4 Slave-Era Practices That Still Trap Millions Today

Slavery was outlawed centuries ago, but its core abuses survive in modern customs. These practices hide behind tradition while condemning millions to forced labour and servitude. In Mauritania, Haratin people remain tied by birth to lighter-skinned Bidhan masters. Though slavery was criminalized in 2007, descent-based chattel status still passes from mother to child. Enslaved families herd livestock and work in homes without pay, bought or inherited as property. Across India and Pakistan, caste-based bonded labour enslaves entire generations. Small loans for survival become inescapable debts. Families toil without wages on farms or in brick kilns under threat of violence and shame. In Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the kafala system gives sponsors full control over migrant workers’ passports and visas. Many endure withheld wages and forced labour with no right to change jobs. Servile marriages remain common in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Girls and women are exchanged through bride price or abduction. In some regions, extra wives serve as unpaid domestic and sexual labour. Until these living legacies of slavery are challenged, true abolition will remain incomplete.

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