North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world, according to the Global Slavery Index 2023 (GSI), compiled by the Australian human rights organization Walk Free and published on May 24. Eritrea ranks second to last; Mauritania, where hereditary slavery was not officially abolished until 1981, is third to last.
Modern slavery, as defined in the report, comprises two principal components – forced labor including debt bondage, human trafficking, slavery-like practices and the sale and exploitation of children, as well as forced marriage and forced commercial sexual exploitation, all of which entail a “systematic elimination of a person’s freedom.”
According to the GSI, all of these problems are most prevalent in reclusive and authoritarian North Korea: One in ten – or 2,696,000 of 26 million – North Koreans are considered “modern slaves.” This is the highest figure among all 160 countries surveyed and evidence of the precarious living situation that prevails in dictator Kim Jong Un’s socialist and totalitarian system.
GSI: North Korea enslaves its citizens
The reason for the high figures in North Korea, according to the index, is the state itself. Not only does the regime lack the political will to address the problem, but it is actually responsible for the vast majority of modern slaves in the country, forcing citizens to work and punishing those who disobey with systematic abuse like torture, deprivation of food, further taxation and imprisonment. State control over resources additionally leads to widespread hunger and malnutrition, which increases vulnerability to other forms of modern slavery, such as trafficking in forced marriages, the GSI said.
Under Kim’s authoritarian rule, all labor is centrally organized. The nature of employment is guided by the archaic social class structure of North Korean society, which, in turn, facilitates modern slavery. Not everyone is paid for their work, and if they are, they are only paid in rations. According to the GSI, many North Koreans also have to pay employers to be hired – effectively selling their labor on the black market in order to avoid imprisonment in labor camps or to survive.
Moreover, the GSI noted that forced labor in the DPRK is used as a punishment against individuals convicted of nonviolent political offenses, violations of labor discipline as well as “crimes” such as consuming outside information, and even for exercising basic human rights. Prisoners in both short-term and long-term prison camps are then often forced to perform hard physical labor under harsh conditions in construction, agriculture, logging, mining or manufacturing. Some also have to work in administrative detention or for private interests. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights even stated in 2021 that the level of control, physical and psychological abuse, cruelty and hard labor within the prison system amounts to a “crime against humanity.”
North Koreans are also regularly sent abroad to work in places such as Russia, China and Siberia. According to the GSI, there are also cases in which North Korean women are being sold as brides to China and facing harsh penalties if they escape the forced marriage and return to North Korea. In addition, girls and women alike are reportedly forced into sexual slavery domestically by North Korean officials of various ranks.
Modern slavery is a mirror of power
The report said an estimated 50 million people worldwide were living in “modern slavery situations” in 2021 – an increase of 10 million from 2016, when the situation was last evaluated. Some 28 million of those affected are “enslaved” as forced laborers; the other 22 million are living in a forced marriage. Among the most prominent reasons for the situation, the report cites increasing and complex armed conflicts, widespread environmental degradation and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to the bottom three – North Korea, Eritrea and Mauritania – Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Afghanistan and Kuwait are considered to have the highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world. Those countries all share common characteristics, such as “limited protection of civil liberties and human rights” and are oftentimes volatile “regions where there is conflict or political instability, or host large numbers of vulnerable people.”
According to Grace Forrest, the founding director of Walk Free, modern slavery “permeates every aspect” of society. “It is a mirror of power that shows who has power in a society and who does not,” she said. “It is a man-made problem, connected to both historical slavery and persisting structural inequality. In a time of compounding crises, genuine political will is the key to ending these human rights abuses.”
Edited by Robert Lauler.
