Slavery in contemporary Africa

aspect in a geographic region
Subclass of	Slavery
Facet give	Africa

De continent of Africa be one of de regions most rife plus contemporary slavery.^[1] Slavery insyd Africa get a long history, within Africa since before historical records, buh dey intensify plus de trans-Saharan den Indian Ocean slave trade^[2]^[3] den again plus de trans-Atlantic^[4] den Barbary slave trade; na de demand for slaves create an entire series of kingdoms wich na exist insyd a state of perpetual warfare in order to generate de prisoners of war necessary for de lucrative export of slaves.^[5] Na dese patterns persist into de colonial period during de late 19th den early 20th century.^[6] Although na de colonial authorities attempt to suppress slavery around 1900, na dema attempts largely be ineffective. Even after decolonization, slavery continue insyd chaw parts of Africa despite e be officially illegal.^[7]

Slavery insyd de Sahel region (den to a lesser extent de Horn of Africa) dey exist along de racial den cultural boundary of Arabized Berbers insyd de north den darker Africans insyd de south.^[8] Slavery insyd de Sahel states of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad den Sudan in particular, dey continue a centuries-old pattern of hereditary servitude.^[9] Oda forms of traditional slavery exist insyd parts of Ghana, Benin, Togo den Nigeria.^[10] Der be oda, non-traditional forms of slavery insyd Africa today, mostly dey involve human trafficking den de enslavement of child soldiers den child labourers, e.g. human trafficking insyd Angola, den human trafficking of kiddies from Togo, Benin den Nigeria to Gabon den Cameroon.^[11]^[12]

Modern day slavery insyd Africa according to de Anti-Slavery Society dey include exploitation of subjugate populations even wen na dema condition no be technically called "slavery":^[13]^[14]^[15]

Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their "employers".
— Antislavery Society, What is Modern Slavery?

Na dem estimate forced labor insyd Sub-Saharan Africa^[16] at 660,000.^[17] Dis dey include people wey be involved insyd de illegal diamond mines of Sierra Leone den Liberia, wich sanso be a direct result of de civil wars insyd dese regions.^[18] Insyd 2017, na de International Labour Office estimate say 7 insyd every 1,000 people insyd Africa be victims of slavery.^[19]

Types of contemporary slavery

Sex trade

Forced labour

Child slave trade

Ritual slavery

Slavery by country

Chad

Congo

Ethiopia

Ghana, Togo, Benin

Madagascar

Mali

Mauritania

Niger

Sudan

South Africa

References

↑ Kusi, David K. (2000). Africa, One Continent and Many Religions: Towards Interreligious Dialogue in Africa (Thesis). Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN). doi:10.2986/tren.033-0550.
↑ "Brazil and the slave trade, 1827–1839", The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade, Cambridge University Press, pp. 62–87, 1970-03-01, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511759734.005, ISBN 978-0-521-07583-1
↑ Zink, Robert James. (1969). "Uhuru wa Watumwa" as a documentary of the Arab slave trade in East Africa. OCLC 792751768.
↑ Green, Toby (2011), "Rethinking the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from a Cultural Perspective", The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–28, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139016407.003, ISBN 978-1-139-01640-7
↑ "The Origins of Slaves Leaving West Central Africa", The Atlantic Slave Trade from West Central Africa, 1780–1867, Cambridge University Press, pp. 73–99, 2017-06-26, doi:10.1017/9781316771501.005, ISBN 978-1-316-77150-1
↑ Allen, Richard B. (2017-03-29), "Asian Indentured Labor in the 19th and Early 20th Century Colonial Plantation World", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.33, ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7
↑ "Which Way Africa-Towards Africa-Exit from Colonial Empire?", Africa in the Colonial Ages of Empire, Langaa RPCIG, pp. 443–495, 2017-12-17, doi:10.2307/j.ctvh9vtjn.13, ISBN 978-9956-764-22-8
↑ "The mobilization of local ideas about racial difference has been important in generating, and intensifying, civil wars that have occurred since the end of colonial rule in all of the countries that straddle the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. ... contemporary conflicts often hearken back to an older history in which blackness could be equated with slavery and non-blackness with predatory and uncivilized banditry." (cover text), Hall, Bruce S., A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
↑ "Chad-Mali-Mauritania-Niger-Senegal-Upper Volta: Convention Establishing a Permanent Inter-State Drought Control Committee for the Sahel". International Legal Materials. 13 (3): 537–539. 1974. doi:10.1017/s002078290004568x. S2CID 249000440.
↑ de Ste Croix, G. E. M. (1988), "Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour", Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour, Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, pp. 19–32, doi:10.4324/9780203401514_chapter_one, ISBN 978-0-203-33181-1
↑ "news-from-human-rights-watch-vol-l5-no8a-borderline-slavery-child-trafficking-in-togo-april-2003-84-pp". Human Rights Documents Online. doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-2156-0326.
↑ "Addr.com". www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com. Archived from the original on 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
↑ Washington, Booker T. (4 January 2020). Up from slavery. Magdalene Press. ISBN 978-1-77335-133-9. OCLC 1141252700.
↑ Brace, Laura (2018-03-01), "Glimpses of Slavery", The Politics of Slavery, Edinburgh University Press, doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474401142.003.0010, ISBN 978-1-4744-0114-2
↑ Allain, Jean (2015-01-01), "When Forced Marriage is Slavery", The Law and Slavery, Brill–Nijhoff, pp. 466–474, doi:10.1163/9789004279896_022, ISBN 978-90-04-27989-6
↑ Bratton, Michael (2009-01-29), "22. Sub-Saharan Africa", Democratization, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/hepl/9780199233021.003.0022 (inactive 12 July 2025), ISBN 978-0-19-923302-1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
↑ "Workers' Alliance against Forced Labour and Trafficking - ITUC" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-10-14.
↑ "Forced Labour". London: Anti-Slavery International. Archived from the original on 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2015-10-14. "What is modern slavery?". London: Anti-Slavery International. Archived from the original on 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
↑ Ukomadu, Angela; Chile, Nneka (7 August 2019). "West African slavery lives on, 400 years after transatlantic trade began". Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2019.

