

decades ago by John F. Kennedy. Just months before his assassinaVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
13

tion, President Kennedy toured West Berlin and looked over the

Berlin Wall. He was shocked by what he saw, and he challenged

the free world to action by declaring: ‘‘Freedom is indivisible, and

when one man is enslaved, all are not free.’’ Last October, I understood for the first time what President Kennedy meant. I traveled not to West Berlin, but to Southern Sudan.

I sat there and I looked into the eyes of 4,300 mutilated and beaten

mothers and children. 4,300 African women and children who had

just been redeemed from slavery by the brave rescuers at Christian

Solidarity International.

I was there to welcome these thousands of African civilians back

to freedom, and I expected to find them broken and devastated.

When I looked into their eyes, I saw deep pain that will forever

haunt me. But I also saw staring back at me a proud and resilient

people. A people on the frontlines of a genocide who refuse to submit.

In 1963, President Kennedy challenged the world to come to Berlin to appreciate freedom. ‘‘There are many people in the world,’’ he noted, ‘‘who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is

the great issue between the free world and the communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.’’ Senators, there are some today who do not understand—or say

they do not—what is so pressing about modern day slavery? Let

them come to Sudan. There are those who do not yet comprehend

the responsibility and the power of the freedom that they possess.

Let them come to Sudan. Let them come to Sudan and look into

the face of Sudan.

It was in Sudan that I realized that I was not the rescuer. I was

there as a representative of a nation that needs its own rescuing.

The enslavement of black women and children in Sudan is not

merely a tragic by-product of some distant conflict. It is a direct

challenge to our Nation. Will we squander our freedom for frivolous

pursuits? Will we let our silence condone slavery? Or will we triumph over America’s own terrible legacy of slavery by extending

emancipation to millions who remain in bondage?

It may sound odd, but I believe the enslaved women and children

of Sudan can be the key to our hope and to our own redemption.

My students instinctively realized this three years ago. I trust the

United States Senate now agrees, and that you will all move forcefully and quickly against slavery in Sudan and around the world.

I thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. It was very eloquent and meaningful

remarks. I wish our preachers had as good sermons as you have

just given us. Well, I thank you all. And we have another two panels to hear from. So we will ask you to have a seat somewhere back

there. Bertie, if you will make arrangements for them to have

seats, I would appreciate it. And, thank you, young people, Nicole

and Kristin and Charles, Stacy. I do not know how to pronounce

your name, Dong.

Mr. CHO. Just say Dong.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. You are better at it then I am. This has

been a meaningful morning. And, lady, I say to you, God bless you.

Ms. VOGEL. He did, Senator Helms. He put you in our lives.

Thank you.

14

The CHAIRMAN. All right. We will setup for our next panel. Dr.

Charles Jacobs, President of The American Anti-Slavery Group. He

is from Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Francis Bok, associate of The

American Anti-Slavery Group in Boston. If you two gentlemen will

have a seat. And if you will proceed, we have one more panel after

you.

Dr. JACOBS. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. But I will say to you, Dr. Jacobs, that is a hard

act to follow, is it not?

Dr. JACOBS. It sure is.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, you may proceed. And we are delighted

that you came this morning and appreciate your coming.

STATEMENT OF DR. CHARLES JACOBS, PRESIDENT,

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY GROUP

Dr. JACOBS. Thank you so much, Senator Helms, Senator

Brownback. I am here today to present to the committee Francis

Bok, the first escaped slave from Sudan who we have found who

speaks English and can speak both as an eyewitness and survivor

of slave raids and of human bondage in Africa’s largest nation.

Permit me first a few prepatory remarks first. Immediately before this hearing, I would like you to note that the most senior

members of the African-American community in this Nation joined

with us in a press conference to announce the birth of the 21st century’s abolition this movement.

We had Congressmen from the Congressional Black Caucus,

leader Donald Payne and Eleanor Holmes Norton. We had a former

Representative Walter Faunteroy, who was the man who organized

Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. We had the Joe Madison, a radio talk-show host in D.C. who has just returned with

John Eidner from redeeming 4,400 people in Sudan. We have statements from Dick Gregory and from Coretta Scott King.

This changes everything, Senators. This changes everything. We

now have a national abolitionist movement of liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, Blacks and Whites, Christians,

Jews and Muslims. We are very proud of this, and I want to thank

you for helping us make this happen.

Next, we heard yesterday that Secretary of State Albright will

meet with us this afternoon, will meet with Barbara Vogel and her

children and her students and with Francis and myself.

If we are here today to explore how we can help Francis’s people,

then Congress, and specifically the Senate, can do three things.

First, a little-known provision of the House Resolution 4868, which

passed this July, lifts sanctions on gum arabic which is Sudan’s

major export. Gum arabic is found in such products as Mountain

Dew and M&M’s. There is no reason in the world why lobbyists for

that product and for these products can convince the American people that we ought to buy products from slaving nations.

An article today in the Washington Post by Congressman Menendez says, sorry, it is true. No one should do business with thugs.

But if they control the product that we cannot seem to live without,

what can we do? The answer is made do not control—we let them

control that product. We have not developed gum arabic in other

15

places and specifically in south Sudan where Francis’s people can

grow all the gum arabic we need.

So, with a little investment, I propose that we free ourselves

from slave products and help the people of South Sudan build an

economy.

Secondly, millions of Americans have been made inadvertent

partners to slavery and slaughter in Sudan because their pension

funds and their mutual funds contain the stock of Talisman Energy. Talisman of Canada is helping Khartoum steal the oil from

under the feet of these people in the south, export it and with the

profits, they brag, continue their holy war against Francis’s people.

Why should Americans have in their stock portfolios, unbeknownst to them, slave stock? We know that we have led, along

with Eric Reeves, a professor of Smith College, a divestment campaign against Talisman and we can win. We have gotten TIAA/

CREF, the world’s largest pension plan, to divest completely. Last

week, the city of New York, divested its worker pension fund of

Talisman. The State of New Jersey, Donald Payne’s state, divested.

The State of California, the Texas Teachers Retirement Fund divested.

But Congress must also act. And I know that this committee in

the course of passing the Sudan Peace Act confronted the issue of

capital market sanctions against those participating in Sudan’s

Greater Nile Project. Denying them a New York Stock Exchange

listing would bring powerful pressure to bear which would be

acutely felt.

Finally, there is a regional drought now in Sudan. The people of

south Sudan may once more become purposely starved. As you

know, the U.N. flights, aid flights, under Operation Lifeline Sudan,

are controlled by Khartoum. And that arrangement purposely

starved 100,000 in 1998 according to the U.S. Committee on Refugees. We do not yet have pictures of starving people. Let us not

wait. We need to give direct aid to the people of south Sudan, direct food and medical aid. We can give it to the NGOs that operate

outside the U.N. Khartoum program, like Norwegian People’s Aid.

We can give it directly to the civil society in the south so that they

can take care of their own health and education and relief efforts.

We can give it directly to the churches in Sudan. We must break

this food blockade.

And finally, the people this morning with whom we met, the Coalition of the Black Caucus, backs us 100 percent on this. We are

pleased to note that Secretary of State Albright is lobbying against

the U.N. giving a seat on the Security Council to Sudan. This must

never happen. This must never happen. They do not deserve a seat

at that table.

Finally, we call upon the President to break his silence on

Sudan. He must not leave office without having said the truth

about human bondage in Africa’s largest nation.

Now, I am honored to present to the committee Francis Bok of

south Sudan, a man who values freedom so much that he risked

his life three times to be free of bondage. The American Anti-Slavery Group found Francis in Ames, Iowa, a refugee. We brought him

to Boston where he works with us and goes to school full-time. Like

Frederick Douglas before him, Francis is using his freedom to help

16

his people. He speaks to congregations and churches and in community centers around the nation. Today he speaks to you, the

leaders of a nation that tore itself apart over the issue of one man

owning another.

Francis is a lucky man. Most boys captured in Sudan when they

reach puberty and develop musculature had their throats cut.

Francis is a miracle that he is here.

And that is one reason why the American Anti-Slavery Group in

the face of criticism continues to help our brave, brave, brave partners of Christian Solidarity International fly to Sudan and redeem

people. They have taken over 35,000 women and children from out

of the hands of monsters.

I would like to acknowledge the presence here today of the

world’s most precious abolitionist John Eidner of CSI. John is behind me. John risks his life time and time again to run the CSI

underground railroad. And we stand by his side.

We take Francis’s presence here, again, as miraculous. And we

hope you see in him the spokesman of an entire people on whom

the world has turned its back. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Jacobs follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. CHARLES JACOBS

Mr. Chairman:

I am here today to present to the Committee Francis Bok, the first escaped slave

from Sudan that we have found who speaks English and can speak as both eyewitness and survivor of slave-raids and human bondage in Africa’s largest nation.

Permit me first, please, a few short preparatory remarks.

If we are here today to explore how we can help Francis Bok’s people, then the

Congress, and specifically the Senate, can do three things:

A little known provision of the House Resolution 4868, which passed this July,

lifts trade sanctions on gum arabic, a chief export of the Islamic Republic of Sudan.

Gum Arabic is used to make printers ink, soft drinks and candy. For years, lobbyists

for these products have pleaded for more time to develop alternative sources, and

they have continually gotten extensions. Yet there is no evidence that we are aware

of that any serious efforts have been made to expand production of gum arabic in

other nations. Surely other African countries which border Sudan—but which do not

murder and enslave people—could develop the components to supply us with all we

need. To quote a recent Washington Post editorial, ‘‘if America now scraps sanctions

on gum arabic, its virtuous diplomacy will be drained of authority.’’ We ask the Senate to uphold the sanctions.

Millions of Americans have been made inadvertent partners to slavery and

slaughter in Sudan because their pension funds or their mutual funds contain the

stock of Talisman Energy. Talisman of Canada is helping Khartoum extract, refine,

and export oil—from under the feet of the people targeted for destruction in the

South—and use the profits from that oil to finance the National Islamic Front’s

‘‘holy war.’’ Khartoum officials have bragged they will use oil money to finish off

their campaign. The American Anti-Slavery Group has led a divestment campaign

against Talisman that has resulted in the complete divestiture of that stock from:

TIAA-CREF (the world’s largest retirement fund), the states of New Jersey and

California, the City of New York, the Texas Teacher’s Retirement Fund, and more.

No American, who understands what is at stake, wants to profit from the slave

trade.

But Congress must also act. This Committee has, in the course of passing the

Sudan Peace Act, confronted the issue of capital market sanctions against those participating in Sudan’s Greater Nile oil project. I urge you to revisit the question of

using capital market sanctions—an extremely potent tool—against those who profit

directly from Sudan’s ongoing agony.

Capital market sanctions—denying a New York Stock Exchange listing to Talisman Energy of Canada would bring powerful and targeted pressure to bear, pressure which will be felt acutely in Khartoum. If we are serious about getting the National Islamic Front regime to negotiate peace in good faith, then we must make

17

it emphatically clear that American capital markets will no longer have a place for

those who invest in Sudan’s oil development project.

There is a regional drought. The people of South Sudan may once more be purposely murdered through a government campaign of forced starvation. As you know,

the UN aid flights under Operation Lifeline Sudan are controlled by Khartoum,

which forbids or interferes with food and medicine deliveries. The U.S. Committee

on Refugees found that 100,000 lives were lost when Khartoum forcibly starved the

South Sudanese population in 1998. In addition, Khartoum bombs village schools,

hospitals, markets, and has even bombed UN planes.

We need now more than ever to break this aid blockade. We already contribute

directly to NGO’s outside of the UN-Khartoum program, like Norwegian People’s Aid. We need to expand these programs dramatically. We also need to give direct

aid to the civil society in South Sudan—for if not, tens of thousands may again

starve. The drought has just started. We do not yet have pictures of starving people,

but let us not wait until we do.

Now, I am honored to present to the Committee Francis Bok of South Sudan, a

man who values freedom so much that he risked his life three times to be free from

bondage. The American Anti-Slavery Group found Francis, a refugee in Ames, Iowa,

five months ago. We brought him to Boston, where he works with us and goes to

school full time. Like Frederick Douglass, Francis is using his freedom to help free

his people. He speaks to congregations, on campuses, and in community centers

around the Nation. Today, he speaks to you, the leaders of a Nation that tore itself

apart over the issue of one man owning another.

Francis is a very lucky human being: many boys captured and enslaved in Sudan

do not make it past puberty. When they begin to develop musculature they have

their throats cut. We take Francis’s presence among us today as miraculous. We

hope you will see in him the spokesman of an entire people on whom the world has

turned its back.

The editorial to which Dr. Jacobs referred follows:

SPINELESS ON SUDAN

The Washington Post

SEPTEMBER 10, 2000

SECTION 1439 of a trade bill known as H.R. 4868 is an obscure provision about

an obscure product, and almost none of the House members who voted last July for

the bill had any idea of its significance. Yet unless the measure is killed in the Senate, it will damage America’s claim to conduct a moral foreign policy.

The provision lays down, in mind-numbing language designed to conceal its purpose, that sanctions on gum arabic will be suspended. This substance, which is used

by printers (including printers of newspapers) and makers of soft drinks, happens

to be one of Sudan’s chief exports. The government of Sudan condones slavery, sponsors terrorism and routinely bombs its own civilians; therefore the administration

imposed sanctions three years ago. Recently Sudan bombed and attacked United

Nations and Red Cross relief workers and facilities. The argument for sanctions is

as strong as ever.

Because the case is so compelling, the administration is currently lobbying at the

United Nations to prevent Sudan from taking up a two-year seat on the Security

Council. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has declared her sympathy not only

for sanctions but for campaigns to dump shares in foreign companies with Sudanese

interests. Her officials have accused European allies who are soft on Sudan’s government of abetting its inhuman policies. If America now scraps sanctions on gum arabic, its virtuous diplomacy will be drained of authority.

