Almost 46 Million People Live in ‘Modern Slavery’

Almost 46 million people live in some form of forced labor or modern-day slavery, says an Australian research group.
澳大利亚一家研究机构称，约4600万人遭受“现代奴役”。

The term modern slavery may include debt bondage, forced marriage and sexual exploitation.
“现代奴役”包括债奴、非自愿婚姻以及被迫卖淫等。

The researchers say India, China and Pakistan have the largest number of people living in such conditions.
研究人员称，印度、中国和巴基斯坦遭受“现代奴役”的人数最多。

The Walk Free Foundation released its latest Global Slavery Index earlier this week in London. The foundation wants governments and businesses to do more to stop systems of forced labor.
本周“行走自由基金会”在伦敦公布了最新全球奴役指数。该基金会希望政府和企业采取更多措施阻止强制劳动的现象。

The group studied forced labor in 167 countries. It found that the number of people living as modern slaves is 28 percent higher than previously believed.
该组织研究了167个国家的强制劳动现象。研究发现遭受奴役的人数比预想的数量高28%。

The new report said India also has more than 18 million modern-day slaves. That is much more than any other country.
报告称，印度的现代奴隶人口超1800万。遭受奴役的人口数量比其他国家都多。

Kevin Bales is the lead author of the Global Slavery Index. He said India is working to end forced labor, but that is historically difficult.
凯文•贝尔斯是全球奴役指数的主要作者。他说印度已经采取了措施来消除强制劳动，但是这是个历史性的难题。

"They have hereditary forms of slavery in India. They've had a long, long history of rural forms of agricultural slavery so, you know, it's something the Indians are working on very hard, but they've inherited a big problem from the past."
“自古以来，印度就是个奴隶制国家。他们有悠久的奴役制历史，印度人民一直努力想要消除的阶级制度，可是这种制度已经根深蒂固。”

Andrew Forrest is the chairman of the Walk Free foundation. He says forced labor means workers cannot leave their place of employment. He says their passports might be taken from them, or there might be a threat against them or their family members.
安德鲁•福罗斯特是“行走自由基金会”的主席。他表示强制劳动意味着工人须寸步不移地守在工作岗位。他说雇主会将工人的证件收走，或者威胁他们及其家人。

Forrest says such workers cannot leave their situation and are treated, in his words, like “a farm animal.”
福罗斯特说，工人们无法脱离这样的处境，用他的话说，“像牲口一样被对待”。

The report says 58 percent of people living in modern slavery are in five Asian countries.
报告称，全球遭受现代奴役的人口中，有58%分布在亚洲五个国家。

In addition to India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan have large numbers of people in forced labor conditions.
除了印度、中国和巴基斯坦，孟加拉国和乌兹别克斯坦也存在大量强制劳动的现象。

In southern Pakistan, for example, men, women and children work in brick factories. But they do not see wages for their hard work.
在巴基斯坦南部，男人、女人和小孩都在砖厂做工。但是他们的辛苦劳作却得不到任何报酬。

One brick maker described how he had to get a loan to feed his family. He said he believes he will never be able to repay his debt.
一名砖厂工人说，他需要借钱养活家人。他觉得自己永远都还不清债务。

In the brick factories, the employer keeps all the workers’ earnings to secure their debt. The employer only provides the workers with food.
砖厂的雇主会扣下工人全部薪水用于抵债。工人得到的只有食物。

The report says people across the world are trapped in similar situations.
报告称全世界的人们都遭受着相似的困境。

Wolfgang Buetner is with the group Human Rights Watch in Germany.
沃夫冈•保特纳是德国人权观察组织的工作人员。

He said, “Forced labor is a big problem worldwide. We have again and again documented migrant workers, in particular domestic workers, but also workers on construction sites, (who) were being subjected to forced labor.”
他说，“强制劳动是全球性的难题。我们一次又一次地记录下被强制劳动的流动工人，特别是那些佣人和建筑工人。”

And it is not only businesses. “There are states that systematically impose forced labor, for example, North Korea and Uzbekistan on its cotton fields," he said.
这一结果并不仅仅是用人企业造成的。他说，“有些国家在系统性地推行强制劳动，比如朝鲜，乌兹别克斯坦的棉花种植业。”

The report said North Korea, Iran, Eritrea, Central African Republic Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have taken little action to end slavery. It adds that North Korea has the highest percentage of modern slavery at over 4 percent of the population.
报告称朝鲜、伊朗、厄立特里亚、中非共和国、刚果民主共和国和南苏丹几乎没有为打击奴役现象做任何努力。朝鲜的现代奴隶比例最多，超过总人口的4%。

Forced labor conditions are found not only in developing nations, but also in wealthy nations. However, the wealthy ones have lower percentages of modern slavery among workers.
强制劳动现象不仅发生在发展中国家，也包括一些发达国家。只是发达国家中，工人遭受现代奴役所占的比例相对少一些。

Activists are urging companies doing business in countries were forced labor is a problem to make sure their partners obey labor laws. However, the group said only a government campaign can make major improvements in working conditions.
人权活动家们敦促，那些强制劳动现象严重的国家应该要求企业遵守劳动法。但是，该组织指出只有政府干预才能大幅度改善工人的处境。