Reply #7: An interesting, shocking article on it is here, also. [View All]

[dixiegrrrrl]

Numbers and details are overwhelming, and it is horrible that the USA supports this.
A milder version ( for now) is happening right here in the USA, right now, due to loss of wages and benefits in the few jobs that are left.

I have put together the relevant paragraphs, recommend reading the whole ariticle.

Modern Slavery: The Loss of Innocence

The life of a child is often equated to that of mere dollars… overall people are comparatively cheaper than they were in the 1600-1800s, when slaves were purchased for life. Prices for these modern day slaves are at an all time low, while profits remain high, leading some to believe the problem is worse now than during the days of legalized slavery.
Now ownership tends to last only a few months to a few years, making slaves cheaper to purchase and more easily disposable. In 1850 the purchase price of a slave in the southern US averaged the equivalent of $40,000 today. According to Free the Slaves, a slave today costs an average of $90.
People have become a disposable commodity, cheap and easy labor one can just toss out when no longer needed.
Globalization and the post-World War II population boom have increased access to, and lowered the cost of, transportation, which has in turn contributed to the increased levels of global slavery. Victims are often driven into slavery by severe poverty or acute need for economic gain. Additionally, the ethnicity of today’s slave is rarely important, however age and gender all too often are and thus women and children make up the majority of modern slavery victims.

Estimates vary as to the number of modern-day slaves. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are 12.3 million adults and children who are trafficked around the globe for the purpose of forced prostitution, bonded labor and forced labor. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnationally and within countries. The average age of entry into commercial sexual exploitation in the United States is 11-14 years-old.

Those most victimized by human trafficking are women and children, with 56 percent of all forced labor victims women and girls.
Kevin Bales, modern slavery expert and president of Free the Slaves, estimates the number to be 27 million, a figure widely accepted by NGOs. UNICEF estimates there are some 250,000 child soldiers globally, while Human Rights Watch puts the number at 300,000, with the majority, some 200,000, in Africa. Child soldiers are actively fighting in at least 30 countries around the world, according to both Amnesty International and UNICEF, and PW Singer estimates in his book, Children at War, that 43 percent of all armed organizations in the world use child soldiers, 90 percent of whom see combat.

More:
http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/08/28/modern-slavery-the-loss-of-innocence/