The provision to scrap the sanctions is all the more egregious because they have

been greatly watered down already. To the dismay of some within the administration, the White House compromised its sanctions policy at the outset by agreeing

to grant limited licenses to buy gum arabic from Sudan. But Rep. Robert Menendez,

who backs the new provision in behalf of two companies in his district, regards that

concession as inadequate. He argues that the licensing system is cumbersome, and

that European traders take advantage of the restrictions to buy Sudanese gum and

sell it to U.S. firms. But the right answer to this problem is to seek European cooperation, not to copy European, fecklessness. The policies of Sudan’s government

have contributed to the deaths of more than 2 million people. Set against that horrifying number, complaints about the inconvenience of licenses sound grotesque.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

18

Well, Francis, it is good to see you again. We had a good visit

back in June. And I am glad to see you here and I appreciate you

coming. And I know Senator Brownback feels the same way.

Senator BROWNBACK. Yes. Thank you both for being here. And

Charles came and we visited in Kansas as well about this. And I

to want to add my recognition of John Eidner who I have met with

several times at Christian Solidarity International.

I was delighted to hear, Dr. Jacobs, about the alliance coming together. I think that is really what this has needed is that happening. And that appears to be starting.

The CHAIRMAN. Francis, if you will proceed.

STATEMENT OF FRANCIS BOK, ASSOCIATE, AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY GROUP

Mr. BOK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Senator

Brownback. Thank you for the time to be here today with you. My

name is Francis Bok. I have been living in this great country for

only one year now. I am sorry for my English; but I am proud to

speak here today, because I speak for my people. My people have

been killed. And my people are being made slaves. Many, many

boys and girls. This damages girls and boys. They are slaves. These

children could not be here even if you invited them.

I was born in southern Sudan near Nyamllel. When I was seven,

my mother sent me to the market to sell eggs and beans. I never

saw my mother again.

At the market, the militia soldiers attacked. Hundreds of Arabs

on horses came into market shooting. They shot people in the head.

And they cut off heads with this swords. And the streets were a

river of blood.

They took me and many children as slaves. They put me in a big

basket tied to a donkey, and they took us north.

One girl had seen her parents killed, and she would not stop crying. So they shot her in the head. Her younger sister started crying. So they cut her foot off. I was quiet.

In the north, I was given as a slave to Giema Abdullah. He took

me to his family, and he beat me with sticks. All of them—the

women and children too—they laughed and they called me ‘‘abeed,

abeed’’ meaning black slave.

For ten years, they beat me every morning. They made me sleep

with animals. And they gave me very bad food. They said I was an

animal. For ten years I had no one to laugh with. For ten years

nobody loved me. But every day I prayed to God.

One day I asked my master a question: ‘‘Why do you call me

abeed? And why do you feed me bad food all the time and make

me sleep with animals? Is it because I am black?’’ My master was

very angry. ‘‘Where did you learn to ask me this question?,’’ he

said. ‘‘Never ask me again.’’ And he beat me and beat me.

When I was 17, I decided to escape. I would rather die than be

a slave.

I ran away, and I came to a police station. ‘‘Please help me,’’ I

told the police. But they kept me as their slave and made me do

work for them all day. After two months, I ran away. An Arab

truck driver helped me escape. He hid me in his lorry, and he

helped me to get to Khartoum, the capital.

19

When I came to Khartoum, I did not know anybody, but some of

my people, the Dinka, who were living there took me in. I told

them my story and they could not believe I escaped. But they were

very happy for me.

Then four days later, the secret police came to my room. They

said, ‘‘Are you telling people that you are a slave who escaped?’’ I

said no because I was scared. But they took me and they put me

in jail. There was no light. I was just 18. I had no lawyer and no

trial. What was my crime? I was an escaped slave, and the government of Sudan did not want me to tell my story.

After five months, the Sudanese police let me out, and I escaped

to Egypt. In Cairo, I went to the United Nations Refugees Office,

and on August 19th of 1999, I flew to the United States.

I was living in Iowa when the American Anti-Slavery Group

found me. Today I am working in Boston with the American AntiSlavery Group. I am going to school for the first time in my life.

I am a lucky man, and I am free. But my people are dying. And

around the world, there are 27 million slaves who cannot speak.

Today I must speak for them.

Senators, we have a big question. Why is President Clinton silent

about slavery in Sudan? And why is the world silent? This is a

country that freed slaves. But my people are still slaves. Will the

United States come and free us? When I was living as a slave to

Giema Abdullah, I would lie away at night. I could not sleep. I

would think: ‘‘When am I going to be free? Is someone going to

come and free me?’’ Today in Sudan and around the world, there are children who

cannot sleep at night. They lay on the ground and they are waiting

for strong people to come to free them. Senators, you are strong

people. You have big voice and strong arms. You can free slaves.

Senators, I am here alone. I have no family here. But you—the

people of the United States—you are my family. And I know you

will free my brothers and sisters.

For all the people who are still slaves in Sudan, I say to you:

thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. And certainly we thank you very, very much. I

was just thinking, and I am going to mention it to the staff and

public, in order to get the impact of what Francis has just said, Mr.

Bok, you need to read the text of it. And anybody here who wants

the text, let us have your name and address. And people looking

on television, if you will let us know, we will send you statements

of testimony here today not only by Francis Bok but by others. We

must get the word out. That is what they are saying to us. That

is what you are saying to us, Francis. And you are right. And we

will try. I thank you very much. And we have the third panel ready

to go. Did you have something you wanted to say?

Senator BROWNBACK. No, I think that would be good to get the

third panel up.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Thank you very much, doctor.

Mr. BOK. Thank you very much for having time for me today.

Thank you. I really appreciate this.

The CHAIRMAN. I guarantee you that there are people who care

in this room and in this country.

Mr. BOK. Thank you.

20

The CHAIRMAN. God bless you.

Okay. It’s all yours.

Senator BROWNBACK. Mr. Chairman and those watching in the

audience, this hearing is about slavery throughout the world. We

have heard mostly about the Sudan. And I had contacted the

Chairman to also add an additional set of witnesses about slavery

and other places around the world as well. And the Chairman has

graciously agreed to allow me to introduce these witnesses that are

testifying here now.

As I mentioned in my opening statement, Dr. Kevin Bales is an

author. He is from England. He has a book out on Disposable People. It is a horrible title. I wish it were not true. But it is compelling reading that he has put forward about people enslaved, abducted, held against their will in horrible conditions. He will be the

first to testify on this panel. The second will be Mr. Moctar Teyeb.

I have met with Moctar in my office about slavery and Mauritania.

He has a horrifying tale to say there as well of institutionalized

slavery that is 700 years old and continues today. And the final

witness on this panel will be Mr. Jean Robert Cadet who was a

restavec in Haiti and has a book out on that topic as well.

I wanted to put a face on slavery around the world and how this

horrible institution in the year 2000 continues to exist. So, Dr.

Bales, if you would care to start out, and then we will go to Moctar

and then Mr. Cadet.

STATEMENT OF DR. KEVIN BALES, TRUSTEE, ANTI-SLAVERY

INTERNATIONAL, UNITED KINGDOM

Dr. BALES. Thank you, Senator Brownback. I know Senator

Helms said a moment ago it was a hard act to follow after the children. It is so true. You mentioned a child should lead them. I was

certainly struck by a thought from the same part of the Bible that

if we only had a faith of those children, we would move those

mountains that they put before us. And my mind also ranged over

to Acts II when the Apostle says in those days, even the slaves will

prophesy. Maybe that day has reached us. And I am very pleased

and proud to be here for. Thank you.

I cannot tell you how encouraged I am that the subject has been

taken up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I am a

Trustee of Anti-Slavery International in Great Britain. It is the

oldest human rights organization in the world, set up by the nineteenth century abolitionist William Wilberforce, among others.

I have recently set up an independent charity in the United

States which will also work with the American people to end slavery around the world. And we are very keen to build a positive relationship with government.

This morning I would like to touch on just four points: the nature

of modern slavery, how slavery touches our lives, the urgent need

for a consistent approach to slavery by the United States government, and some practical suggestions about how we can use our influence to end slavery.

Slavery, real slavery, has increased dramatically across the world

over in last 50 years. It has grown rapidly in part because of the

belief among the public and even governments that slavery was

ended in 1865. For years I have traveled the world. I have been

21

meeting slaves and slave holders and the people who are fighting

slavery at the grassroots. And I can assure you, slavery is not dead.

We have heard that this morning. We know that.

My conservative estimate is that there are 27 million slaves in

the world. This slavery, in addition to being an affront to any freedom loving people, is also a threat to the interests of American

business and to our labor in the unfair competition that it represents.

Let me be clear I am talking about slavery in its most basic form:

the holding of people against their will through violence, paying

them nothing and exploiting them economically. It is the same

basic slavery that has dogged humanity for at least 5000 years.

And it has today some very pernicious modern twists.

For example, slaves today are cheaper than they have ever been

in human history. Rapid population growth, the impact of modernization and globalization on the economies of the developing

world has generated a bumper crop of people who are vulnerable

to enslavement. When government corruption, particular police corruption, removes the protection of the state, violence can be used

to turn the vulnerable into slaves.

This is happening around the world. And once enslaved, the victims can be transported even to those countries where the rule of

law is secure. Senator Brownback mentioned the CIA report. It estimates up to 50,000 people are brought into the United States

each year. They may be forced to work as prostitutes or in sweat

shops, as domestic servants.

Moreover, slave-made products flow into our homes. Despite the

clear prohibition on the importation of slave made goods in the

1930 tariff legislation, which is still in force, cocoa from West Africa, sugar from the Caribbean and South America, tobacco products

from Asia, furnishings from the Indian subcontinent and a host of

other slave-made raw materials and products flow into America.

Earlier this year, we asked a slave who had been newly freed

from a cocoa plantation in West Africa if he knew what happened

to the cocoa he harvested. No, he said. Had he ever tasted chocolate we asked him. Again, no. So we asked him what would you

say to those millions of people who eat this food called chocolate

that is made from the cocoa you have grown? Then he said to us,

‘‘tell them please when they eat chocolate, they are eating my

flesh.’’

So the picture is a serious one. Millions of people enslaved and

both slaves and slave-made goods are being bought and sold within

United States.

There are, happily, several positive points. The proposed legislation to address human trafficking is a tremendous step forward.

The Alien Torts Claim Act opens up new mechanisms as yet untried, but new mechanisms for hitting slave holders in the pocketbook and for providing restitution to the enslaved.

The funding given by the American government to the International Labor Organization for the rehabilitation of freed child

slaves was the largest ever grant made for that work.

On the other hand, there were several serious problems. The CIA

report that Senator Brownback mentioned a moment ago, delivers

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one very clear message. American law enforcement is under

resourced and uncoordinated in addressing the crime of slavery.

New legislation will not help if it is not enforced. We have to

avoid the situation in India, a country with one of the best and

most comprehensive laws against slavery on the books and many,

many slaves waiting for the enforcement of that law.

Confusion exists in other parts of the government as well. We

have had courageous statements, by Senator Brownback among

others, about slavery in parts of Africa. Meanwhile, the State Department asserts that slavery has disappeared in some of those

same countries. At times it seems that our government is choosing

to recognize slavery according to its international political goals.

I travel all over America talking about slavery. I have met and

discussed our government’s response to slavery with citizens across

the country. Let me say very clearly what they would want you to

hear. What is morally wrong cannot be politically right.

America must not play politics with slavery. If we are to imagine

ourselves a bastion of freedom, our political policy, our foreign policy must apply this principle in a way that is consistent and universal. Our belief in freedom is soiled, it is diminished, when we

condemn slavery in one country, for example, Sudan, while turning

a blind eye to slavery in another, for example, Mauritania.

Now, I have to digress from my notes and say but you are not

doing that. I am very, very happy to hear, as Moctar Teyeb right

next to me, and we are going to be frank about the slavery in Mauritania.

At the same time, while the problem we confront is large, the obstacles are not insurmountable. There are three key battles that

have already been won. We do not have to win the moral argument. Everyone agrees slavery is wrong.

Second, we do not have to win the economic argument. Ending

slavery does not threaten the economic well-being of any state or

industry.

Third, we do not have to win the basic legal argument. Laws

exist in virtually every country against slavery.

And further, our own government’s law enforcement policy suggests three tools that we could use to confront the problem of slavery in trafficking.

First, the cooperation, funding and training of foreign law enforcement could be extended to help end the police corruption that

supports slavery.

Second, the skill and training that is applied to the interdiction

of drugs could also be applied to stopping the smuggling of slaves

into America. We have all seen inspectors in our airports, specially

trained to pick out likely drug smugglers. But are those personnel

trained to identify likely victims of the international slave trade?

Of course, such inspectors would have to be trained to respect the

rights of those who are trafficked. Or we would run the risk of punishing the victims.

Thirdly, severe sentences and rules for confiscation need to be

applied to those who traffic in people in the same way they apply

to people who traffic in drugs.

The CIA report calls for stronger penalties for human traffickers.

More importantly, or very importantly, confiscation could help proVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
23

vide desperately needed resources for the rehabilitation of freed

slaves.

The profits made by traffickers and slave holders, come from the

stolen lives of those who are enslaved. Any assets taken from traffickers rightly belong to their victims. In many ways, our country

is still suffering from a botched emancipation. One that provided

the right of freedom without the remedy of rehabilitation, both economic and social. We must not make the mistake again.

And because this is a truly international crime, our government

needs to press for more action within international agencies. We all

know about United Nations teams that search for biological weapons in Iraq. We know about the international efforts to protect minorities in the Balkans. But where are United Nations’ slavery inspection teams? Where are the contingents that protect freed slaves

and help them towards reintegration? If there were such teams,

they would be saving lives today in Nepal where a new law against

slavery has been met with violent reprisals against freed slaves by

slave masters.

