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I’ve begun reading Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales. Bales is a social researcher who became interested in human trafficking in the 1980s. His goal through his research and this book (published in 1999) is to understand what’s driving slavery today so that it can be stopped. He gives a comprehensive, analytical breakdown of the causes and effects of slavery today and how it differs from slavery in the past. He examines the economic impact of slavery, because at its core, human trafficking is about money.

So far I’ve read the first chapter, which gives an overview of slavery and how it’s different from slavery in the past. The following chapters give an in-depth look at specific kinds of slavery in various countries. Bales’s overview in the first chapter gave me a stronger grasp on what slavery is like and how it works. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve learned:

Bales estimates that there are 27 million slaves in the world today. There are more slaves today than in the whole 400 years of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Greater than the population of Canada. Six times greater than the population of Israel.

The increase in slavery today is driven by the increase in the world population and the growing economy in places where slavery is most prevalent. There’s more work to do and more people to be enslaved. Because so many people are readily available and vulnerable to being enslaved, they have become less and less of a valuable commodity; Slave prices are lower than they have ever been. Most slaves are used heavily until they are too sick or too weak, then they’re left to fend for themselves and usually die.

In the past the cost of slaves was high, the return on investment was good, and there was motivation to keep and preserve your slaves. Today the cost of slaves is low, the return on investment extremely high, and there is little motivation to keep and preserve your slaves. Slaves become disposable. You work your car hard, but you take care of it through routine maintenance and repairs; however, you use a printer as much as you want, and then when it no longer works properly, you throw it away and get a new one—it’s not worthwhile to invest in maintenance or repairs. Slaves used to be like cars, now they’re more like printers.

I’m not trying to say that one generation of slavery is better or less criminal and inhumane than another: absolutely not. (That’s not Bales point either.) Old slavery and new slavery both take away a person’s freedom and humanity, but it’s critical to understand slavery today to stop it.

Slavery is an economic endeavor, driven by money rather than simple hatred, and while slavery is illegal in every country there are very, very few economic controls on slavery. Economic sanctions have been successful in attacking drug and weapons cartels, but haven’t been used in fighting human trafficking. If governments and people make slavery unprofitable, it will stop.

In today’s slavery ownership is no longer central. In the past control came primarily through ownership. Today control comes primarily through violence and intimidation. Legal documentation of ownership is not as important. Written contracts are sometimes used, but their purpose is to entrap slaves and conceal what’s really happening from those outside.

Race isn’t a key factor in slavery today. Bales says, “The criteria for enslavement today does not concern color, tribe, or religion; they focus on weakness, gullibility, and deprivation.”

To sum it up, Bales says: “Looking at the nature of slavery we see obvious themes: slaves are cheap and disposable; control continues without legal ownership; slavery is hidden behind contracts; and slavery flourishes in communities under stress. Those social conditions have to exist side by side with an economy that fosters slavery.”

Understanding slavery it the key to putting an end to it.

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