External links

Graham-Harrison, Emma. Africa’s new slave trade: how migrants flee poverty to get sucked into a world of violent crime (May 2017), The Guardian
The Modern West African Slave Trade Anti-Slavery Society. Retrieved 2007-07-09.

[1] Kusi, David K. (2000). Africa, One Continent and Many Religions: Towards Interreligious Dialogue in Africa (Thesis). Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN). doi:10.2986/tren.033-0550.

[2] "Brazil and the slave trade, 1827–1839", The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade, Cambridge University Press, pp. 62–87, 1970-03-01, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511759734.005, ISBN 978-0-521-07583-1

[3] Zink, Robert James. (1969). "Uhuru wa Watumwa" as a documentary of the Arab slave trade in East Africa. OCLC 792751768.

[4] Green, Toby (2011), "Rethinking the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from a Cultural Perspective", The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–28, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139016407.003, ISBN 978-1-139-01640-7

[5] "The Origins of Slaves Leaving West Central Africa", The Atlantic Slave Trade from West Central Africa, 1780–1867, Cambridge University Press, pp. 73–99, 2017-06-26, doi:10.1017/9781316771501.005, ISBN 978-1-316-77150-1

[6] Allen, Richard B. (2017-03-29), "Asian Indentured Labor in the 19th and Early 20th Century Colonial Plantation World", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.33, ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7

[7] "Which Way Africa-Towards Africa-Exit from Colonial Empire?", Africa in the Colonial Ages of Empire, Langaa RPCIG, pp. 443–495, 2017-12-17, doi:10.2307/j.ctvh9vtjn.13, ISBN 978-9956-764-22-8

[8] "The mobilization of local ideas about racial difference has been important in generating, and intensifying, civil wars that have occurred since the end of colonial rule in all of the countries that straddle the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. ... contemporary conflicts often hearken back to an older history in which blackness could be equated with slavery and non-blackness with predatory and uncivilized banditry." (cover text), Hall, Bruce S., A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960. Cambridge University Press, 2011.

[9] "Chad-Mali-Mauritania-Niger-Senegal-Upper Volta: Convention Establishing a Permanent Inter-State Drought Control Committee for the Sahel". International Legal Materials. 13 (3): 537–539. 1974. doi:10.1017/s002078290004568x. S2CID 249000440.

[10] Ste Croix, G. E. M. (1988), "Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour", Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour, Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, pp. 19–32, doi:10.4324/9780203401514_chapter_one, ISBN 978-0-203-33181-1

[11] "news-from-human-rights-watch-vol-l5-no8a-borderline-slavery-child-trafficking-in-togo-april-2003-84-pp". Human Rights Documents Online. doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-2156-0326.

[12] "Addr.com". www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com. Archived from the original on 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2025-10-13.

[13] Washington, Booker T. (4 January 2020). Up from slavery. Magdalene Press. ISBN 978-1-77335-133-9. OCLC 1141252700.

[14] Brace, Laura (2018-03-01), "Glimpses of Slavery", The Politics of Slavery, Edinburgh University Press, doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474401142.003.0010, ISBN 978-1-4744-0114-2

[15] Allain, Jean (2015-01-01), "When Forced Marriage is Slavery", The Law and Slavery, Brill–Nijhoff, pp. 466–474, doi:10.1163/9789004279896_022, ISBN 978-90-04-27989-6

[16] Bratton, Michael (2009-01-29), "22. Sub-Saharan Africa", Democratization, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/hepl/9780199233021.003.0022 (inactive 12 July 2025), ISBN 978-0-19-923302-1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)

[17] "Workers' Alliance against Forced Labour and Trafficking - ITUC" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-10-14.

[ForcedLabour-18] "Forced Labour". London: Anti-Slavery International. Archived from the original on 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2015-10-14. "What is modern slavery?". London: Anti-Slavery International. Archived from the original on 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

[19] Ukomadu, Angela; Chile, Nneka (7 August 2019). "West African slavery lives on, 400 years after transatlantic trade began". Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2019.

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