Of course, there is not a single solution to slavery. Slavery is embedded in both local cultures and the global economy. But our government has a marvelous collection of sticks and carrots. They

could be tailored to specific situations. The government of Pakistan,

for example, wants to maintain ties and build for itself a more positive image in the United States. We need to make it clear that a

positive image is one that includes working actively to reduce the

extensive debt bondage in that country. And as our government

brings its power to bear, the rapidly growing public movement calling for action on slavery will support it.

The American people and the American government have to ask

this question. Are we willing to live in a world with slaves? If not,

we are obligated to take responsibility for the things that are connected to us, even when they are far away. Unless we work to understand the links that tie us to slavery and then take action to

break those links, we are puppets, subject to forces that we cannot

or will not control. If we do not take action, we are just giving up

and letting other people jerk the strings that tie us to slavery.

Of course, there are many kinds of exploitation in the world.

There are many kinds of injustice, violence, to be concerned about.

But slavery is exploitation and violence and injustice all rolled together in its most potent combination.

If there is one fundamental violation of our humanity we cannot

allow, it is slavery. If there is one basic truth that virtually every

human being can agree upon, it is that slavery must end. What

good—and Barbara said this as well—is our economic and political

power if we cannot use it to free slaves? Instead, if we cannot

choose to stop slavery, how can we say we are free?

Thank you very much, Senators.

[Additional material provided by Dr. Bales follows:]

DISPOSABLE PEOPLE: AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW SLAVERY

Most of us think that slavery ended a long time ago, or that if it does exist then

it only happens in poor countries far away. Maybe that is one reason why Hilda

Dos Santos stayed in slavery for so long in the well-to-do suburbs outside Washington DC. Hilda had worked as a domestic servant in her native Brazil for many

years, and when Rene and Margarida Bonnetti asked her to move with them to the

24

United States in 1979 she agreed. Once in the US, the Bonnetti’s stopped paying

Hilda and locked her into a life of slavery. She cleaned the house, did the yardwork,

cooked the meals, cared for the pets, and even shoveled snow without gloves, boots,

or a coat. Her bed was a mattress in the basement, and she was not allowed to use

the showers or bathtubs in the house. Her food was scraps and leftovers, and when

Hilda made mistakes in her work she would be beaten. Once Mrs. Bonnetti poured

hot soup over her face and chest when she didn’t like the way it tasted. When a

cut on Hilda’s leg became infected the Bonnetti’s refused to provide medical care.

A stomach tumor grew to the size of a soccer ball without any help from the

Bonnetti’s, and a neighbor finally took her to the hospital. It was there that social

workers were alerted to her situation and the law stepped in. She had been in slavery for 20 years.

Hilda Dos Santos is typical of many slaves in the world today—poor, vulnerable

people tricked into slavery. Her case demonstrates that slavery is alive and well.

If her case was unique it would be shocking enough, but Hilda is one of thousands

of slaves in the United Sates, and one of millions of slaves in the world. The slavery

she suffered is much the same as the old kinds of slavery we learn about in history.

Slavery is still about one person controlling another, taking their free will and abusing and stealing their lives and livelihood. But slavery today is also different, for

slavery has evolved into new, and in some ways, more destructive forms that stretch

through our global economy to touch us wherever we are.

This brief guide introduces modern slavery around the world, slaves and

slaveholders, and the people that are working to stop slavery. It will explain how

slavery has changed since the Atlantic slave trade of the 19th century, and why racial differences are no longer very important in slavery. It looks closely at some instances of real slavery, and considers what these cases have in common. And it examines how slavery fits into our global economy and what international organizations are doing to fight it. But first we have to think about how we can understand

and define this ancient yet dynamic and changing thing that called slavery.

SLAVERY DEFINED

The word ‘‘slavery’’ is now used to describe many different things, so it has no

exact and agreed definition. Since the abolition of legal slavery in the 19th century,

the word ‘‘slavery’’ has been used for many different things: prostitution, prison

labor, even the sale of human organs. More than 300 international slavery treaties

have been signed since 1815, but none have defined slavery in exactly the same

way. Many definitions of slavery focus on the legal ownership of one person by another, since most slavery in the l91l century took that form. But it is important to

remember that slavery has been part of human history for thousands of years. Some

of that time slavery was about the legal ownership of people, but at other times it

was not.

Key characteristics of slavery

Before we can define ‘‘slavery’’, we need to recognize the characteristics and conditions that make it what it is. Slavery is a relationship between two people. It is both

a social and economic relationship, and like all relationships it has certain characteristics and rules. The key characteristics of slavery are not about ownership, but

about how people are controlled. The core of slavery throughout history, whether it

was legal or not, is violence. The slave master or slaveholder controls a slave by

using or threatening violence. Slavery is about no choices at all, no control over your

life, and a constant fear of violence. This is the key to slavery. Violence brings a

person into slavery. Many people who become slaves are tricked into it. Many people, following a trail of lies, walk into enslavement, but what keeps them there is

violence. Once enslaved, there are all sorts of ways that slaves are held in slavery,

sometimes it is the way the slave gives up and gives into slavery, sometimes it is

about the personal relationships which grow up between slaves and slaveholders—

but the essential ingredient is violence.

The second key characteristic of slavery is that the slave loses their free will, they

are under the complete control of someone else. There is no other person, authority

or government the slave can turn to for protection. The slave must do as they are

told or they suffer. The third characteristic is that slavery is normally used to exploit someone in some kind of economic activity. No one enslaves another person

just to be mean, people are enslaved to make a profit. Most slaveholders see themselves as normal businessmen. They have little interest in hurting anyone, in being

cruel or torturing people, it is just part of the job. Slavery is about money. If we

put these characteristics together we can define slavery in this way:

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Slavery: A social and economic relationship in which a person is controlled through violence or its threat, paid nothing, and economically exploited.

In some ways this is a narrow definition. It excludes many things that people

have called ‘‘slavery’’ (like the selling of human organs), but it includes all those relationships that most people agree are slavery, and it is broad enough to include

many kinds of slavery around the world.

A definition that works for many different types of slavery is important because

slavery, like all human relationships, changes over time. The main characteristic of

slavery is control through violence, but that can take many forms. The conditions

in which slaves live around the world vary enormously. In those few places where

old styles of slavery are still practised, like Mauritania, there are long-term, often

life-long relationships between slave and master. In most countries the state of

slaves is more short-term and dangerous.

HOW MANY SLAVES?

No one knows how many slaves are in the world. Slavery is illegal in virtually

every country and that means it is usually hidden from view. But if we trace carefully through all the information available about slaves around the world we can

estimate that there are perhaps 27 million slaves alive today. Where are all these

slaves? The biggest part of that 27 million, perhaps 15 to 20 million, is in India,

Pakistan, and Nepal. Otherwise slavery tends to be concentrated in Southeast Asia,

Northern and Western Africa, and parts of South America, but there are some

slaves in almost every country in the world including the United States, Japan, and

many European countries. To put this number into some sort of perspective, today’s

slave population is greater than the population of Canada, and six times greater

than the population of Israel.

Slaves tend to be used in simple, non-technological, and traditional work. The

largest proportion work in agriculture. But slaves are used in many other kinds of

work: brick making, mining and quarrying, textiles, leather working, prostitution,

gem working and jewellery making, cloth and carpet making, working as domestic

servants, clearing forests, making charcoal, and working in shops. Much of this

work is aimed at local sale and consumption, but slave-made goods filter throughout

the global economy. Carpets, fireworks, jewellery, metal goods, steel (made with

slave-produced charcoal), and foods like grains, rice and sugar are imported directly

to North America and Europe after being produced using slave labor. In countries

where slavery and industry co-exist, cheap slave-made goods and food keep factory

wages low and help make everything from toys to computers less expensive.

THE NATURE OF CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY

As a human relationship slavery has been changing over time. Of course, slavery

remains the same in that one person has complete control of another person, but

exactly how that happens changes from time to time and place to place. Slavery

today is different from slavery in the past in three important ways. First, slaves

today are cheaper than they have ever been. The cost of slaves has fallen to a historical low, and they can be acquired in some parts of the world for as little as $10.

Second, the length of time that slaves are held has also fallen. In the past slavery

was usually a life-long condition, today it is often temporary, lasting just a few

years or even months. Third, slavery is globalized. This means that slavery in different parts of the world is becoming more alike. The way slaves are used and the

part they play in the world economy is increasingly similar wherever they are.

These changes have come about very quickly, occurring, for the most part, in the

last fifty years. What has made these new forms of slavery possible?

HOW SLAVERY CHANGED INTO ITS MODERN FORM

There are three key factors in the emergence of this new kind of slavery. The first

is the dramatic increase in world population since World War II, which has increased the supply of potential slaves. In a classic example of ‘‘supply and demand’’

the increase in population has also driven down their price. Since 1945 the world

population has tripled from about 2 billion people to over 6 billion. The greatest part

of that increase has been in those countries where slavery is most prevalent today.

Across Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, Africa, and the Arab countries, the

population boom has more than tripled populations and flooded countries with children. Over half the population in some countries in the developing world is under

the age of fifteen. In countries that were already poor, the sheer weight of numbers

sometimes overwhelms the resources on offer. Especially in those parts of the world

26

where slavery still existed or had been practiced in the past, the population explosion radically increased the number of people who could be enslaved, and drove

down their price.

The second key factor is rapid social and economic change. This has been caused

in part by the population explosion, which created global conditions that make new

forms of slavery possible. In many developing countries the post-colonial period

since 1945 brought immense wealth to the elite, but continued or increased the poverty of the majority of the population. Throughout Africa and Asia, the last fifty

years have been scarred by civil war and the wholesale looting of resources by dictators, who were often supported by the powerful nations of Europe and North

America. Countries with little to sell on the world market have been put deeply into

debt to pay for the weapons the dictators needed to hold on to power. Meanwhile

traditional ways of agricultural life and farming were sacrificed to concentrate on

cash crops needed to pay off those foreign debts. As the world economy grew and

become more global, it had a profound impact on people in the third world and the

small-scale farming which supported them. The shift from small-scale farming to

cash-crop agriculture, the loss of common land shared by all the people in a village,

and government policies that pushed down farm income in favor of cheap food for

city workers, have all helped to bankrupt millions of peasants and drive them from

their land. All across the third world the slums and shantytowns that surround big

cities hold millions of these displaced people. They come to the cities in search of

jobs, but find they are competing for jobs with thousands of other people. With little

income and no job security they are powerless and very vulnerable.

Some national and global policies and trends also threaten these vulnerable displaced people. While economic modernization may have good effects, particularly in

improvements to health care and education, the political focus in many developing

countries concentrates on economic growth rather than on sustainable livelihoods

for the majority of people. So while the rich of the developing world grow richer,

the poor have fewer and fewer options, and in the disruption that comes with rapid

social change, slavery can become one of those options.

The end of the cold war and the ending of state control of the economy in the

former Soviet Union also served to widen the opportunities for slavery. William

Greider explained it well:

One of the striking qualities of the post-Cold War globalisation is how

easily business and government in the capitalist democracies have abandoned the values they putatively espoused for forty years during the struggle against communism—individual liberties and political legitimacy based

on free elections. Concern for human rights, including freedom of assembly

for workers wishing to speak for themselves, has been pushed aside by commercial opportunity. Multinationals plunge confidently into new markets,

from Vietnam to China, where governments routinely control and abuse

their own citizens. ( Greider, 1997, 37 )

Often multinational companies cooperate with these abusive governments by supporting the corruption that is the third key factor that supports this new form of

slavery. Just having large numbers of vulnerable people doesn’t automatically make

them slaves. In order to turn vulnerable people into slaves on any scale, violence

must be used. One of the basic ideas about any democratic government is that it

should have a monopoly on the means of violence. The military and the police are

generally the only ones who can use weapons and commit violence legally. Normally

they do so to protect citizens from crime, including criminal or illegal violence. But

if anyone in a society can use violence freely for their own ends, without fear of

being arrested and locked up, then they can force others into slavery. To do that

on any scale requires government corruption, especially police corruption, and when

governments are corrupt this is exactly what happens. In some countries the police

act as slave catchers, pursuing and punishing escaped slaves. In such countries police often require that people holding slaves pay them weekly for police ‘‘protection’’.

For the slave-using businessman, payments to the police are just a normal part of

business. The fundamental point is that when laws against kidnap are not enforced,

those who have the means of violence (often the police themselves) can harvest

slaves.

OLD AND NEW SLAVERY COMPARED

The population boom, the vulnerability of poor people in the third world, and government corruption has led to new forms of slavery. For the first time in human

history there is an absolute glut of potential slaves. It is a dramatic example of supply and demand. There are so many possible slaves that their value has fallen and

27

fallen. Slaves are now so cheap that they have become cost-effective in many new

kinds of work. Their value is so low that it has completely changed the way they

are seen and used. Slaves are no longer major investments. This fact has changed

the nature of the relationship between slaves and slaveholders. It has also dramatically changed the amount of profit to be made from a slave, as well as the length

of time a person might be enslaved. And it has made the question of legal ownership

less important. When slaves were expensive it was important to safeguard that investment by having clear and legally documented ownership. Slaves of the past

were worth stealing and worth chasing down if they escaped. Today slaves are so

cheap that it is not worth securing permanent ownership. The fact that ownership

of slaves is now illegal is not really a problem for slaveholders because today slaves

are disposable.

Disposability means that the new forms of slavery are less permanent. Across the

world the length of time a slave spends in bondage varies enormously. It is simply

not profitable to keep slaves when they are not immediately useful. Although most

are enslaved for periods of years, some are held for only a few months. In countries

where sugar cane is grown, for example, people are often enslaved for a single harvest. Since they are used only for a short time there is no reason to invest heavily

in their upkeep. There is also little reason to insure that they survive their enslavement. While slaves in the American South in the 19th century were often horribly

treated, there was still a strong incentive to keep them alive as long as possible.

