UN investigator: Contemporary slavery extensive around globe
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. investigator says contemporary forms of slavery are widely practiced around the world, including forced labor for China’s Uyghur minority. Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata also cites bonded labor for the lowest caste Dalits in South Asia, domestic servitude in Gulf countries, Brazil and Colombia — and traditional enslavement, especially of minorities, in Mauritania, Mali and Niger. He says in a report to the U.N. General Assembly circulated Wednesday that child labor — another contemporary form of slavery — exists in all regions of the world. Obokata’s conclusion about Uyghurs’ forced labor was sharply criticized by China.