DID you know there is something called the Global Slavery Index?
The Australia-based international human rights group Walk Free has as its mission the eradication of modern forms of slavery — within our lifetime.
Walk Free publishes its GS Index every few years drawing from data extracted from 160 countries. That data tends to be two years old, so the 2023 GSI quotes data from 2021. Its previous versions were published in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018.
The most recent Walk Free GSI report (2023) states that almost 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery conditions. They include forced labour, forced marriage, actual conventional slavery (which still exists in vile, dark, dank corners of Earth) and human trafficking. (Learn about Walk Free's work at: www.walkfree.org)
I was unaware of the existence of even residual slavery (conventional or modern) until a friend of mine, senior lawyer Ranjan Paramalingam, informed me of his personal "Run for Freedom" initiatives last year and this year.
At the still-tender age of 73, Ranjan, a responsive reader of this column, just alerted me to his upcoming Jan 4 run — which is NOT to raise funds, but to elevate awareness of the blight of slavery.
Ranjan has long been a member of Anti-Slavery International (www.antislavery.org), the world's oldest international human rights organisation, formally established in 1839 with roots dating back to 1787.
Both years significantly pre-date President Abraham Lincoln's Jan 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation during the bloody American Civil War (1861-1865). Lincoln's presidential decree declared all those then enslaved in the Confederate southern states to be legally free persons.
(Ranjan informed me his team will provide brunch and lunch at his Kuala Lumpur home — on Jan 4 next year — to well-wishers who choose to encourage him on his planned 10km run, which will be his third Run for Freedom event. Queries on the time and venue may be emailed to two of his staff at either mary@psranco.com or sham@psranco.com).
ARE WE REALLY FREE?
Now, let's switch gears for some enlightening number crunching…
Since Walk Free's GSI data from 2021 estimated that 50 million people were trapped in modern slavery conditions, and since that absolute number, sadly, rises from year to year, it's reasonable to assume the approximate number of slaves worldwide this year is 55 million.
With Earth's population fast approaching 8.2 billion, this suggests that 0.67 per cent of humanity is still trapped in some form of modern slavery. While that is a low ratio, it is still 0.67 percentage points too high — if you get my drift.
So, as we raise our personal awareness of modern slavery, and perhaps keep our eyes peeled and our ears open, and our consciences sensitive to the plight of "slaves" in our midst, we should take time to scrutinise how we and our loved ones live our lives.
Are we genuinely free, economically speaking?
Before you rush headlong to answer "yes", ask yourself whom you truly work for? Is it mainly for your family and yourself, or is it primarily for your creditors?
Modern-day living is such that — if I had to guess — I'd say two-thirds of Earth's estimated five billion workers (out of 8.2 billion people, excluding those too young or too old to be gainfully employed) or about 3.3 billion individuals owe money to various formal creditors like banks, and benign informal creditors like family and friends, and (sadly) malignant creditors like loan sharks.
If I'm right, that accounts for 67 per cent of all working adults or 40 per cent of all living people needing to toil to earn money to repay loans of various forms.
According to a division of the United Nations (UN) called UNCTAD (UN Trade and Development), Earth's global public debt stood at US$97 trillion last year (source: https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt)
Note: I wasn't able to pin down a definitive quantum for global private debt. However, an alarming CNBC news report published in May this year quoted a finding by the Institute of International Finance, which stated that total global debt was US$315 trillion.
An embedded video in that same report also stated that US$59 trillion of the gargantuan total global debt figure stemmed from household debt (For additional details, visit: www.cnbc.com/2024/05/29/global-debt-has-grown-to-315-trillion-in-2024.html).
So, let's get real: There is nothing much we as individuals can do about the aggregate woes of our fractured, hurting world, be they geopolitical or economic. But we can try to FREE OURSELVES from the "slavery" of personal debt.
How, you ask?
EMANCIPATION DECLARATION
Well, first, decide to do so. Battle internal despair; take heart that tomorrow can be better than today.
Second, work longer, harder, and smarter to earn more — ideally, much more.
Third, sacrifice (for a season) to spend less money.
Fourth, with your excess cash flow surplus pay off one loan at a time and, whenever possible, accelerate repayments on loans.
Fifth and finally, once you're debt-free, commit to never again fall prey to the wicked wiles and alluring bait of creditors.
Should you proactively opt to take all five difficult steps, then I wish you a complete success in your personal Emancipation Declaration.
© 2024 Rajen Devadason
Rajen Devadason, CFP, is a securities commission-licensed Financial Planner, professional speaker and author. Read his free articles at www.FreeCoolArticles.com; he may be connected with on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/rajendevadason, or via rajen@RajenDevadason.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @Rajen Devadason and on YouTube (Rajen Devadason).