Slaves were like valuable livestock; the owner needed to make back his investment.

There was also pressure to breed them and produce more slaves, since it was usually cheaper to raise new slaves than to buy adults. Today no slaveholder wants to

spend money supporting useless infants.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OLD AND NEW FORMS OF SLAVERY

Old Forms of Slavery

Legal ownership asserted

High purchase cost

Low profits

Shortage of potential slaves

Long-term relationship

Slaves maintained

Ethnic differences important

New Forms of Slavery

Legal ownership avoided

Very low purchase cost

Very high profits

Surplus of potential slaves

Short-term relationship

Slaves disposable

Ethnic differences less important

This is clarified when we look at a specific example. Perhaps the best-studied and

understood form of old slavery was the system of slavery in the American South before 1860, particularly the use of slaves in cotton cultivation (see, for example, Ransom, 1989). Slaves were at a premium. The demand for slaves was reflected in their

price. By 1850 an average field laborer was selling for $1,000 to $1,800. This was

three to six times the average yearly wage of an American worker at the time, or

in today’s money it would equal around $50,000 to $100,000. Despite their high cost,

slaves generated, on average, profits of only about 5 percent each year. If the cotton

market went up a plantation owner could make a very good profit on his slaves,

but if the price of cotton fell, he might be forced to sell slaves to stay in business.

Ownership was clearly demonstrated by bills of sale and titles of ownership, and

slaves could be used as collateral for loans or used to pay off debts. Slaves were

often brutalized to keep them under control, but they were also maintained as befitted their sizeable investment. And there was, of course, extreme racial differentiation between slaveholder and slave. The racist element was so strong that a very

small genetic difference, being one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, could still

mean life-long enslavement.

A point of comparison to the old slavery of the American South is the agricultural

slave in debt bondage in modern India. In India today land rather than labor is at

a premium. India’s population has grown enormously, it currently has three times

the population of the United States in one-third the space. The glut of potential

workers means that free labor must regularly compete with slave, and the resulting

pressure on agricultural wages pushes free laborers toward bondage. When free

farmers run out of money, when a crop fails or a member of the family becomes

ill and needs medicine, they have few choices. Faced with a crisis they borrow from

a local land-owner enough money to meet the crisis, but having no other possessions

they have to use their own lives as collateral. The debt against which a person is

bonded, that is, the price of a laborer, might be 500 to 1000 rupees (about $30 to

$60). The bond is completely open-ended; the slave must work for the slaveholder

until the slaveholder decides the debt is repaid. The debt might be carried into a

second and third generation, growing under fraudulent accounting by the slaveholder, who may also seize and sell the children of the bonded laborer against the

28

debt. The functional reality is one of slavery, but five key differences exist between

this and old slavery.

The first difference is that no one tries to assert legal ownership of the bonded

laborer. The slave is held under threat of violence, often physically locked up, but

no one asserts that they are in fact ‘‘property’’. The second difference is that the

bonded laborer is made partially or wholly responsible for his or her own upkeep,

which results in cost-savings for the slaveholder. A third difference is that if a bonded laborer is not able to work, perhaps due to illness or injury, or is not needed

for work, they can be abandoned or disposed of by the slaveholder who takes no responsibility for their maintenance. The fourth difference has to do with race; the

ethnic differentiation is not nearly so rigid as that of old slavery. As mentioned

above, bonded laborers may well belong to a different caste than the slaveholder—

but this is not always the case. The key distinction is about wealth and power, not

caste.

Finally, a major difference between Old and New Slavery is in the profit to be

made on an enslaved laborer. Agricultural bonded laborers in India generate one of

the lowest profits found across all contemporary slavery, but they can still produce

over 50 percent profit per year for the slaveholder. This high profit is due, in part,

to the low cost of the slave in terms of the loan advanced, but the profit is still

smaller than most other forms of modern slavery since it reflects the low returns

on old-fashioned small-scale agriculture.

Agricultural debt bondage in India still has some characteristics of older forms of

slavery, such as the fact that the slaves will be held for long periods. A better example of new forms of slavery is the young women put to work in prostitution in Thailand. A population explosion in Thailand means there is a surplus of potential

slaves. Rapid economic change has led to new poverty and desperation. The young

women and girls are often initially lured from rural areas with the promise of work

in restaurants or factories. There is no ethnic difference: these are young Thai

women enslaved by Thai brothel owners, and, if anything, it is a question of rural

slaves and urban slaveholders. The girls might be sold by their parents to a broker,

or be tricked by an agent. Away from their homes they are brutalized and enslaved

and sold on to a brothel owner. The brothel owners place the girl in debt bondage

and tell them they must pay back their purchase price plus interest through prostitution. The calculation of the debt and the interest is, of course, completely in the

hands of the brothel owner and so is manipulated to show whatever they like. Using

that trick, they can keep the girl as long as they want, and they don’t need to show

any legal ownership. The brothel does have to feed the girl and keep her presentable, but if she becomes ill or injured or too old she is disposed of. In Thailand today

this often happens when the girl tests positive for HIV. This form of ‘‘contract’’ debt

bondage is extremely profitable. A girl aged 12 to 15 can be purchased for $800 to

$2,000, and the costs of running a brothel and feeding the girls are relatively low.

The profit is often as high as 800 percent a year. This kind of return can be made

on a girl for four to six years. After that, especially if she becomes ill or HIV positive, the girl will be dumped.

THE QUESTION OF RACE

In the new forms of slavery race means little. Ethnic and racial differences were

used in the past to explain and excuse slavery. These differences allowed

slaveholders to make up reasons why slavery was acceptable, even a good thing for

the slaves. The otherness of the slaves made it easier to use the violence and the

cruelty necessary for total control. This otherness could be defined in almost any

way—a different religion, or tribe, or skin color, or language, or customs, or economic class. Any of these could be used and were used to separate out the slaves

from the slaveholders. Maintaining these differences required tremendous investment in some very irrational ideas, and the crazier the justifying idea, the more

strongly it was insisted upon. The American ‘‘Founding Fathers’’ had to go through

moral, linguistic and political contortions to explain why the ‘‘land of the free’’ only

applied to white people. Many of them knew they were lying, that they were betraying their most cherished ideals. They were driven to it because slavery was worth

a lot of money to a lot of people in early North America. They still went to the trouble of legal and political justification because back then they felt they had to make

moral excuses for their economic decisions.

Today the morality of money overrides most others. Most slaveholders feel no

need to explain or defend their choice to use slavery. Slavery is a very profitable

business and a good profit is reason enough. Freed of ideas that restrict the status

of slave to others, ideas that say you can’t enslave your own people, modern

slaveholders use other criteria to choose slaves. When you can enslave people from

29

your own country it helps to keep your costs down. Slaves in the American South

were very expensive, in part due to the fact that, originally, they had to be shipped

thousands of miles from Africa. When you can go to the next town or region for

slaves, transport costs fall to a minimum. The question isn’t ‘‘are they the right colour to be slaves?’’ but ‘‘are they vulnerable enough to be enslaved?’’. The criteria of

enslavement is not about color, tribe, or religion, it is about weakness, gullibility,

and vulnerability.

It is true that in some countries there are ethnic or religious differences between

slaves and slaveholders. In Pakistan, for example, many enslaved brick makers are

Christians and the slaveholders are Muslim. In India slave and slaveholder may be

of different castes. In Thailand they might come from different regions of the country. But in Pakistan there are Christians who are not slaves, in India members of

the same caste who are free. Their caste or religion simply reflects their vulnerability to enslavement, it doesn’t cause it. Only in one country, Mauritania, does the

racism of old slavery persist. In Mauritania, black slaves are held by Arab

slaveholders and race is a key division, but this is the last and fading survival of

old slavery. Of course, some cultures are more divisive than others. Cultural ideas

in Japan very strongly separate Japanese people from everyone else, and so

enslaved prostitutes in Japan are more likely to be Thai or Philippine women, but

they may also be Japanese. The key difference is that Japanese women are not

nearly so vulnerable and desperate as Thai’s or Filipinas. And the Thai women are

available for shipment to Japan because Thai’s are enslaving Thai’s. The same pattern occurs in the oil-rich states of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where Muslim Arabs

might enslave Sri Lankan Hindus, Filipino Christians, or Nigerian Muslims. The

common denominator is poverty not color. Behind every assertion of ethnic difference is the reality of economic disparity. If every left-handed person in the world

were made destitute tomorrow, there would soon be slaveholders arguing that slavery was perhaps the best thing for them. Modern slaveholders are color blind, but

they are predators acutely perceptive to weakness. While slavery has been around

for thousands of years, these predators are rapidly adapting it to the new global

economy.

THE FORMS OF CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY

Slavery has never existed in a single form. In some ways every relationship of

slavery that links two people may be unique, but there are patterns in these relationships. There are several forms of slavery common enough to have their own

names. The three main types given here are not an exhaustive list, but they do represent the prevalent forms of slavery today, under which most modern slaves are

held:

1. Chattel Slavery—is the form closest to old slavery. A person is captured, born, or sold into permanent servitude, and ownership is often asserted. The slave’s children are normally treated as property as well and

can be sold by the slaveholder. Occasionally, these slaves are kept as items

of conspicuous consumption. This form is most often found in Northern and

Western Africa and some Arab countries, but represents a small proportion

of slaves in the modern world.

2. Debt Bondage—is the most common form of slavery in the world. A

person pledges him/herself against a loan of money, but the length and nature of the service is not defined, nor does their labor diminish the original

debt. The debt can be passed down to subsequent generations, thus enslaving offspring, or ‘‘defaulting’’ can be punished by seizing or selling children

into further debt-bonds. Ownership is not normally asserted, but there is

complete physical control of the bonded laborer. Debt bondage is most common in South Asia.

There are in fact two distinct forms of debt bondage. In many cases of

debt bondage the slave’s work (and indeed their very life) becomes collateral

for the debt. This means that all of their work belongs to the moneylender

until the debt is repaid. This establishes the trap of bondage—since all

their work is the property of the lender until the debt is repaid, the debtor

is unable to ever earn enough to repay the debt by their own labor. This

arrangement is a common form of the debt bondage in India. In other

places the work of the debtor may, supposedly, be used to pay off the debt,

but through false accounting or charging very high interest, repayment remains forever out of reach. In the first form the agreement that changes

the debtor and all his or her work into collateral pretty well means the

debtor will never be able to repay their debt. In the second form it is a vioVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
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lation of the loan agreement, when the value of the work is not really used

to pay off the loan, that traps the debtor.

3. Contract Slavery—this form of slavery shows how modern labor relations are used to hide new forms of slavery. Contracts are offered which

guarantee employment, perhaps in a workshop or factory, but when the

worker is taken to their place of work they find they are enslaved. The contract is used as an enticement to trick the person into slavery, as well as

a way of making the slavery look legitimate if necessary. Ownership is not

asserted, and if legal questions are raised the contract is produced, but the

slave is under threat of violence, has no freedom of movement and is paid

nothing. This is the most rapidly growing form of slavery, and probably the

second largest form today. Contract slavery is most often found in Southeast Asia, Brazil, some Arab states, and some parts of the Indian sub-continent.

These types are not mutually exclusive. Contracts may be issued to chattel slaves

in order to conceal their enslavement. Girls trapped into prostitution by debt bondage will sometimes have contracts that specify their obligations, but not always. The

important thing to remember is that people are enslaved by violence and held

against their wills for exploitation. The labels we apply to the types of slavery are

useful to help us keep track of the patterns of enslavement, and for what they might

suggest about how slavery might be attacked. The labels reflect the nature of the

relationship between the slave and the slaveholder, but these relationships are fluid

and changeable.

In addition to these three main types of slavery there are several other kinds

which account for a small part of the total number of slaves. Most of these tend

to be restricted to specific geographical regions or political situations. A good example of slavery linked to politics is what is often called War Slavery and includes government sponsored slavery. In Burma today there is widespread capture and enslavement of civilians by the government and the army. Tens of thousands of men,

women, and children are used as laborers or bearers in military campaigns against

indigenous peoples or on government construction projects. The Burmese military

dictatorship doesn’t suggest that they own the people they have enslaved, in fact

they deny that they enslave anyone, but the International Labor Organization, US

State Department, and human rights organizations confirm that violence is used to

hold a large number of people in bondage. War slavery is also a feature of the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

In some parts of the Caribbean and in Western Africa, children are given or sold

into domestic service. They are sometimes called Restavecs. Ownership is not asserted, but strict control, enforced by violence, is maintained over the child. The return on the enslaved child is not interms of profits generated, but in the domestic

services provided. It is a culturally approved way of dealing with ‘‘extra’’ children,

and some are treated well, but for most it is a kind of slavery that lasts until adulthood.

Slavery can also be linked to religion, as with the Devadasi women in India, or

the children who are ritual slaves in Ghana. Several thousand girls and young

women are given by their faniilies as slaves to local fetish priests in southeastern

Ghana, Togo, Benin, and southwestern Nigeria. The girls are given to the priests

in order to atone for sins committed by members of their families, often rape. The

girls may, in fact, be the products of rape and their slavery is seen as a way of appeasing the gods for the crimes committed by their male relatives. The girls are

given to the local priest as a slave when they are about ten years old, and it is required that they must be virgins. The girls then stay with the priest cooking and

cleaning, farming, and serving the priest sexually until the priest frees her, usually

after she has borne several children. At that point the slave’s family must provide

another young girl to replace her. Ghana’s Constitution forbids slavery, but the

practice is justified by villagers and priests as a religious requirement.

