Twenty out of the 28 European Union member countries are seeing increases in modern slavery, driven largely by a spike in migrant populations.
Modern slavery includes forced labor and human trafficking.
Verisk Maplecroft’s Modern Slavery Index reports that Romania, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria are key entry points for migrants entering Europe and that those countries pose the highest risk for exploitation.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 100,000 migrants have entered Europe by sea this year alone, and that 85% of them have landed in Italy. Greece also remains a key destination for human trafficking, as migrants fleeing conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa seek refuge by seafaring.
According to Verisk Maplecroft, the presence of these vulnerable migrant populations in the primary countries of arrival is a key contributor to increases in slavery. Agriculture, construction and the service industries are particularly susceptible to modern forms of slavery.
Italy’s modern slavery is expected to worsen the most over the next year, as more and more refugees arrive by sea.
Indeed, a kidnapping case in Italy recently made a splash in the news, when a model from the United Kingdom, Chloe Ayling, was abducted in Milan and held captive in a cabin in the Italian Alps. She was then put up for auction on the dark web, and a bid of $300,000 was sent to her agent to stop the online auction from actually taking place.
To be sure, political crackdowns, oppressive regimes and military conflicts produce scores of vulnerable people susceptible to ploys and human trafficking. But technology is also playing a role in the criminal trade.
In Seattle, executives from several technology companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, were caught up in an internet prostitution ring, allegedly called “The League,” whose members promoted the purchase of sex.
To that end, and more, top players in the technology industry have formed an organization called Thorn to help crack down on human trafficking.
London-based Verisk Maplecroft advises that companies across all industries not only increase awareness of slavery risks outside their doors, but also within.
“The migrant crisis has increased the risk of slavery incidents appearing in company supply chains across Europe,” says Sam Haynes, senior human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. “It is no longer just the traditional sourcing hot spots in the emerging economies that businesses should pay attention to when risk-assessing their suppliers and the commodities they source.”
The chief Asian manufacturing hubs, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand, all feature in the “extreme” or “high risk” categories of the Modern Slavery Index. India and Thailand have shown improvements in their scores, however, because of their better efforts to enforce laws related to slavery.
