Slavery is an emotive word invoking images of near-naked black people, chained neck to neck in a line, usually escorted by evil looking ‘Arabs’.

Modern ‘slavery’, according to Artificial Intelligence, involves around 50 million people. But they are not put to work in sugar plantations anymore.

AI defines modern ‘slavery’ as:

. Forced labour (no clues as to where that happens)
. Human trafficking
. Debt bondage
. Forced marriage
. Servitude
. Child labour

So, before the useless United Nations pontificates on ‘slavery’ it needs to define what modern ‘slavery’ is.

It seems to me that each of the AI examples are covered in civilised countries by laws that have nothing to do with slavery; in uncivilised countries, there is no hope for anyone; and the use of that word just turns people off as a relic from the past. A relic just like the UN itself.

It is estimated America owes African Americans $16 trillion in compensation to close the wealth gap created by slavery, up to $300 trillion for the action of slavery itself. Aboriginal Australia is owed a modest $1 trillion in compensation for slavery, murder and deprivation. If one includes land disposition the figure is more like $20 trillion!

Its just another money grab with people trying to get their noses deeper into the trough.

How much compensation do the African tribes who captured their neighbours and sold them to westerners and (in bigger numbers) to the Arabs, owe?

How much compensation do the North Africans who captured the Europeans in raids over several centuries, owe to the Irish, the Icelanders and the south English? (More Europeans were enslaved by the North Africans than Negros sent to North America).

How much compensation do the Turks owe to the Slavic people who were sold in markets in Istanbul over the centuries? (where does the word slave come from?).

How much compensation do the Arabs owe to the Africans who were taken for a millennia in numbers that dwarf the American trade and where vast numbers of male slaves died as a result of the practice of castrating them all?

How much compensation do the Maoris owe to the people of the Chatham Islands for the slavery (as well as genocide) they perpetrated on them ?

Slavery existed in a much more barbaric way among Africans and in particular Muslims well before the British Empire. Also, American Indian tribes were extremely barbaric towards each other. Such a sick society when victimhood is rewarded.

Hi Money Grabber Trumpster,

We don't agree 99% of the time as you are wrong 99% of the time. This however we can agree on;

"Its just another money grab with people trying to get their noses deeper into the trough."

The greed of the European enslaving the black man was a money grab, in today value, trillions pf dollars. The white fella had his nose deep in the trough by exploiting the African. Glad we agree on something

I guess it's sheer boredom that makes us respond to the non-stop provocations of Binoy Kampmark. After all, none of us has ever experienced slavery. It doesn't, and never has, occurred in Australia - although our stupidly slack immigration policy might very well be introducing people who do approve of the practice. Indeed, there has been one case of an accusation against one non-Western immigrant family employing a maid without paying her, and imprisoning her. I suppose that's a form of slavery. But information on the affair fizzled out - probably because it would throw light on our broken immigration system - and nothing further was heard of it.

Whatever. Stirrers like Kampmark and a handful of anonymous posters are not going to make any difference to the emotional subject of slavery.

We have more than enough things wrong in our own country that we can solve with intelligent voting, rather than writing pointless twaddle that nobody of importance will read.