As can be seen by the cases above slavery comes in many forms and it can be

found in virtually all countries. A recent investigation in Britain found young girls

held in slavery and forced to be prostitutes in Birmingham and Manchester.

Enslaved domestic workers have been found and freed in London and Paris. In the

United States textile workers have been found locked into a factory and working

under armed guards. Enslaved Thai and Philippine women have been freed from

brothels in New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. This list could go on and on. Almost

all of the countries where slavery ‘‘cannot’’ exist have slaves inside their borders,

but, it must be said, in very small numbers compared to the Indian sub-continent

or the Far East. Altogether slaves constitute a vast workforce that supports the

world economy we all share.

31

EXAMPLES OF CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY

Lives up in smoke

In a recent survey, over a third of all American high school students said that

they used tobacco at least once in the last month. That smart students should be

doing something so stupid is alarming, but what is even worse is that many of them

were supporting slavery as they smoked. Almost 300,000 students said that they

had been smoking beedis, small flavored cigarettes from India. Would they have

done so if they knew that most beedis are made by slave children?

In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, outside the big city of Madras, are

small towns where millions of beedis are made. On the outskirts of one of these

towns lives an eleven-year-old boy named Vikram. He, and many of the other children in his town are slaves. When Vikram was nine his younger brother became

very ill. His family is very poor, and the only way that his parents could buy medicine was to borrow money from a local man. As the man controling the production

of beedis in their village, this moneylender used the loan as a way to take Vikram

into debt bondage. Since Vikram’s parents had nothing else to give as collateral, the

moneylender said they must pledge Vikram against the debt. His parent’s choice

was a terrible one: to save the life of their youngest son, they had to put their oldest

son into bondage. For the moneylender it was business as usual, and he had got

another slave for just a few dollars. Today none of the work that Vikram does pays

off the debt, he is basically the property of the moneylender until his parents can

find the money for repayment. Two years after it was first made the debt has grown

with extra charges to about $65.

Vikram works from six in the morning until nine at night, with breaks for breakfast and lunch. Each day he rolls about 1,500 beedi cigarettes by hand. Each beedi

is smaller than a normal cigarette, and instead of paper the tobacco is wrapped in

a leaf from the kendu tree. Since there is no glue used, each beedi must then be

tied shut with a thread and a tiny knot. Sitting cross-legged on the floor with a tray

of tobacco and kendu leaves on his lap, Vikram’s hands fly through the motions of

wrapping, rolling and tying the beedis. He has to work very quickly, like a machine,

if he is to make the number required from him everyday. If he is sick, he still has

to work, and if he fails to deliver to full number, his debt will be increased. He can

watch the world, or a very small piece of it, from the porch where he sits rolling

the beedis, but he cannot be part of it. Some of the local children go off to school

in the mornings, he sees them go as he rolls beedi. In the afternoon other children

play around the village, Vikram watches but cannot join in, his childhood has been

taken by the moneylender to provide virtually free labor and high profits.

In some ways Vikram’s slavery could be worse. At night he is allowed to go home

for supper and to sleep with his family. Of course, this is very clever of the moneylender, since it means that he doesn’t have to provide food or lodging for his slave.

Vikram, like so many modern slaves, was very cheap to buy and is also very cheap

to maintain. Until recently a boy in Vikram’s position would have little to look forward to except years rolling beedis. Many children have had their whole childhood

taken by beedi rolling. As young adults the moneylender will often turn them to

other kinds of work, since their larger hands are not as nimble for rolling beedis.

When they finally stop rolling beedis, they are young men with no education and

little experience of the world. Their job prospects, if they can get away from the

moneylender, are dismal.

Slavery in the City of Lights

In France I interviewed an animated 22 year old woman, who told me of her life

as a slave in Paris:

I was raised by my grandmother in Mali, and when I was still a little

girl a woman my family knew came and asked her if she could take me to

Paris to care for her children. She told my grandmother that she would put

me in school and that I would learn French. But when I came to Paris I

was not sent to school, I had to work every day. In their house I did all

the work, I cleaned the house, cooked the meals, cared for the children, and

washed and fed the baby. Every day I started work before 7 am and finished about 11 pm, I never had a day off. My mistress did nothing, she

slept late and then watched television or went out.

One day I told her that I wanted to go to school. She replied that she

had not brought me to France to go to school but to take care of her children. I was so tired and run down. I had problems with my teeth, sometimes my cheek would swell and the pain would be terrible. Sometimes I

had stomach aches, but when I was ill I still had to work. Sometimes when

I was in pain I would cry, but my mistress would shout at me.

32

I slept on the floor in one of the children’s bedroom, my food was their

leftovers. I was not allowed to take food from the refrigerator like the children. If I took food she would beat me. She often beat me. She would slap

me all the time. She beat me with the broom, with kitchen tools, or

whipped me with electric cable. Sometimes I would bleed, I still have marks

on my body.

Once in 1992 I was late going to get the children from school, my mistress and her husband were furious with me and beat and then threw me

out on the street. I had nowhere to go, I didn’t understand anything, and

I wandered on the streets. After some time her husband found me and took

me back to their house. Then they beat me again with a wire attached to

a broomstick until I lost consciousness.

Sometime later one of the children came and untied me. I lay on the floor

where they had left me for several days. The pain was terrible but no one

treated my wounds. When I was able to stand I had to start work again,

but after this I was always locked in the apartment. They continued to beat

me.

Seba was finally freed when a neighbour, after hearing the sounds of abuse and

beating, managed to talk to her. Seeing her scars and wounds, the neighbour called

the police and the French Committee against Modern Slavery (CCEM), who brought

a case and took Seba into care. Medical examinations confirmed that she had been

tortured. Today Seba is well-cared for, living with a volunteer family. She is receiving counselling and learning to read and write. Recovery will take years, but she

is a remarkably strong young woman. What amazed me was how far Seba needs

to go. As we talked I realised that though she was 22 and intelligent, her understanding of the world was less developed than the average 5 year old. For example,

until she was freed she had little understanding of time—no knowledge of weeks,

months, or years. For Seba there was only the endless round of work and sleep. She

knew that there were hot days and cold days, but never learned that the seasons

follow a pattern. If she ever knew her birthday she had forgotten it, and did not

know her age. She is baffled by the idea of ‘‘choice’’. Her volunteer family tries to

help her make choices, but she still can’t grasp the concept.

If Seba’s case were unique it would be shocking enough, but Seba is one of perhaps 3000 household slaves in Paris. Nor is this slavery unique to Paris. In London,

New York, Zurich, Los Angeles, and across the world children are brutalized as

household slaves. And they are just one small group of the world’s slaves. The fact

that we find slaves from many countries in Paris, Tokyo or Los Angeles points to

the way slavery has become truly global. Of course, many things are becoming

‘‘globalized’’, but they are usually things we can see or experience as part of our

daily lives, like the world wide web. In the shadows of the illegal markets crime

is also becoming glob alized, and with it comes global slavery.

SLAVERY AND GLOBALIZATION

Globalization is hard to define because it is still occurring and changing. But most

people agree that globalization is the dramatic shift that is going on around the

world that is doing four key things: it is reducing the amount of time required to

communicate with anyone, as well as making physical distance between people

much less important. It is leading to the emergence of global tastes and global ideas,

from what is stylish in shoes and food to ideas about human rights and culture.

And, it is reducing the importance of nations and increasing the importance of businesses or groups that are trans-national.

These four things apply to slavery as well. In the 19th century slavery was, by

definition, a social and economic relationship controlled by national governments.

Slavery was given precise legal status within the boundaries of a country (or sometimes a state within a country) and removing a slave from that country meant automatic freedom. Unfortunately for contemporary slaves, most people still define slavery as legal ownership and that means that many people think that slavery was

abolished when countries stopped allowing legal ownership of other people. Of

course, slavery did not end when slavery laws were changed. Equally important, the

globalization of transnational organizations applies to criminal groups as well, and

their trade in human beings is increasing worldwide.

Globalization is seen in the ongoing loss of government control over international

trade. When young people mounted big protests at the World Trade Organization

meetings in Seattle in 1999, they were drawing attention to the fact that no one

seems to be in control on international trade, which means that no one is protecting

people from the worst outcomes of that trade. The trade in human beings is also

difficult for governments to control. The trade in people is sometimes called ‘‘trafVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
33

ficking’’ or ‘‘human trafficking’’. The United Nations estimates that $7 billion is

made year by trafficking in people. These profits flow across national borders enriching criminal networks. Governments are used to enforcing law within their borders, but when people and profits are moved rapidly from country to country it is

difficult for law enforcement to keep up.

The spread of production and products around the world is another mark of

globalization. Today we are not surprized to see that our shoes are made in Italy,

our shirts in India, our cars in Mexico, or that our fruit comes from Africa and our

fish from Norway. Global businesses can pull together all of these products from

around the world. Global slavery does the same. Slaves are recruited in one country

to be sent to another, or shipped thousands of miles within the same country. It

is true that in the 19th century slaves were moved long distances in a one-way traffic from Africa to the Americas, but the trade today sees slaves moved in many directions all around the world.

Before globalization, people were more concerned with ‘‘fixed’’ capital investments,

like factories or life-long slaves, and with long-term planning. The globalized world

is more concerned with flexibility than fixed capital, and with processes of production rather than permanence. The same is true of slavery. Slaves are so cheap now

that they are not seen as long-term investments, just flexible resources to be used

or thrown away as needed. And this more temporary, low cost slavery is also becoming more common around the globe. Whether slaves are cutting sugar cane in the

Caribbean, or making bricks in Pakistan, or mining in Brazil, the nature of slavery

is merging into a more global form. And because trans-national companies now tie

together the world’s economy, we may be using or profiting from the work of these

slaves.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GLOBAL SLAVERY?

If responsibility for slaveholding is extended to those who profit from it, we have

to confront a shocking ethical problem. Those who profit from slavery might include

you or me or anyone. Pension funds or mutual funds may be buying stock (which

is, after all, part-ownership) in companies that own companies that sub-contract

slave labor. Some key questions are: How many links have to stand between a slave

and an ‘‘owner’’ for them to be held responsible? Is ignorance an excuse? If your job

were to depend on the availability of slave-produced raw materials, where would

you stand? There are, in fact, several layers of responsibility. But how much responsibility does the average person carry for the eradication of slavery. William Greider

points out that:

The deepest meaning of the global industrial revolution is that people no

longer have free choice in the matter of identity. Ready or not, they are already of the world. As producers or consumers, as workers or merchants or

investors, they are now bound to distant others through the complex

strands of commerce and finance reorganising the globe as a unified marketplace. The prosperity of South Carolina or Scotland is deeply linked to

Stuttgart’s or Kuala Lumpur’s. The true social values of Calfornians or

Swedes will be determined by what is tolerated in the factories of Thailand

or Bangladesh (Grieder, 1997, 333).

If people do not participate in slavery through investment, they almost certainly

have through consumption. Slave produced goods and services flow into the global

market making up a tiny but significant part of what we buy. But the sheer volume

of our consumption overwhelms our ability to make responsible choices. We don’t

have time to research the living conditions of the people who produced everything

we buy. And if we could ask these questions, how would we go about it? Is it the

responsibility of the local supermarket to investigate labor relations around the

world, or to get you the best food at the lowest price? Then we also have to think

about what happens when we get answers we don’t like. For example, Haitian men,

women, and children have been enslaved to harvest sugar in the Dominican Republic, sugar exported to the United States and other countries. Is the average consumer ready to pay $5 for a candy bar if that is what it takes to ensure that the

producers are not enslaved and get a decent wage? When enough research discovers

where and how slave made goods enter our lives, there will be an even bigger question to face: how much is the average person willing to pay to end slavery? Meanwhile most people assume that the problem should be dealt with by governments

and the United Nations, yet the UN turns out to be less powerful than consumers

in their ability to confront slavery.

34

THE ROLE OF THE STATE AND THE UN: INTERNATIONAL LAW AND SLAVERY

When the League of Nations was set up after World War I, one of its first major

statements was a convention against slavery (a convention is an agreement made

between countries which is less formal than a treaty). Commonly known as the 1926

Slavery Convention it called on every country that signed it (and most countries

have done so) to ‘‘prevent and suppress the slave trade; and to bring about . . . the

complete abolition of slavery in all its forms’’. When the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights was published by the new United Nations in 1948, freedom from

slavery was seen as one of the most fundamental of human rights. Article 4 reads,

‘‘No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be

prohibited in all their forms’’. In 1956 a Supplementary Convention was added that

included debt bondage, serfdom, and unfree forms of marriage in the UN’s definition

of slavery.

It is important to remember that only one part of the United Nations, the Security Council, has the power to punish countries or mobilize armed forces. It is the

Security Council that decided, for example, to intervene in Kuwait, East Timor, and

Kosovo. And even the Security Council has to rely on voluntary support from member countries. Most of the other UN organizations are primarily ‘‘talking shops’’.

They investigate, review, discuss, put forward resolutions and conventions, but cannot require any country to act in a certain way. Slavery is an important concern

within the United Nations, but it must compete with many other concerns. The UN

is a large bureaucracy, slavery comes under the Economic and Social Council that

was set up when the UN began. Within the Council is the Commission on Human

Rights, and within that commission is the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. The Commission and SubCommission

meets every year to consider human rights issues. Before these meetings a number

of working groups get together to focus on particular issues, one of these is the

Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. It calls for reports from groups

like Anti-Slavery on slavery around the world, and it passes resolutions calling on

countries to enforce their own laws and the treaties they have signed. But like other

parts of the UN, the Working Group cannot require or force countries to take action

against slavery. Sometimes the Human Rights Commission also appoints people to

be Special Reporters or investigators on particular issues, like torture or the rights

of women. So far, there has never been a Special Reporter on Slavery, but many

people believe that this would be an important step to highlight the extent of slavery today.

Other parts of the UN are also very concerned with slavery, especially the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO, for example, runs the International

Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) that is responsible for raising

awareness and combating child labor. IPEC focuses on preventing child labor and

the systematic search for alternative solutions in the form of decent employment for

parents of child workers and rehabilitation, education, or vocational training for

children. Child labor has emerged as one of the most important global issues of our

times and international cooperation on the issue has been strengthened over the

last few years. Children who are enslaved, perhaps through debt bondage, are a special concern in the fight against child labor. One non-governmental organization, the

Global March Against Child Labor, with key support from IPEC, has developed a

worldwide network of political leaders and activists in many countries, raising

awareness and understanding of the issue. When child laborers from around the

world marched on the United Nations in Geneva in 1998, their voices and example

pushed the politicians to enact much stronger rules in the new Convention on the

Worst Forms of Child Labor, which includes child slavery. Around the world IPEC

also sets up projects to get children out of the workplace and back into schools. In

1998–1999 an estimated 130,000 children benefited directly from ‘‘child labor-related

services’’ provided by IPEC and its partners. The ILO also does in-depth investigations of slavery. By calling in independent experts and maintaining a staff of highly

trained specialists, it brings together some of the most reliable information available

on slavery today.

Another UN body that confronts slavery is the International Organization for Migration (IOM). For years, trafficking rings have thrived on the exploitation of

women from developing countries. Recently countries of the former Soviet Union

have become their latest targets. In Ukraine, for example, women have become more

economically vulnerable and trafficking in women has become a dangerously booming ‘‘business’’. Lured by false promises, misled by false information on migration

regulations, many women fall prey to unscrupulous traffickers, allowing their dream

for a better life to be exploited. Helping stem the rising tide of trafficking in women,

the IOM set up an information campaign that educated and warned women about

35

the truth of trafficking. The result was a significant reduction in the number of

women tricked into slavery in this way.

TRAFFICKING IN PEOPLE

The size of the modern slave trade is very hard to measure. It is mixed up with

the smuggling of illegal immigrants, with forced migration, and with criminal networks. The United Nations estimates that around the world 4 million people a year

are traded against their will into some form of slavery or servitude. Most of these

people come from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. In these

parts of the world people and families that are poor and desperate will do almost

anything to improve their lot. ‘‘Recruiters’’ take advantage of them, promising transportation and jobs in a new country. Once the ‘‘recruiters’’ have people away from

their homes, they use violence to take control of their lives. The CIA estimates that

as many as 50,000 women and children are smuggled into the United States each

year to be forced into prostitution, domestic service, or as bonded labor in factories

and sweatshops. Men are also brought into the country, but in smaller numbers.

Recent cases show the nature of the trade:

In 1995, 76 immigrants from Thailand were liberated from a cockroachinfested garment factory in El Monte, California. Razor wire fences surrounded the factory where they were forced to sleep and work up to 16 hour

days. They were being held against debts supposedly amassed for their passage to the US.

In 1997, three men were convicted of kidnapping a 22-year-old woman in

China. They had brought her to the US, raped her, and forced her to work

as a prostitute. She was beaten, burned with cigarettes, and tattooed with

a gang symbol before she escaped.

In 1999, police in Atlanta broke up a smuggling ring that brought up to

1,000 Asian women to the US and forced them to work as prostitutes. The

smugglers would fly the women to different cities in the US to ensure variety in the brothels. While the women were given just enough to cover the

basic necessities, one brothel grossed $1.5 million over a two year period.

Most slavery in the United States begins as a case of illegally smuggling people

into the country. Federal prosecutors have prosecuted 150 cases of slavery or debt

bondage in the last five years, but this amount is just the tip of the iceberg. Most

victims are not able to communicate with officials if they escape, and most are also

afraid to come forward. Told by the ‘‘recruiters’’ that they will be tortured or killed

by the police if they are caught as illegal aliens, they keep quiet even in slavery.

For the traffickers the crime is very attractive. Crime networks from Asia and

Eastern Europe have found that dealing in people makes as much money as dealing

in drugs and with much lower risk. Immigrants from Asia pay as much as $50,000

to smugglers to get them into the US, once in the country they can be locked up

and forced to work 12 to 16 hour days. Between the threat of violence and the psychological coercion based on fear of the police, the victims can be held and controlled

for years. If traffickers are caught the penalties are much lower than for smuggling

drugs. If apprehended the smuggler often pretends to be an illegal immigrant as

well, so that they will be deported but not punished.

Trafficking in people has boomed since the end of the Cold War as borders have

become more open and more people have become economically vulnerable. The increase has governments scrambling to catch up. In early 2000 the US Congress

began consideration of a law that would increase punishments for people who smuggle or keep bonded workers. The United Nations has drafted a new Convention on

trafficking in persons, but it is still in the discussion stage. The European Union

has also started work on new laws, but all of these governments are waiting for

more research to be carried out to provide a picture of the extent and flow of this

trade in human beings. So while the government bodies slowly determine what their

response will be, it is the more flexible non-governmental organizations and charities that lead the work against trafficking and slavery. These groups achieve most

of what is being accomplished against slavery, but with only small numbers of workers and just a fraction of the funds of the government agencies.

LIBERATION AND REHABILITATION

The human and economic relationships of modern slavery are complex. It would

be so much easier to understand and combat slavery if there were very clear good

guys and bad guys, if all slaveholders were cruel and all slaves yearned for freedom,

if the solution to all slavery were simply to set slaves free. But being free means

more than just walking away from bondage. Liberation is a bitter victory if it only

36

leads to starvation or reenslavement. Freedom is both a mental realization and a

physical condition. Ultimately, slaves have to find their own way into true freedom.

The physical and psychological dependence they often feel toward their masters can

make this a long process. If an abused child is expected to need years of therapy

and guidance to overcome trauma, equally abused slaves can hardly be expected to

enter society immediately as full citizens. It is true that many ex-slaves are phenomenally resilient, but the worst abused may need a lifetime of care. In the struggle to survive, not just slavery but liberation, there is one striking parallel between

the old slavery of the United States and the new slavery of today: when slavery

came to an end in 1865 the slaves were just dumped on the labor market. Today

slaves who gain their liberty also face an uncertain future without resources or help.

If slavery is to end, we must learn how ex-slaves can best secure their own freedom

and become citizens in their own right.

Liberation brings new problems. A lifetime of dependence cannot be swept away

in an instant. A person denied autonomy, who has never had to make choices, can

be paralyzed when confronting decisions. If anything can be learned from the lives

of freed slaves, it is that liberation is a process not an event. If we are serious about

stopping slavery we have to be committed to supporting freed slaves in a rehabilitation process that can take years. This means thinking very carefully about what

slaves need to achieve true freedom. For example, we have to consider how to help

slaves as people. What kind of care do slaves and ex-slaves need to attain a sense

of freedom and personhood? Unfortunately, we know very little about the psychology

of slavery or how to help its victims. To end slavery we will have to become experts

in repairing the damage slavery brings to both mind and body.

We will also have to become experts in slaves as economic beings. Slaves have

few skills. The jobs they do as slaves are not usually worth much on the free market. But if they are freed and can’t support themselves, how will they avoid being

enslaved again? Small children are dependent on their parents, who often expect

them to do simple tasks around the house. Slaves are kept in a state of permanent

dependence and are normally prevented from learning all but the most simple tasks.

No one would dream of dropping an eight-year-old into the job market to compete

for their livelihood, but this has happened to thousands of freed slaves. Around the

world, only a tiny handful of people work to understand and build new economic

routes from slavery to self-sufficiency. The economic process of becoming self-supporting parallels the growth to psychological and social independence.

From psychology to small scale economics to large scale law enforcement, much

more research and development is needed. From the little work that has been done,

it seems that there are several ways to help people to stay free: helping them to

make the psychological adjustment to freedom; giving them access to credit; letting

ex-slaves make their own decisions about what work they will do; overcoming corruption in the rehabilitation programmes; the presence and oversight of powerful

people on the side of ex-slaves; and that greatest of liberators, education.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Around the world people are fighting against slavery. Many of these people have

to invent the strategies and actions that they will take because the modern abolitionist movement is just beginning. We have wonderful examples such as Free the

Children where a group of twelve-year-olds have built up a powerful international

organization. Even more inspiring are the lives of children liberated from slavery,

children who have suffered terrible abuse, but who are not just re-building their

lives, but becoming leaders in the fight against slavery.

One of the things we know about slavery today is that it spans the globe and

reaches into our lives. Whether we like it or not, we are now global people. We have

to ask ourselves: Are we willing to live in a world with slaves? If not, we have to

work to understand the links that tie us to slavery and then take action to break

those links. If we don’t do that we are puppets, subject to forces we can’t or won’t

control. If we don’t take action we are just giving up and letting other people jerk

the strings that tie us to slavery. Of course, there are many kinds of exploitation

in the world, many kinds of injustice and violence to be concerned about. But slavery is important because it is exploitation, violence, and injustice all rolled together.

There is no more potent combination of these three crimes. If there is one fundamental violation of our humanity we can not allow, it is slavery. If there is one basic

truth that virtually every human being can agree on, it is that slavery must end.

What good is all our economic and political power, if we can’t use it to free slaves?

If we can’t stop slavery, how can we really say we are free?

Portions of this Introduction are excerpted from: Disposable People: New Slavery

in the Global Economy, by Kevin Bales (U. of California Press 1999).

37

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you. That was an excellent, thoughtful statement with good and specific recommendations. Moctar, we

look forward to hearing your testimony of your experience in Mauritania.

Mr. TEYEB. Good morning, peace be upon you.

Mr. Chairman, esteemed committee members. I greet you by saying As Alaamu Alaikum.

Senator BROWNBACK. Moctar, will you pull that microphone up

closer to you. You have to get right in it, so people can hear you.

STATEMENT OF MOCTAR TEYEB, AMERICAN COORDINATOR,

EL HOR; AND OUTREACH DIRECTOR, AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY GROUP

Mr. TEYEB. And I want to thank you for this historic moment for

my people, the Haratines in Mauritania. I say historic because it

is the first time that the slaves in my homeland have had the

chance for their story to be heard in a place like this—in a great

democratic institution, the United States Senate. As one who was

born into bondage, I know that it is a great privilege and honor to

speak before you on behalf of more than one million Haratines, the

slaves in Mauritania, and on behalf of all the abolitionists in Mauritania.

I was born into slavery in 1959, just as my country was gaining

its independence from France. I, however, was born into a world

that knew nothing of independence. My family and I were slaves,

and had been so for generations. Our reality was servitude, obedience, and bondage. Independence and freedom, who knew about

such things? You see, in Mauritania, slavery has never ended.

Eight hundred years ago, Arab-Berber tribesmen rode south

across the Western Sahara Desert and enslaved the black Africans

they met in what is today Mauritania. And ever since that time the

Haratines—black Africans like myself—who lost their culture, who

lost even their family names, have lived under white Arab masters,

who are known as Beydannes. We have been bought and sold like

property, and bred like farm animals.

We are all Muslim. The Beydannes are Muslim and the

Haratines are Muslim. We worship the same God—Allah. and we

follow the same Islamic rituals. In the Koran, it is written that a

Muslim may not enslave a fellow Muslim, but in Mauritania this

does not apply to black Muslims. We have been the inherited property of the Beydannes for generations.

On my father’s side, my family has been slaves for at least three

generations. On my mother’s side, it is impossible to remember a

time when we were ever free.

I was born in the southern desert of Mauritania near a small village called Ejert. As a young slave, I was raised to serve my master’s every need, often without regard for my age or my abilities.

I had to haul water from a well, shepherd cattle, travel with my

master to care for his camel and take care of my master’s children.

My reason for being was to care for my master’s family.

Mauritanian society considers slavery a natural thing. For instance, the word for a black person, a Haratine, is ‘‘abed’’ which

means ‘‘slave’’, not ‘‘man’’. A black woman is a ‘‘khadem’’, literally,

a female slave. There is no distinction. The Beydannes believe

38

these names are suitable for slaves because they are not complete

human beings. If you were to visit Mauritania and listen to everyday conversations, you would hear that slaves are always mentioned. They are talked about as an extension of the master: ‘‘My

Haratani slave didn’t wash my clothes. My slave started cooking

late. I will send one of my slaves to help your slaves in preparing

your home. If you insult me again, I will have my slaves beat you

up.’’ In Mauritania, the mentality of the Arab Beydannes to work

with one’s hands is shameful.

Our masters see us as mere property. Slaves are circulated by

their masters as gifts. Black families are ripped apart when a master gives his relatives slaves as gifts or divides the slave’s family

among his sons as their inheritance. During the past twelve years,

this has extended beyond the border of Mauritania. Black slaves

have been traded to Arabian Gulf states, like Qatar and the United

Arab Emirates.

For centuries, most Mauritanian slaves have simply accepted

their position because it is the only reality they know. Imagine how

difficult it is to conceive freedom when you have not experienced

it for even one day. Faithful Muslim Haratines are raised to believe

that serving their master is their religious duty because of their

impure black skin. They are told that their only hope for reward

in the after life is being obedient to their master.

In Mauritania, there is a saying: ‘‘For the Haratani, Paradise is

under your master’s feet.’’ If you are a slave, you do not even have

the time to question it. Of course, that does not mean that for one

minute you do not feel the deep pain of slavery.

For some reason, I could never accept my role as a slave. From

the earliest time I can remember, I knew that something was

wrong. Even it age three or four, I instinctively asked myself questions that would later drive me to escape. They were the questions

of a young child. Why are we different? Why do I get such bad

treatment from the Beydannes? What things in life show them that

they are better than us? Of course, in an environment of bondage,

you cannot ask such questions out loud. But I began to reject all

that was around me.

So, from a young age, I became a troublemaker. I questioned the

situation of my family and my people. I would challenge my master’s commands and speak out against my fate as a slave. I was

lucky my master was not so strict. Other masters would have tortured or even killed slaves who acted as I did.

This does not mean that I was always safe from punishment and

pain. When I was nine, my fresh manner got me in trouble with

a local Arab. The details of this incident are painful, but the simple

result was that he broke my arm. My left arm is broken. As a

slave, I had no right to see the doctor. My broken arm was never

fixed, and it will never be healed. In fact, it was broken again several years later as a result of my struggle against the ongoing injustice.

Well, they could break my arm, but they could not break my desire to be free. I was driven by a dream of a better life, a chance

to be someone. A chance to help others as a free man and not a

slave.

39

Please understand, no slaves are allowed to go to school. I asked

to go to school, and I was denied. But, whenever I could, I would

find Arab children my age, and I would ask them how to write

things. When children in the village would do their homework, I

would practice and memorize whatever I heard. That’s how I first

learned to read and write my name.

By 1979, the time was ripe. I got a chance to move from my village to the capital. I quickly made my plan, and I ran away. I left

late at night, crossing into the Senegal River.

So what have I done in the twenty years since I turned my back

on slavery for a new life? I have been on a long journey, wandering

across Africa and the Middle East. After escaping, I knew I had to

get an education. So I studied hard to achieve what I had been denied the opportunity to achieve in my own country. In the Ivory

Coast, at the age of twenty-two, I sat in a classroom and was allowed to look at a teacher for the first time. I later earned a certificate in electrical engineering in Libya. I studied literature and Islamic law in Morocco. And in 1993 I received a law degree from the

University of Garyounis in Benghazi.

But I also knew that I could never rest while my relatives remained in bondage. I could not simply leave them behind. And so

I joined El Hor, which means ‘‘The Free.’’ It is a Mauritanian antislavery organization that is committed to fighting the social and

political structures that allows slavery to continue in Mauritania.

We are targeted by the government. And so our work is difficult.

But we will not rest until we can free all of our brothers and sisters.

I also want to be clear that our efforts against slavery in Mauritania do not call for violence or the overthrow of the government.

We anti-slavery group activists know very well that the government is racist and corrupt on a scale beyond that of even the

former apartheid regime in South Africa. But our primary goal is

to free our brothers and sisters from physical and mental slavery.

Too many Haratines simply do not know that slavery is not their

God-given role. They must be educated. They must be liberated.

Mr. Chairman, esteemed committee members, I have come to the

United States carrying with me the sadness of the past, but also

I bring great hope. The United States Congress has a worldwide

reputation for its defense of human rights. And, until a few years

ago, the United States government consistently condemned the

slavery in Mauritania, and regularly named the government as a

major human rights violator. Economic pressure was applied, and

the anti-slavery movement felt it had American support. But then

the Mauritanian regime, which had long been close to the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein—even backing Iraq in the Gulf War——

Senator BROWNBACK. Moctar, we want to make sure we are able

to finish by 12:30 if possible. So if you could kind of wrap it up,

because I want to make sure to give Jean some time. I do not mean

to cut you short at all. We need to, if we can, by 12:30 is what we

are going to try to move for.

Mr. TEYEB. Thank you. It is almost done. Even backing Iraq in

the Gulf War—decided in 1995 that it wanted American foreign aid

and began to vote with the United States and against Saddam in

the United Nations. Suddenly, the American State Department beVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
40

came very quiet about the slavery in Mauritania. And so my people

are now asking why has American abandoned us?

At a time when the United States is expressing an increased

commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights in Africa,

the State Department has tragically lost interest in the issue of

slavery in Mauritania. We appreciate the American desire to isolate Saddam Hussein. We also support peace in the Middle East.

But we cannot believe that this cynical tradeoff of the most basic

human rights—freedom from slavery—will be tolerated by the

United States Congress.

The suffering of the Haratines has lasted for 800 years. Tragically, our fellow Muslims have failed to condemn the practice of

slavery in Mauritania. They have denied and neglected what is

happening to us, even though we Haratines are sincere and proud

Muslims.

There are so many international organizations and government

agencies that care about humanitarian issues. They fight famine,

natural disasters, child abuse, domestic abuse, political detentions,

and more. But very few of these organizations and agencies have

had nothing to say about slavery in Mauritania. We believe that

it is time to end that silence. We ask you, Mr. Chairman, esteemed

committee members, to help us to resume American economic and

political pressure on the Mauritanian regime, to help us set our

people free.

We Haratines also have a new hope as our director of the American Anti-Slavery Group. I have spoken to the children and adults

at schools and at marches. And I see students starting anti-slavery

campaign. And I see adults demanding action. I see that Americans

are again abolitionists. America is a proud abolitionist nation. But

your work is not over. You have a responsibility to help end slavery

in Mauritania. You cannot be silent.

Mr. Chairman, I want to say clearly we Haratines have a task

for you. You must place great pressure on the present dictatorship

in Mauritania to dismantle the institution of slavery. You can visit

Mauritania and see slavery for yourself. You must help us in our

struggle for freedom.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you very much and I say next year in

Free Mauritania. Thank you and God Bless you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Teyeb follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MOCTAR TEYEB

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I greet you by saying as alaamu alaikum, good afternoon. It is an honor to testify before your committee about slavery in Mauritania.

This is the first time that the slaves of Mauritania have been asked by the United

States government to tell of our suffering and our hope for the future. Today is a

great moment for us.

As one who was born in bondage, I speak before you on behalf of more than one

million slaves in my homeland of Mauritania, and on behalf of my organization, El

Hor. Mr. Chairman, I have been waiting to tell you my people’s story for five years.

My testimony today has three main points. First, I will discuss my country’s 800-

year-old system of slavery, which continues today. Second, I will briefly recount my

journey to freedom. As you will hear, my desire to become educated and to educate

others is what pushed me to break free. And finally, I will describe the terrible

wrong of how my people have been left to serve in silence—but also how you can

set them free.

41

800 YEARS OF CHATTEL SLAVERY

Eight centuries ago, my ancestors lived peacefully in their homeland of Africa.

Then came the Arab-Berber raids.

Suddenly, in the night, under the cover of darkness, Arab-Berber raiding parties

from the north descended on our villages. These raiders stormed through on horses

and camels. They killed or chased off the men, and took the women and the children

away, tied to the backs of their animals. Why women and children? Because they

would be controlled, and raised to believe that their role as blacks was to serve their

new masters. And they could be made into a slave caste.

In this way, we became Haratines—black Muslim slaves who faithfully served our

white Arab masters, the Beydannes. ‘‘Haratine’’ and ‘‘Beydannes’’ are local

Mauritanian words for ‘‘slaves’’ and ‘‘masters.’’ The system of slavery that began

with these raids in the 12th century continues today.

You may know that before the Trans-Atlantic slave trade there existed for centuries a Saharan slave trade. Timbuktu, for instance, is well known as a stop on

the Saharan caravan route. The goods on those caravans were three things: gold,

ivory . . . and black slaves. As a result of those caravans, slavery became an accepted

institution in the region in which I was born.

Slaves were—and are—the property of masters; they exist to serve the master’s every need. For the Arabs in Mauritania, it is shameful to work with one’s hands.

So slaves cook, clean, and wash the hands of the masters before they eat. Slaves

haul water, shepherd cattle, and cultivate land.

Slaves are also given as gifts or as loans. When the daughter of a master marries,

she must move to the house of her husband’s family, along with two slaves to serve

her and show her noble status.

Let me make clear that everyone in Mauritania is Muslim: the masters and the

slaves. The Haratines slaves are faithful Muslims, and are raised to believe that

serving their master is their religious duty. Because of their impure black skin, they

are told that their only hope for reward in the afterlife is being obedient. In Mauritania, we have a simple a saying: ‘‘Paradise under your master’s foot.’’ The values and concepts that drive the Mauritanian system of slavery are backed

by a wrong version of Islam. The Beydannes do not allow black Haratine slaves to

learn the Holy Koran because black slaves are too impure for such a holy book. Only

the Beydannes have the right to learn the Koran, and the hard result is that the

slaves are more obedient without knowing the truth of Islam.

Masters also deny slaves the right to marry. The masters believe that if Haratines

make their own marriage, they will begin to feel independent. Therefore, even the

most basic right of marriage is denied them.

This is all in violation of the Holy Koran. Since I escaped from bondage, I have

spent many years studying Islamic law, and I know that God is very clear on the

issue. Freeing slaves is a high form of charity. As it is written in the Koran: ‘‘The

alms are only for the poor and the needy, and are used to free captives and debtors

for the cause of Allah, for this is a duty imposed by Allah.’’

But the Beydannes have reversed this concept. When rich masters want to make

repentance, they do not ‘‘free a neck,’’ as the Koran says. Instead, they give one of

their slaves as charity to the poor. So today, you can walk in the capital city of

Nouakchot and see blind beggars being led around by their black slaves. Mauritania

has many social classes and clans, but all the light-skinned Beydannes share the

right to enslave blacks.

So there are no more slave raids. Everyone has enough slaves, and more are obtained by breeding. In addition, there are no open markets for slaves. Trading is

done informally, by word of mouth. In the early 1980s, when some princes in Gulf

countries needed slaves, they imported them from Mauritania. Owners in Mauritania would sell young children to sheiks in the Gulf. Inside Mauritania, some masters hire out their slaves to companies in return for salaries, or rent slaves out to

other masters in big cities.

For eight centuries, many Mauritanian slaves have accepted their position, because it is the only reality they know. Imagine how difficult it is to conceive freedom

when you have not experienced it even one day of your life. If you are a slave, you

do not have time to think about it, to question it. Of course, that does not mean

that for one minute, you do not feel the deep pain of slavery.

FROM SLAVE TO ABOLITIONIST

I was born in 1959, just as my country, Mauritania, was gaining its independence

from France. But my family and I were slaves, and had been for generations. Our

reality was servitude and bondage. Independence and freedom—who knew of such

things? On my father’s side, my family has been slaves for at least three generaVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:51 Mar 05, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 69751 SFRELA2 PsN: SFRELA2
42

tions. On my mother’s side, we cannot remember a time when we were ever free.

And so I entered the world in 1959 as a slave.

I was born in the southern desert of Mauritania near a small village called

Eggejert. As a young slave, I was raised to serve my master’s every need, often

without regard for my age or my abilities. I had to haul water from a well, shepherd

cattle, travel with my master to care for his camel, and take care of my master’s

children. My reason for being was to care for my master’s family’s every need.

For some reason, I could never accept my role as a slave. From the earliest time

I can remember, I knew that something was wrong. Even at the age three or four,

I asked myself questions that would later drive me to escape. These questions developed in my mind—but then I began to speak them. These were the questions of a

young child: ‘‘Why are we different? Why do I get bad treatment from the

Beydannes?’’ I began to reject all that was around me.

So from a young age, I did not accept the fact that I was a slave. I was a troublemaker, who questioned the situation of my family and my people. I would challenge

my master’s commands and speak out against my fate as a slave. I was lucky. My

master was not so strict. Slaves of many other masters would have been tortured

and even killed.

This does not mean that I was always safe from punishment and pain. When I

was nine, my fresh manner got me in trouble with a local Arab. The details of this

incident are painful and private, but the simple result was that he broke my arm.

As a slave, I had no right to see a doctor. My broken arm was never fixed.

Well, they could break my arm, but they could not break my desire to be free.

I was driven by a dream of a better life, a chance to be someone. A chance to help

others—as free man and not a slave. Once I even spoke of this desire in the open,

to my master’s family. I told them my desire to be an educated man, to be a teacher,

and to make money to help the poor. These desires were unacceptable from slaves,

so my master was very upset. From that day, I started to prepare for life as a free

person.

Please understand, no slaves are allowed to go to school. I asked to go to school,

and I was denied. But anytime I would find Arab children my age, I asked them

how to write things. When children in the village would do their homework, I would

practice and study with them. That’s how I first learned to read and write my name.

By 1979, the time was ripe. I got a chance to move from my village to the capital.

But I quickly made my plan, and I ran away. I knew I had to leave Mauritania.

So I left late at night, and crossed the border into Senegal.

In the last twenty years, I have been on a long journey, wandering across Africa

and the Middle East. After escaping, I knew that I must now get an education. I

also knew that I could not rest while my relatives remained in bondage. And so I

joined El Hor, which means ‘‘The Free.’’ It is a Mauritanian anti-slavery organization that is committed to fighting the social and political structures that allow slavery to continue in Mauritania. We are targeted by the government, and so our work

is difficult. But we will not rest until we can free all of our black brothers and sisters.

I also want to be clear that our efforts against slavery in Mauritania do not call

for an overthrow of the government. We anti-slavery activists do believe that the

government is racist and corrupt. But our primary goal is to free our black brothers

and sisters from physical and mental slavery. Too many Haratines simply do not

know that slavery is not their God-given role. They must be educated and liberated—and soon.

BREAKING THE SILENCE

Senators, I have come to the United States carrying with me the sadness and

atrocities of the past. In my heart there is a deep wound, but in my mind there

is a question: Why have my people been abandoned? We are hundreds of thousands

of slaves, victims of a racist practice worse than apartheid. Is this not the worst

form of domestic abuse, of political repression, of political repression?

Tragically, our brothers in Islam have never condemned the practice of slavery

in Mauritania. They have denied and neglected what is happening to us, even

though we Haratines are proud Muslims. Muslim and African leaders must know

that the slavery in Mauritania is a fact and reality, and should put pressure on the

dictatorship in Mauritania to end slavery.

We Haratines also are dismayed at the silence from the human rights community.

Human rights groups have known about slavery in Mauritania for years, but have

yet to launch a concerted effort to address contemporary slavery.

43

There are so many organizations and humanitarian groups dedicated to fighting

child abuse, political detentions, and disasters. But these groups have forgotten

about one million slaves in Mauritania. How can this be?

Until recently, the State Department extensively documented slavery in Mauritania. Then, after Mauritania abandoned its support of Saddam Hussein, the State

Department rewarded this moderation by citing mere ‘‘vestiges’’ of slavery in its annual human rights reports.

Despite a 1996 Congressional resolution decrying chattel slavery in Mauritania

(HR 4036–3), the current administration continues to engage Mauritania as a moderate Arab state. The price of this rapprochement is my people’s freedom. Last year,

Mauritania and Israel signed a peace treaty, further deepening our plight. Now

there is even more at stake in covering up Mauritania’s ugly secret.

Senators, for hundreds of thousands of blacks in Mauritania, slavery is no ‘‘ves- tige’’—it is a brutal reality. And we slaves have rights. Though the world may have

forgotten, freedom is our right too. We Haratines are committed to fighting for our

rights.

We Haratines also have new hope. As Outreach Director of the American AntiSlavery Group, I have spoken to children and adults, at schools and at protest

marches. I see students starting anti-slavery campaigns, and I see adults demanding action. I see that the old spark of abolitionism is once again touching the souls

of Americans.

Freedom from bondage is the most fundamental human right, and America is a

proud abolitionist nation. But your work is not over. With freedom comes responsibility. And you have a responsibility to help end slavery in Mauritania.

Senators, I want to say clearly: we Haratines have a task for you. You must place

great pressure on the present dictatorship in Mauritania to dismantle the institution of slavery. You can visit Mauritania and see slavery for yourselves. You must

help us in our struggle for freedom.

Senators, I thank you very much, and I say to you: ‘‘Next year in a free Mauritania.’’

Salaam aleikum. Shukran. Thank you.

Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you, Moctar, for your statement. I

appreciate that greatly. And for your willingness to come forward.

It is a very difficult situation that you speak about. And I appreciate your articulating that.

Our final witness will be Jean Robert Cadet. I apologize for mispronouncing your name horribly the first time around. But I do appreciate you being here and look forward to your testimony.

STATEMENT OF JEAN ROBERT CADET

Mr. CADET. Thank you. My name is Jean Robert Cadet, and I

would like to thank the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for

the opportunity to speak on behalf of children in domestic servitude

in Haiti.

I was born in Haiti to a peasant woman from the countryside.

She died when I was about four years old and I was soon given to

a middle-class family in Port-au-Prince who raised me as a domestic slave.

Children in domestic servitude are called restavec, a French term

that means ‘‘stay with.’’ Since emancipation and independence in

1804, those of better means have reintroduced slavery by using

children of the very poor as house servants. They promise poor

families in the rural areas who have too many mouths to feed a

better life for their children. Once acquired, these children lose all

contact with their families and their most basic rights to protection, health and education are denied. They set tables for meals in

which they cannot partake, fetch water they cannot use for their

own needs and forbidden to speak until spoken to.

Restavecs are treated worse than slaves, because they don’t cost

anything and their supply seems inexhaustible. They do the jobs

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that the hired domestics will not do and are made to sleep on cardboard, either under the kitchen table or outside on the front porch.

For any minor infraction they are severely whipped with the cowhide that is still being made exclusively for that very purpose.

Girls are usually worse off because they are sometimes used as

concubines for the teenage sons of their owners. And once pregnant, they are shown the door to fend for themselves.

When I was a boy in Haiti, I knew a restavec name Jesula, no

more than 12 years old, who was owned by a family of four—a

woman, her husband and two young men. After having been raped

by the two young men, Jesula was severely whipped with an electrical cord that broke her skin and shed her blood. Then she was

held down by the men while the woman rubbed hot pepper in her

vagina. I saw her in the creek where I went to fetch water. She

was sitting in the stream, holding herself, screaming hysterically.

I did not fully understand what had happened to her until I became an adult. Last spring, while visiting a shelter for restavec

children in Haiti, a girl named Antonia told me how she had been

punished when the mistress of the house discovered her husband

on top of her. I remembered Jesula’s scream of pain from my past

and I saw the same pain in Antonia’s eyes, only the year was now

2000.

As a restavec, I started my day at 5:30 in the morning after I

picked up my bedding from under the kitchen table. I swept the

yard, washed the family car, set the table for breakfast, filled the

bathtub, emptied and washed the chamber pots. By 11:00 a.m., I

received my daily beating for having wet my bedding. Sometimes

my owner’s friends would come and borrow me for the rest of the

day to clean their homes.

In the afternoon, I washed the car again, polished everyone’s

shoes, washed the rags the women used to control their period. I

washed everyone’s feet and then fetched water.

As I restavec, I could not interact with the family members on

a personal level, and I also did not dare smile or laugh in their

presence, as this would have been considered disrespectful.

On occasion, restavecs managed to form friendships with other

restavecs and play together when their masters were out for extended hours. I had met Rene, a boy about fourteen years old. He

seemed a few years older than I was. I must have been between

ten and twelve years old. Rene had been acquired by the

Beauchamp family, who lived three houses away and had a taxi

business.

Every morning, Rene woke up at the crowing of the first rooster

to wash the cars before the drivers arrived. At eight o’clock in the

evening he collected the moneybags from the drivers.

Between eight and nine o’clock at night, I would listen for Rene’s

signals—three long whistles. If I whistled back, we would meet behind my owner’s house to watch ‘‘I Love Lucy’’ through the window

screen, standing on cement blocks in the dark while mosquitoes

feasted on our exposed arms and legs. In the Beauchamp’s family

living room, the television was placed under the window and

restavecs were not allowed to watch it indoors.

One night, the Adventures of Tarzan had just started when Rene

arrived with a hand basket. He pulled out a bowl of food, two colas,

45

and fresh pastries. We sat on the cement block and ate in silence.

I wanted to know where he got the money to buy the food, but I

did not want to know the answer.

By mid morning, news had quickly spread among the maids and

restavecs that Rene had stolen two dollars from his owner’s cash

box. Rene was severely beaten with a cowhide whip. Every strike

lifted the skin and formed blisters. Mr. Beauchamp wanted to

know whether Rene had shared the money with other restavecs,

but Rene did not implicate me. He was made to kneel on a bed of

hot rocks in the sun, while holding two large stones in each hand

high above his head. After Rene blacked out, Mr. Beauchamp

threw him in the backseat of his car and drove him to the police

station.

The police brought Rene back late in the afternoon. His nose was

bleeding, his eyes were swollen shut, and his lips resembled two

pieces of raw cow’s liver. His puffy face was twisted to one side and

his ragged shirt was glued to his broken body. I never saw Rene

again after that day.

It was by a twist of fate that I came to the United States. My

owners, who repatriated to New York when I was about 14 years

old, sent for me to resume the same duties that I used to perform

in Haiti. There were three adults and three children in the family.

One day, a family friend who knew me in Haiti came to visit and

told the family that it was against the law in the United States not

to send a minor to school. When the family realized that the

restavec system was not compatible with American society, I was

shown the door to fend for myself.

I was sleeping in all night laundromats, and I did not speak

English. One of my teachers at Spring Valley High School in New

York sent me to the welfare office with a letter. I was given food

stamps and money to pay rent to a roommate.

After three months on welfare, I began working in a gas station

after school. After four years I graduated and enlisted in the

United States Army for three years where I served in the 75th

Ranger Battalion in Fort Lewis, Washington.

Through the GI Bill I enrolled at the University of South Florida

and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies. I

moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where I received a masters degree from

the University of Cincinnati.

Nine years ago my son was born and I began to ask myself how

I would explain my past to him. I look at this innocent child who

was so dependent on me, and thought of the Haitian children who

were facing the same hell I had lived. I wrote Restavec to raise

international consciousness to the plight of more than 300,000 Haitian slave children.

I believe it is the moral obligation of this great nation to help

Haiti solve the restavec problem. The United States government

has the resources and the means. And Haiti is only 600 miles from

our shores.

In 1994, you sent troops to restore democracy and to give hope

to a people who were accustomed to live under the iron fist of dictators. But that democracy will never take hold as long as ten percent of Haitian children live in restavec slavery. Thank you, very

much.

46

Senator BROWNBACK. That is powerful testimony. That is powerful testimony. And really a testimony to the human spirit. I admire

both of you greatly for what you have done and where you have

come to and the strength that that has taken to do that. You have

spoken out and you have spoken well and you have spoken to the

world.

This is an issue I think you heard at the outset of the hearing

this is one of the first hearings in modern times—it may be the

first ever in modern times in the United States Congress on the

issue of slavery.

Most, as I think Kevin stated, thought this ended in 1865. Myself, with the background of my state in the area, we thought that

war was fought and won sometime in the past.

I am constantly drawn to the statement that others have made

to me, and was quoted to President Kennedy, that if one person is

not free, none of us are truly free. We must push and see that this

takes place, that these issues are addressed.

The stunning question that arises, and this is the same question

that I had when we first held a hearing on the sex traffic, the trafficking of young girls for prostitution business. Why is there just

not a roar around the world that this is occurring today? Why is

this a first hearing on this subject? Why do we not see articles all

over the newspaper, on the television? Why?

Mr. CADET. Because children have no voice. They need someone

to speak for them. And the people where the children live, the

adults, the people, are not willing to speak for these children. And

the children are not capable of speaking for themselves. Nobody

will listen to them.

Senator BROWNBACK. Do U.S. diplomats observe the restavec system in Haiti and see that this occurs?

Mr. CADET. Yes, we are talking about ten percent of the Haitian

children population. I have seen it. As recently as three months

ago. I visited Haiti. And then I heard stories of children, children

a young as 12, 13 years old, who were being raped with peppers

smeared in their vaginas because their owners discovered they

were having—they were being raped by their own sons. It is a fact

of life in Haiti. It has been going on since 1804.

Senator BROWNBACK. Kevin, you have been around the world and

studied this. Why is this not being covered and people called about

it everywhere?

Dr. BALES. There are several reasons. It has to be said though

that that recognition is growing. If you actually were to chart the

number of newspaper articles and so forth over the last ten years,

you would see a significant increase. But an increase from nothing

to something does not make it a great deal.

There has been a sort of mass historical delusion that slavery

disappeared a long time ago. And we—unfortunately, in the United

States, we are very happy to pat ourselves on the back for a long

time and say we are the country that fought a war over this and

got rid of slavery. It was easy for us to imagine that all slavery was

like the slavery of 1865 and that that slavery was not around anymore. And that is true. That slavery as ownership, with the exception of places like Mauritania does not exist in the way that it did.

47

But slavery is very dynamic. It is a social relationship. It is an

economic relationship that changes over time. It has been evolving

with us. And it is taking new global force. What we have at the

moment is a situation in which people who are aware are primarily

aware of scattered incidences. They look in the press, in the TV

and they see a report here, a report there. They might have read

Jean Robert’s book. They have heard about Sudan. It is almost like

seeing mountaintops through a layer of clouds. A soon as we can

strip away that layer of clouds, people will understand there is a

great geography of slavery beneath it.

It is not just this isolated incident and that isolated incident. It

is unique and unified around the globe.

But we are at the beginning of that process. Senator Brownback,

you have made a very important step in stripping away the veil

that conceals that. Today is a very important moment for that reason. The abolitionist movement around the world thanks you for

that. But we have got to do it again and again and again until that

big picture comes into focus and the people understand that there

is slavery in Sudan, but there is also slavery in almost every other

country in the world.

Senator BROWNBACK. Moctar, why have we not heard more of

this?

Mr. TEYEB. I could add that there are several reasons. One of the

reasons is political. The conflict in what we used to call the Cold

War between the north/south is one of the main things. I will give

an example in Mauritania, a situation of slavery in Africa.

You see the conflict in the Middle East and the conflict of the

upper side in South Africa make in the 60 years the African with

the Muslim Arab changed the support in the United Nations and

the whole international conferences.

They do not want to mention anything related to human rights

abuse in Africa as long as the Arab—the focus—to get support from

the African nations and from the Muslims. The African also liberation want to get support from the Muslim and from the Arab nations. Therefore, no one will speak about this issue of slavery in

West Africa and Mauritania.

The second reason is our situation. If you could imagine, I sneak

through the woods that I do not have certificate of birth or I do not

have even two dollars.

So in other words, the slave in Mauritania, they do not ever go

out to the place to see the sun as I felt it in my age four or five.

So when I could sneak an hour, we had hours to flee. So after I

started to talk about the issue of slavery. I have been on a long

tour in the United States in schools and churches and mosques and

universities during these three years. Even as you know, I just now

still complete my last course in English. But in my opinion, I could

make people to understand myself.

In other words, the absence of the slaves themselves and the

world interest in economical and political, who will bring the issue?

But today I think the situation changed. There are abolitionists

from the slaves themselves as you see today. And also, the Cold

War is over and now is the terms are new, politically and

globalization and whatever the song that we hear unfortunately a

couple of years ago. And now started too.

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So this is one of the main situations that make slavery have been

silent from all over the world unfortunately.

Senator BROWNBACK. Well, I want to thank you all. This has

been a very disturbing and a very enlightening hearing that has

taken place. And I appreciate greatly your work that has gone on

and your lives and the spirit that cries out from within you that

has made it to this point and has brought this light to bear.

I want to commit myself, pledge myself, to the abolitionist movement that we would step forward with a new day of freedom

around the world. We have this great freedom in this country. And

we have this great responsibility that goes with the freedom and

the position that the United States has been given in the world

today. And one of those has to be to continue to speak out for freedom. It is a founding principle for us. And I do not think we were

given this vaulted status just to enjoy it for our own pleasure. But

it is also for us to be able to speak and to press that.

Francis noted his people were waiting for a strong people to free

them. This is something we need to do.

Thank you all for joining us today. We will be hearing more

about this subject. The hearing is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 12:34 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.]

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